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First of all this is nothing new, we use gravity as a source of
energy all the time. We use gravity's energy to anchor large
structures against the wind, or waves or earthquake, by adding
additional weight to the structure or vehicle. This type of
passive gravity use, is natural, and is most often taken for granted.
Although the power of gravity has caught the eye of many great thinkers,
from Aristotle to Newton. But these and many others have viewed
gravity largely as an interesting, albeit important phenomena, that can
be used to explain something more interesting, like cosmology.
However, the energy of gravity has long been used by man, especially
in conflict. Rolling a large stone over a cliff, to smash your
enemies or prey, has been around since the cave man. More
contemporary uses of gravity as a source of energy, include
hydro-electric dams, as a specialty
railway power source in the UK, in chemical and industrial processes,
and my favorite is Ctesibius' (285-222 BC) lowly siphon.
Despite all of this gravity has a bad name. Gravity is
the weak force, when compared with chemical and thermal forces, radio
activity, or electro-magnetism.
E=:Δ.
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E = energy
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Δ=State Differentials
But this weakness is primarily due to the uniformity, or steady
state, of our interactions with gravity. As compared to the
very dramatic state changes, which are the key to harvesting power from
ostensibly more robust natural phenomena.
Think fire, or wind, or the chain reactions at the atomic level.
In each case power is harvested from the induction of dramatic state
changes of the phenomena. From hot to hotter, from low velocity to high
velocity, or from stability to instability.
However despite the alleged weakness of gravity, its power keeps the moon from
going its own way.
The positive aspects of gravity power
include;
- Gravity is universal on the planet, varying only slightly even
in outer space.
- Gravity requires no other component, like fire requires oxygen,
or a fuel source.
- Gravity is proportional to mass, the more mass the more
potential energy.
- Use of gravity generates no by-products or waste materials.
- Gravity is of consistent quality, without refinement, no one yet
has claimed their gravity to be superior to others.
There are of course many more recondite aspects of gravity power, but
just from this few, we can see that despite its relative weakness,
gravity is worth exploiting in our power hungry world. |
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| Work in progress for I.E.E.E. paper:
Argument for
Gravity as power:
The weak force has been the friend of man and beast, since the
beginnings of time. But as the description "weak force" implies, gravity
needs a better PR agent. As we continue to pollute our air, and wring
our hands over the drain of non-renewable energy resources from our only
home, gravity remains our most important form of energy. Despite its
importance, hydro-power represents only an infinitesimal fraction of the
useful power that gravity supplies life on earth on a daily basis. It
does not require much investigation, to see how important the existence
of gravitational energy is to our society. Just to name the obvious,
water migration, and atmospheric integrity.
Given the power of gravity, our cleverness, and historical awareness
of this power, why have we not been able to harness it more
effectively? Current mythology is that gravity lacks the properties
which have allowed us to exploit other fundamental natural phenomena.
Our lack of success with gravity is because gravity is so fundamentally
different from other forces such as magnetism, or solar radiation.
However, these forces resisted most active employment by thousands of
enlightened human generations? Is the lack of gravity's success as a
power source an indictment of its value?
How is gravity different from these other forces? It seems very
similar to magnetism, in that magnetism is at a roughly constant level
existing naturally in our environment. Gravitational affects are
ubiquitous, and yet through years of experimentation, its management is
still the stuff of myth. The consistency, predictability, and robustness
of gravity, compares very favorably to either magnetism or solar
radiation.
Both magnetism and gravity are mass related, with the importance of
mass favoring gravity. This is true because some materials may have
relative magnetic properties, which are both materially and mass
related. While gravity seems strictly related to mass. The famous
experiment of Galileo proved that gravity accelerates objects
independent of mass, but our direct experience shows that materials of
greater density weigh more than objects of similar size but less
density. And yet despite the superiority and obviousness, of gravity,
magnetism is our power star.
However, if we compare the useful inventions, based upon magnetism to
those based upon gravity, their is a near dimensional shift. Consider,
electrical generation, electro-magnetism, and MRI technology, in
comparison with water wheels and an obscure railroad in the English
countryside.
Magnetism arrived at this advanced state of effectiveness, through
years of experimentation, research and commercial development. The same
history can be stated for solar radiation, atomic radiation, chemical
explosives, and now even light beams in lasers. Will gravity follow the
same evolution of development?
Is gravity the weak force? I don't have the physics credentials to
dispute this, so I won't try. But it is my view, that their is a
fundamental principle of energy that opens the door to gravity as usable
power. I speculate that if I am correct, that our future will be the
masters of gravity, as opposed to our current state with gravity as our
oppressor.
Let's talk about energy, what is it, how do we recognize it, and how
do we measure it. Wilkipedia defines energy as; In general, the word
energy refers to a
concept
that can be paraphrased as "the potential for causing changes", and
therefore one can say that energy is the cause of any change. This bit
of apparently circular logic, opens tremendous possibilities. What is
a change? Is one instant to another a change? And if time is a form of
energy, then is thoughtful existence a wave. Is energy required for
existence. How a about point-of-view, is that a change. It begs the
question, if energy is the potential to cause change, and all change
requires energy, if as quantum mechanics states that potentials are
relative to points of view, then energy must be change itself.
E=:Δ
Change is a realizable difference in states of existence. The
next step is to debate the meanings of existence, but that's another
discussion. Instead lets explore this question, without the troublesome
math. Energy generation in all its forms, to my knowledge, involves
state changes. For example the conflict of magnetic fields, for the
generation of electricity. As a magnetic field is altered by another,
in each instant, a state change is occurring, a magnetic state change.
In the case of solar power, the state change is either the temperature,
the electrical properties of a material, or the relationship between
materials. In the combustion engine, it is the dramatic state changes,
from solid or liquid to gas, which generate power. In nuclear fusion or
fission, the state change are in the atomic structure of the fuel
source.
In each of these methods, the potentials for change are exploited to
the maximum level of effectiveness that the current method allows.
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This is a work in
progress...Please bookmark this page and monitor it for changes.
Gare Henderson
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