I had an idea somewhat related to this where we use the solar winds as a sort of road and the earth's magnetic field as a sort of rotor to convert kinetic energy from the sun into electricity.
Sounds like solar power with extra steps
Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
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Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#42Wouldn't this eventually slow down Earth's rotation? The rotational kinetic energy of our planet is 1/5 M * R^2 * w^2 with (approximately) M = 6e34 kg, R = 6.3e6m, w = 7.4e-5 rad/s, which gives approximately 5e36 joules. Yearly we need roughly 3e16 Wh. Yeah ok there's plenty. Woah! (also, I may be off by some orders of magnitude)
Doesn’t driving west to east on a highway slow down the Earth’s rotation, via the power transferred into the ground?
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#43Wouldn't this eventually slow down Earth's rotation? The rotational kinetic energy of our planet is 1/5 M * R^2 * w^2 with (approximately) M = 6e34 kg, R = 6.3e6m, w = 7.4e-5 rad/s, which gives approximately 5e36 joules. Yearly we need roughly 3e16 Wh. Yeah ok there's plenty. Woah! (also, I may be off by some orders of magnitude)
This is addressed in the last paragraph of the article:
> Even if it works, the method will not generate energy from thin air. It would tap Earth’s kinetic energy and, in doing so, cause the planet’s spinning to slow over time — although only slightly. If the technique provided all of Earth’s electricity needs, which was around 11 trillion watts in 2022, this would slow the planet’s spin by 7 milliseconds over the next century, the authors calculate. This is similar to the change in speed caused by natural phenomena such as the Moon’s pull and changing dynamics inside the planet’s core.
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#44Why does the earth have a magnetic field?
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#45It's incredible the lengths humanity is willing to go to avoid adopting nuclear energy - despite the US navy driving mobile reactors millions of miles over the last 70 years.
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#46Why does the earth have a magnetic field?
The earths rotation creates it. Or was this rhetorical.
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#47I wonder how many wats of power we would be able to generate before earth slows down for i.e. 1 second longer day.
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#48Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#49The topic is very interesting. The spin of science, is not.
Side story: What's to argue over?
There's no shortage of scientists with breakthroughs who are pretty much abused by their profession and colleagues, sometimes for decades, simply for exploring possibilities and capabilities that are more than safe and conservative and incremental.
Either it's true, or it's not, and it can be explored, or not.
Division breeds who is right and wrong, not what is right or wrong.
Maybe it can be proven, maybe not. Maybe it's true and we don't understand it yet. The naysayers might just not be wanting someone else to succeed.
Re: Can Earth's rotation generate power? Physicists divided over controversial claim
#50My Stupid Question, please don't laugh: If you did this on a massive enough scale, to generate serious amounts of power, would that accidentally slow the Earth's rotation down over time?
Not stupid at all, especially if only one part of physics exists and not quantum physics.