Posted by Joel L. Lewis (24.197.38.131) on May 28, 2003 at 13:07:04:
In Reply to: Re: An apology and a question.... posted by Darren on May 28, 2003 at 11:39:15:
Nope, that's just what I was looking for.:-) Thanks!
: : Okay, first, an apology to Darren-yes, you WERE right, and I DID screw up testing it out the first time.(Read a few threads down if some of the rest of you don't know what I'm talking about.)Sorry!:-)
:
: No worries Joel, I've made some seriously wrong mistakes when I first started playing with this stuff, but that's why I like it... even if I don't figure "it" out I've still learned alot so to me none of it was a waste of time.
:
: : Second, a question that has REALLY been bugging me:if a wheel overballanced by a weight turns, how much energy is picked up by the weight due to it's innertia, and how much energy is picked up by the-let's call it a flywheel. Anybody know this one?
:
: Not sure if I'm understanding you right but I'll risk an answer and you tell me if I understood...
: The amount of energy stored in a wheel with frictionless bearings and no air resistance is equal to the amount of energy released by the smaller weight that fell to get the larger wheel spinning.
: In other words, I attach a 1 lb weight to the perimeter of a perfect stone wheel.. when I let go the small weight will turn the larger wheel... when the small weight is at the bottom dead center of the wheel it has imparted all it's energy into the larger wheel, which stores it in the form of angular momentum... this energy is slowly removed from the wheel as the small weight is lifted back up on the other side as it rotates past bottom dead center... the small weight will only get as high as it originally started on the other side.
: In real life frictioal losses will slowly convert the stored angular momentum in the wheel into heat that will radiate from the wheel, causing the small weight to climb a little less each time it drops and rises again.
: Is that what you were asking for or am I way off? Were you possibly looking for equations or formulas instead?
: Darren