Gravity Turbine: Harnessing Power from Falling Mass

[Danille]

We can make energy from the force of water moving, to turn a turbine. Is there a way to eliminate the water, but to just use the pull that gravity exerts against all matter instead?
If you need to have mass moving in order to harness that power, is there a way to siphon off the energy that is expended when things fall to the ground, even if it only a tiny amount of energy and then mutiply that process to an expotential rate?

 

[berkeman]

We can make energy from the force of water moving, to turn a turbine. Is there a way to eliminate the water, but to just use the pull that gravity exerts against all matter instead?
If you need to have mass moving in order to harness that power, is there a way to siphon off the energy that is expended when things fall to the ground, even if it only a tiny amount of energy and then mutiply that process to an expotential rate?

Welcome to the PF.

There is no "free energy". For a water turbine to work, you need the energy input of the sun to evaporate water to return it to the top of the reservior in the form of rain. Unfortunately, you cannot tap useful energy out of the gravitational field of the Earth alone.

 

[enigma619]

I think you may find there is a difference in turning a simple "wheel" using kinetic enegry
where the weight of the water or whatever material you use offsets the wheel causing it to turn. A turbine does use the same basic concept but instead of using simple kinetic enegry, heat is generally applied to burn fuel, create steam or pressure and that force is used to turn the device at controlled or acellerated speeds for whatever purpose. Using gravity goes back to a kineticly driven device like a wheel which is offset by wheight causing it to turn.