- #1
Rodneyshibu
- 11
- 0
Dear all,
A group of students and I were designing a project aimed to harness a train's motion in order to produce electricity that can be used to run the train itself. Our idea was to connect a protruding wheel on a side of the train which consists of a dynamo located in the wheel. This dynamo will then convert the wheels motion into electric energy which will be discharged through capacitors. Our issue, however, was that some individuals say that this idea runs contrary to the law of conservation of energy. In other words, if we want to get more energy out of the train system (in the form of electricity) we have to put more energy in. And during the process of putting more energy in and taking more energy out, you will inevitably lose energy due to the Coefficient of Efficiency. What we're thinking is slightly different. Before the implementation of our project, some of the main power supply's energy is naturally wasted as sound and heat, but what we are trying to do is convert a fraction of this kinetic energy into an electrical form to instead of an unusable form. Yes this would require more input energy but only to the extent of the wheel's friction. However, our main target is to use a dynamo strong enough to generate an amount of energy larger than the wheels friction. For example, 1000 J Kinetic Energy BECOMES 700 J of heat and 300 J of sound before our idea is implemented. After the implementation though, 1000 J Kinetic Energy BECOMES 300 J of Heat, 100 J of sound and 600 J of energy goes to the wheel to rotate it. Does our point of view make sense or are these individuals correct about the impracticality of this idea? Please provide explanations for your response. Thank you!
A group of students and I were designing a project aimed to harness a train's motion in order to produce electricity that can be used to run the train itself. Our idea was to connect a protruding wheel on a side of the train which consists of a dynamo located in the wheel. This dynamo will then convert the wheels motion into electric energy which will be discharged through capacitors. Our issue, however, was that some individuals say that this idea runs contrary to the law of conservation of energy. In other words, if we want to get more energy out of the train system (in the form of electricity) we have to put more energy in. And during the process of putting more energy in and taking more energy out, you will inevitably lose energy due to the Coefficient of Efficiency. What we're thinking is slightly different. Before the implementation of our project, some of the main power supply's energy is naturally wasted as sound and heat, but what we are trying to do is convert a fraction of this kinetic energy into an electrical form to instead of an unusable form. Yes this would require more input energy but only to the extent of the wheel's friction. However, our main target is to use a dynamo strong enough to generate an amount of energy larger than the wheels friction. For example, 1000 J Kinetic Energy BECOMES 700 J of heat and 300 J of sound before our idea is implemented. After the implementation though, 1000 J Kinetic Energy BECOMES 300 J of Heat, 100 J of sound and 600 J of energy goes to the wheel to rotate it. Does our point of view make sense or are these individuals correct about the impracticality of this idea? Please provide explanations for your response. Thank you!
