Slingshot effect and power.... would it work?

[KnowThyself]

New poster here, thought this thread belonged here in Speculation.

 

Can someone explain to me if this would or would not work?

 

 

 

 

Basically, use the slingshot effect of planetary bodies to speed up several crafts that are attached to a stationary track in orbit around the earth, to generate power infinitely. Considering that each craft would be sped up to about 20,000 MPH or greater, this could generate a lot of power.

Edited August 17, 2012 by KnowThyself

[granpa]

easier to just use tides

[zapatos]

I don't believe this is an example of the slingshot effect.

[KnowThyself]

<br />I don't believe this is an example of the slingshot effect.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

 

Two terrible responses to my only 2 posts on this forum. Looks like I've already found the resident troll.

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

Knowthyself - please restrain yourself from criticising the other members. You might not like what has been posted - but on both occasions it was an arguably valid comment. If you feel that a comment is in breach of our rules then report it, otherwise your best avenue is to refute the content of the post with proof and argument. What you must not do is to attack - in any way - the poster in person.

[dimreepr]

New poster here, thought this thread belonged here in Speculation.

 

Can someone explain to me if this would or would not work?

 

 

 

 

Basically, use the slingshot effect of planetary bodies to speed up several crafts that are attached to a stationary track in orbit around the earth, to generate power infinitely. Considering that each craft would be sped up to about 20,000 MPH or greater, this could generate a lot of power.

 

 

As zapatos suggests this isn’t an example of the slingshot effect (gravity assist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot_effect

 

It’s an example of an elliptical orbit

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_orbit

 

Besides which how would you harvest this power? and if you could harvest the power you would just diminish the orbit until it crashed to earth.

 

 

[zapatos]

<br /><br /><br />

 

Two terrible responses to my only 2 posts on this forum. Looks like I've already found the resident troll.

Would it be better to pretend your misunderstandings are instead statements of fact? What is to be gained if we start with false premises?

[Janus]

I'm not clear on this, but are you suggesting putting an actual physical track around the Earth?

 

If so, there is a couple of problems with that. For one, it won't stay there. The section closest to the Earth will feel more gravity and be pulled to the Earth and eventually hit it. This would happen to any solid ring around the Earth. This was proven to be true mathematically more than a century ago. (This proof was originally used to show the Saturn's rings could not be solid.)

 

For the other. even if you could keep the track in place, it would not generate any extra energy. While the object would gain speed as they got closer to the Earth, they would lose it again as they climbed back away.

 

As mentioned in a couple of the posts above, your system would not take advantage of the slingshot effect which requires the object to first be in an independent orbit around the Sun before it whips around the planet. In addition, the energy gained by the object is not "free" nor infinite, as it comes at the expense of the planet's own orbit around the Sun.

[Greg H.]

I'm not clear on this, but are you suggesting putting an actual physical track around the Earth?

 

If so, there is a couple of problems with that. For one, it won't stay there. The section closest to the Earth will feel more gravity and be pulled to the Earth and eventually hit it. This would happen to any solid ring around the Earth. This was proven to be true mathematically more than a century ago. (This proof was originally used to show the Saturn's rings could not be solid.)

 

For the other. even if you could keep the track in place, it would not generate any extra energy. While the object would gain speed as they got closer to the Earth, they would lose it again as they climbed back away.

 

As mentioned in a couple of the posts above, your system would not take advantage of the slingshot effect which requires the object to first be in an independent orbit around the Sun before it whips around the planet. In addition, the energy gained by the object is not "free" nor infinite, as it comes at the expense of the planet's own orbit around the Sun.

 

Now there's an interesting math problem - how much mass would you have to slingshot around Jupiter to destabilize it's orbit and cause it to fall inwards towards the sun?

 

The obvious answer being a metric arse-load, but is there a way to put a number to that? Orbital mechanics are not my strong suit.

[KnowThyself]

<br />I'm not clear on this, but are you suggesting putting an actual physical track around the Earth?<br /><br />If so, there is a couple of problems with that.  For one, it won't stay there. The section closest to the Earth will feel more gravity and be pulled to the Earth and eventually hit it.  This would happen to any solid ring around the Earth.  This was proven to be true mathematically more than a century ago. (This proof was originally used to show the Saturn's rings could not be solid.)<br /><br />For the other. even if you could keep the track in place, it would not generate any extra energy.  While the object would gain speed as they got closer to the Earth, they would lose it again as they climbed back away. <br /><br />As mentioned in a couple of the posts above, your system would not take advantage of the slingshot effect which requires the object to first be in an independent orbit around the Sun before it whips around the planet.   In addition, the energy gained by the object is not "free" nor infinite, as it comes at the expense of the planet's own orbit around the Sun.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

 

Ah thank you for explaining it.