Can Magnets Be Used to Generate Energy Through Repelling Forces?

[MattBooth44]

Ok first off do any of you think that magnets could be used to create energy? After all when you put two of the same polarities together they repel. Well could this repeling motion be turned into energy. I have drawn up a way that i believe we could levitate or float a large magnet and what this could be used for i have no idea but i do not claim the picture to be correct or to even work. Its just a rough thought in my head. I know that magnets can be made by heating certain materials like iron then placing them in a strong magnetic field but would these magnets stay magnetic and could magnets even be made in this large of a scale?

 

[Dale]

Hi MattBooth44, welcome to PF!

You certainly can build magnetic levitation devices. Energy and levitation are not the same thing. It does not require energy to levitate. There are many different types of magnetic levitation.

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

Your idea that you could use magnetic levitation to turn a generator and get more energy out than you put in is a perpetual motion machine. It is against the laws of nature and also against the rules of the forum.

 

[Curl]

1000000000000 people have though of this already and it doesn't work. If this worked, then Universe wouldn't work, so as long as you are alive you know the universe is stable enough to sustain life which means the conservation of energy is in effect.

P.S. You might be frustrated because it seems you can get so close, and you might not see the true reason why it shouldn't work. If you want to get a deeper understanding of why this can't work, study calculus, vector analysis, and electrodynamics. It is neat stuff and you'll see exactly (using mathematics) why this can't work (has to do with properties of magnetic field, div=0 etc) Good luck.

 

[Drakkith]

Little known fact: Magnets DO create energy! Or rather, they transfer energy from things like kinetic energy of a turbine into electrical energy in a power plant. Without a source of energy to take from, you cannot create energy from anything else. This is why we need fuel to burn to release energy, or a river to provide hydroelectric power.

Every electic fan, motor, or anything else that uses electricity to turn or move contains electromagnets to transfer the energy from one form into another.

 

[KingNothing]

After all when you put two of the same polarities together they repel. Well could this repeling motion be turned into energy.

A rookie mistake is neglecting the work done to move the magnets to their position in the first place.

"when you put them together" = you need to do work on the magnets
"they repel" = they in turn do the same amount of work back on their surroundings

 

[canadmonster]

Little known fact: Magnets DO create energy! Or rather, they transfer energy from things like kinetic energy of a turbine into electrical energy in a power plant. Without a source of energy to take from, you cannot create energy from anything else. This is why we need fuel to burn to release energy, or a river to provide hydroelectric power.

Every electic fan, motor, or anything else that uses electricity to turn or move contains electromagnets to transfer the energy from one form into another.

but if a magnet generator was made what would it be worth?

 

[russ_watters]

This should have been locked when it was first started...it is now.