Posted by Jeff (216.12.57.248) on February 14, 2003 at 07:38:23:
Grim,
Thank you and everyone for your replies to my post. However, I am confused about the center of gravity thing. (No big surprise there). Do you mean that if I drilled a hole in the exact center of each weight and then attached them to the spokes that the wheel would be in balance, but if I attached the weights from their ends then the wheel would be bottom heavy? I agree that the center of gravity of the entire wheel has shifted from the center of the axle to a point directly below the axle, but does this make the wheel unbalanced? Does it take more force to move a wheel with its center of gravity below the axle? Do you think the center of gravity of Bessler's wheel was in the exact center of the axle before he added the moving weights?
Jeff