So I had this idea...

[salamander]

When I was watching the specials about the Apollo 11 space mission a few days ago, I had some cool ideas. Innovations, actually.

When an electric motor runs here on earth, you need to feed it power for it to keep running, right? Because the gravity pulls on it, slowing it down constantly. But what if you were in space? What if you made a simple generator type of machine that was hand powered by a crank. Since there's no gravity in space to slow it down, you could theoretically have an infinite source of power.

Other possibilities pop up with this concept in mind also. If a ship in space had powerful thrusters or some form of propulsion, and you keep powering those thrusters constantly, wouldn't that make you achieve a higher and higher velocity, because no gravity is acting upon you? Now if you just have those thrusters powered by the hand crank system I said before, superspeed space travel (a la star trek) just might be possible...

[Alex]

Re: So I had this idea...

You should tell NASA about your space crank.

[Toaster]

Re: So I had this idea...

[Alzar]

Re: So I had this idea...

you need to take a physics class

[Tintenfisch]

Re: So I had this idea...

How do you crank rockets?

[Jehuty]

Re: So I had this idea...

When I was watching the specials about the Apollo 11 space mission a few days ago, I had some cool ideas. Innovations, actually.

When an electric motor runs here on earth, you need to feed it power for it to keep running, right? Because the gravity pulls on it, slowing it down constantly. But what if you were in space? What if you made a simple generator type of machine that was hand powered by a crank. Since there's no gravity in space to slow it down, you could theoretically have an infinite source of power.

Other possibilities pop up with this concept in mind also. If a ship in space had powerful thrusters or some form of propulsion, and you keep powering those thrusters constantly, wouldn't that make you achieve a higher and higher velocity, because no gravity is acting upon you? Now if you just have those thrusters powered by the hand crank system I said before, superspeed space travel (a la star trek) just might be possible...

What?

Motor's stop moving because of friction and resistance within the motor. Gravity plays a part, but its secondary to the other two forces. Perpetual motion machines break physical laws, and can't exist.

The thrusters require an inordinate amount of fuel, and are highly inefficent. Inertia and structural limitations make it an impossibility. Ignoring those two problems, the speed differences would be negligible. relativistic speeds bring more problems then it would ever solve. Using current technology, we can't even break 5% the speed of light. Using the minimum speed formula NASA released years ago, any low speed craft launched would be passed by later faster technology due to the vast distances.

Astronauts may be weightless, but gravitational forces are still acting upon them, its how they stay in orbit.

The largest problem is not the speed, but protection. Once a shuttle is out of Earths protective magnetic field(Which extends past the Moon) they're incredibly vulnerable to radiation and high energy particles. Even within the "safe zone" of earth, many astronauts are forced into retirement because they've met the "safe lifetime exposure to radiation".

[Sejon]

Re: So I had this idea...

1. It would be more accurate to say that friction is the factor that slows down moving objects. Gravity does play an obvious role, but it's hardly the only factor to consider.

2. No gravity in space to slow it down? But...ummm...gravity does exist in space. What holds the solar system together?

Also, the gravitational force acting on satellites and space stations is almost as strong as the force acting on us; the difference in strength s entirely negligible. "Zero-gravity" is a misnomer and fosters many misconceptions as a result. Orbiting objects are in a constant state of free-fall, but their transverse speed makes them fall past the Earth. When you're in free-fall, you experience "weightlessness", and that's why astronauts float around in their space habitats. It's not that gravity is no longer acting upon them; it's that they're perpetually "falling".

3. For everything else you've mentioned, there's this fact of nature called entropy that you might want to do some research on.


EDIT: Ah, Jehuty beat me to it. Damn it!

[Jehuty]

Re: So I had this idea...

Everything is made of strings sejon. We need only vibrate them correctly. RIGHT?

God i hate string theory.

[salamander]

Re: So I had this idea...

Well, it's true. I never took a physics class in high school, so don't blame me for not reading a textbook.

Consider my parade rained on.

[hitogoroshi]

Re: So I had this idea...

We're not blaming you for not knowing physics, we're blaming you for not knowing physics and then posting your 'cool ideas. Innovations, actually' without taking the time to actually learn what the hell you're talking about.

[Czechs Mex]

Re: So I had this idea...

We're not blaming you for not knowing physics, we're blaming you for not knowing physics and then posting your 'cool ideas. Innovations, actually' without taking the time to actually learn what the hell you're talking about.

Who cares though, he thought he had a good idea and didn't know the technical details, so he posted it here. No need to stifle the guy's creativity, you know?

[Caciss]

Re: So I had this idea...

Czechs always posts the things I feel.

[salamander]

Re: So I had this idea...

I sit up at night and try to figure out how humans could live under the sea, transfer our conscious minds into a computer, how to make an all-sensory virtual reality game, how to make a car that runs on air, and how to generate usable, storable energy from our everyday movements like walking and exercising. I am either wasting my time, or will be the next big person to change society like Bill Gates. You can all laugh now, but...

[Caciss]

Re: So I had this idea...

well bill gates did know how to program and stuff.

[Alzar]

Re: So I had this idea...