Potential Energy

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Subject Author Date Potential Energy karela 06-05-2009  Re: Potential Energy Jasen Betts 06-05-2009  Re: Potential Energy Doc O'Leary 06-05-2009  Re: Potential Energy daestrom 06-05-2009  Re: Potential Energy Charles 06-05-2009  Re: Potential Energy z 06-06-2009  Re: Potential Energy Lawrence Statto... 06-06-2009  Re: Potential Energy Don Stauffer 06-06-2009  Re: Potential Energy harry 06-09-2009  Re: Potential Energy Joel Koltner 06-09-2009  Re: Potential Energy Michael A. Terr... 06-10-2009  Re: Potential Energy ghio 06-10-2009  Re: Potential Energy Michael A. Terr... 06-10-2009  Re: Potential Energy ghio 06-10-2009  Re: Potential Energy Michael A. Terr... 06-11-2009  Re: Potential Energy BobG 06-11-2009  Re: Potential Energy RogerGibb 06-11-2009  Re: Potential Energy Alistair Gunn 06-12-2009  Re: Potential Energy z 06-12-2009  Re: Potential Energy aasberry 06-12-2009
Posted by karela on June 5, 2009, 5:00 am Please log in for more thread options When we go upstairs we spend a lot of energy that gets stored as potential energy. When we go downstairs we waste all the potential energy. Couldn't anyone invent a good way of coming down so the potential energy could be converted to other forms of energy that could be converted to electricity when needed?? Posted by Jasen Betts on June 5, 2009, 4:36 am Please log in for more thread options > When we go upstairs we spend a lot of energy that gets stored as potential > energy. When we go downstairs we waste all the potential energy. Couldn't > anyone invent a good way of coming down so the potential energy could be > converted to other forms of energy that could be converted to electricity > when needed?? an escalator driving a generator ? piezo-electric stair treads? Posted by Doc O'Leary on June 5, 2009, 11:36 am Please log in for more thread options > When we go upstairs we spend a lot of energy that gets stored as potential > energy. When we go downstairs we waste all the potential energy. Couldn't > anyone invent a good way of coming down so the potential energy could be > converted to other forms of energy that could be converted to electricity > when needed?? How much are you willing to spend on a contraption to power a 100W light bulb for less than 1 minute? <http://www23.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=potential+energy+of+100kg+at+5m> <http://www23.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=100W+*+1+minute> -- My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, localhost, googlegroups.com, ono.com, and probably your server, too. Posted by daestrom on June 5, 2009, 11:49 am Please log in for more thread options > When we go upstairs we spend a lot of energy that gets stored as potential > energy. When we go downstairs we waste all the potential energy. Couldn't > anyone invent a good way of coming down so the potential energy could be > converted to other forms of energy that could be converted to electricity > when needed?? Well in *theory*, yes you certainly could. Something as simple as a bucket and rope tied to a pulley turning a shaft. When you want to go downstairs you just climb into the bucket and let it lower you through a hole in the floor. Of course there will be *some* losses. But lets look at just how much energy we're talking about. Raising a 200 lbm man up 10 feet in normal gravity would put 2000 ft-lbf of energy into the man. If you could recover *all* of that, that is a mere 0.75 watt-hours (not kW-hr, just watt-hour). So if he goes up the stairs 20 times a day for a year, he'll have used 20*365*.75 / 1000 = 5.5 kW-hr of energy. Recover *all* of that perfectly and you have about $1 worth of electricity for the year. Going up stairs 20 times a day is great exercise, but it won't generate much energy for you. daestrom Posted by Charles on June 5, 2009, 8:34 pm Please log in for more thread options > When we go upstairs we spend a lot of energy that gets stored as potential > energy. When we go downstairs we waste all the potential energy. Couldn't > anyone invent a good way of coming down so the potential energy could be > converted to other forms of energy that could be converted to electricity > when needed?? Jump onto a platform with pulleys and counter-weights. The resulting rotational energy can be stored in a battery via a rotating generator. The overall efficiency will be less than 15%. The time to pay of your investment (for all of the pulleys, and gears, and a safe platform, and the rotating generator with a storage battery) will be infinity years. Similar Threads Posted Storing wind-generated energy as gravitational potential energy? December 7, 2008, 10:31 am Re: Storing wind-generated energy as gravitational potential energy? December 10, 2008, 9:48 am Re: Storing wind-generated energy as gravitational potential December 9, 2008, 7:38 am Re: Storing wind-generated energy as gravitational potential December 13, 2008, 3:43 am Re: HUGE GROWTH POTENTIAL FOR THE FUEL CELLS MARKET DUE TO ENERGY January 20, 2007, 6:11 am Green Energy Summit 2009: Clean Technology, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability November 15, 2008, 12:52 am Asia's largest conference on Green Energy, Clean Technology and Renewable energy November 20, 2008, 1:30 am NEXT WEEK: INTERNATIONAL SEMINARS ON SOLAR ENERGY AT THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY March 10, 2010, 1:26 pm Refrigerator Energy Usage - cost-benefit analysis energy star August 9, 2008, 10:49 am Air Products and FuelCell Energy Begin Construction of High Efficiency Hydrogen Energy Station March 20, 2007, 12:14 pm