Posted by Darren (208.143.232.66) on May 28, 2003 at 11:28:02:
In Reply to: Question for John Collins - Position of CoG ? posted by Fletcher on May 25, 2003 at 22:09:23:
: First let me say that I sincerely hope that Darren or any one else of us solves this riddle. It has occupied my waking & sleeping hours for far to many years.
I'm not one to go for all that cosmic awareness crap but I do have to admit that it kinda haunts me too... I have this stupid theory that the human race was supposed to invent this several hundred years ago but something happened to mess things up and... well... he fell off the roof... so there's a whole lot of people out there with this nagging feeling that no matter how much you say I'm wasting my time... OU is possible... because it is... it just got lost 300 years ago.
: In your design approach/do you currently think, that the answer to Besslers Wheel is an unbalanced wheel.
Yes.
: If so, using a clock face where do you see the resultant CoG position?
That would be giving away alot :-)
: If this CoG position is below the horizontal line made by the axle, is this a show stopper & why?
Yes, it remains below the horizon... and no, that's not a show stopper at all. Why? Think of it this way... *if* the COG started at 4:00, moved to 5:00, and then back to 4:00 the wheel would freakin spin off it's bearings, right? Matematically you wouldn't get any more torque from a 1:00 -> 2:00 -> 1:00 COG path than you would from a 4:00 -> 5:00 -> 4:00 COG path.
: Is this CoG position constant, or variable (i.e. oscillating [rhythmic or chaotic] or maybe moves further from centre as RPM increases?
Constant (shape) and rythmic (repeating). It does not move farther away from the center as RPM increases, but the timing of the move back to the COG's starting point changes.
: Is a hybrid of shifted CoG & another force acting in tandem with gravity?
No, just a shifted COG and gravity does the rest.
Darren