Two questions :)

[ronasor]

is it possible to use pb against each other so each one accelerates the other one? Personally I think it isnt because of the surface of the ball isnt allowing it.. any other ideas?
the second question is ; is there a possibility that rpm sports will produce a "practical" sandpaper powerball (i.e the surface of it is used with the same surface as the sandpaper?

[Bigzebra]

Hello!
Just cut the sandpaper as you wish
About 2 simultaneous PB that would give energy to each other (and would both accelerate without you doing anything), this is impossible. The laws of physics forbid it, since to accelerate a PB needs energy (it usually converts the mechanical energy produced by your rotating wrist to cinetic energy which accelerates the rotor) and two PB alone couldn't get energy...
I don't know if i'm very clear, sorry english is not my mothertongue , but what i mean is that the two PBs would be producing energy from nothing, which is impossible (E=mc¬≤, so if E=something (E≠0), m≠0 and c≠0)
Hope this answers to your questions

[Bigzebra]

Hi
Looks like my answers are frightening
Could someone give it a try? I'd like to have a different POV about this...

[Sayex]

About 2 simultaneous PB that would give energy to each other (and would both accelerate without you doing anything), this is impossible. The laws of physics forbid it, since to accelerate a PB needs energy (it usually converts the mechanical energy produced by your rotating wrist to cinetic energy which accelerates the rotor) and two PB alone couldn't get energy...
I don't know if i'm very clear, sorry english is not my mothertongue , but what i mean is that the two PBs would be producing energy from nothing, which is impossible (E=mc¬≤, so if E=something (E≠0), m≠0 and c≠0)
Hope this answers to your questions

That is correct, its not possible.. this way you could create Free Energy.. would be AWSOME!... but not possible

[hugh495]

it should be possible for one to accelerate the other,spin one up and see if it can start a motionless ball is that what you saying?

[ronasor]

kinda... i thought mybe if one of them is more scruffy then other it might have it accelerated a little bit, but of course will cause the rotor to get scratched out from the hits of it...
i belive the "sandpaper pball" will be much use for alot of people around the world such as sharpning knifes and stuff... think of all the things you could do with it

[olly_k]

kinda... i thought mybe if one of them is more scruffy then other it might have it accelerated a little bit, but of course will cause the rotor to get scratched out from the hits of it...
i belive the "sandpaper pball" will be much use for alot of people around the world such as sharpning knifes and stuff... think of all the things you could do with it

well it could at least be sold as an aid to toughen up that namby-pamby girly skin on the palm of peoples hands. I can imagine the blurb now...

Been washing too many dishes?

Get the new Powerball Super-Silicon Sand grip attachment - You will never drop that powerball again!

Gives you hand calases that make rock climbers squirm and Blisters that stop hill walkers winging!

*Another great JML product available from pound stretchers, Woolworths, pound-land and other places.

[Prot3us1]

:P Ill have a crack at explaining the whole free energy thing.

A device which would need no energy put into it but would generate energy (such as 2 powerballs keeping each other going) is called a "perpetual motion device". I wont go as far as saying it impossible...I'm sure at one stage "moving pictures on a sheet of glass" wasn't possible. Anyways enough about that.

The general idea is that you MUST put energy into something to get energy out of it. This could be kinetic, Heat, potential, chemical...plus more.

The "law" is "energy may not be created or destroyed, only changed from one type to another."

So for instance a car:

You put petrol in, the petrol is pumped to the combustion chamber where it is compressed and ignited. The petrol by itself is chemical energy, once it is ignited it is then converted to "potential, heat, kinetic and sound" energy.
The potential element is minimal and basically the metal flexing, the heat is the largest portion and is all wasted.

The kinetic energy is what is used to turn the crankshaft and eventually power the car. Sound energy is also wasted.

The burned fuel then exits the exhaust pipe as heat and waste.

In our powerballs we use our bodies chemical energy to power our muscles which then transfers kinetic energy to our powerballs.
The gyro is balanced in such a way that it wastes very little energy (small amount of heat from friction, and some noise energy also)...Now its this heat and noise energy that will eventually stop our balls spinning.

See when we spin the ball lets say we "store" energy in it...one spin will power the ball. If we were in space, and had no friction (assuming the ball would spin up with no friction) it may spin forever..however on Earth friction is evident in everything..gravity sees to this.

So the ball is spinning, we gave it enough energy to keep going, but that energy is being used not only to spin the gyro, but also to make the noise and a small amount of heat naturally caused by friction, therefore using energy. Now if we spun up 2 powerballs and had them supplement each other they would probably go a little longer than normal however you have to realize each ball would expend more energy than it produces, and then there is also friction between the 2 balls!

Now don't let this stop you trying! Because although the laws of physics say it it is not possible, eventually someone will likely find a way..it could be you!

A very popular "perpetual motion device" is an electric motor, with 2 windings one way and 2 windings the opposite way. For those that understand electric motors this serves to "push" the motor around twice for every revolution, and to generate a small amount of electricity twice per revolution. Once again less electricity is generated than is used due to friction heat and noise...but the principle is good for explaining the theory.

I suppose you could spin up a perfectly balanced gyro (such as we have in our powerballs) with a small electric motor and have a small induction loop attached to the gyro (like the Neons have to power the leds).
This alone wont work. It MAY power the led longer than the battery alone would Im not sure (that in itself is against the laws of physics).

This discussion will have people on both sides of the fence (ie. can be done, cant be done)

Same as time travel:
Some say: If it was ever going to happen we would go back in time and we would know. (Ie..if we made a time machine in the year 2100 we would travel back to 1997 at some point, now if we did that the people in 1997 would have "met" the people from the future..unless there was a big coverup EVERY time someone travelled back we would know about it.)

Others say that wont work, the future doesn't yet exist.

it goes back and forth :P

Tyson.

ps. I'm just a "hobbyist" so don't chew my head off if its wrong, I prefer to work with computers than physics, I'm just interested in some aspects of it.

[PlushChris]

I dont know if one PB could start another but the idea of a powerball having sandpaper on it made me wince!

I nearly got a friction burn on the tip of one of my fingers yesterday while changing grip of my powerball, if it had sandpaper on it it would have skinned my poor little pinky! lol

[ronasor]

yea i imagine that too... a finger rippage if its going in in high speed...
mybe the thing that should solve it will be reducing the surface of the hole in the bottom sphere (depends how youll look at it ) so it will reduce this occassion... imagine what will happen if your finger will get stuck at 9k or even higher (16k... akis... ) youll see alot of blood and i belive that youll be able to see the bone of your finger ... although i belive it will be far more difficult getting high speed then other pballs because of the friction of the ball and all that physic stuff that i really dont wanna get into now .
Regards,

Ron