Free energy, smoke and mirrors or BS?

[neksmerj]

Surely this is bull poo! My son showed me a video on YouTube of a bloke lighting up a light globe.

He had disc magnets attached to the blades of a 12V computer fan, and when an external magnet was introduced, the fan spun lighting up a globe.

If this is fair dinkum, why isn't it done on a larger scale. Imagine powering your workshop for nix.

I've got a fan, all I need is some magnets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiAhiu6UqXQ

Anyone had a go at this?

Ken

[KBs PensNmore]

Probably not done on a commercial scale, because of the prohibitive cost, size of magnets, generators etc.
The size of the magnets would probably upset the earth's magnetic poles, compasses etc.
Kryn

[mark david]

Quite fascinating, obviously works as the magnets repell each other.
Wouldnt scale up to large scale electricity generation though.

[jhovel]

Scam. Either the globe or the fan contain a battery to light the globe.
It is however possible to make a fan spin with magnets on the blades that have all their poles (North or South) facing one way and repel them with another magnet facing it's same pole towards these fan magnets.
It's when you try to extract energy beyond the repelling force minus the friction losses in the bearings that the whole thing just stops.
The bottom line is still E=mc²
You get no energy from nothing. To work, the magnets would have to slowly disappear in the process (which they don't). That would be the mass (m) reducing.
The closest we get so far is nuclear fission, where we can extract masses of energy packed into small amounts of Uranium - which slowly disappears in the process (or rather deteriorates to other elements with lower energy density and mass).
Fusion will be a different thing and when it is possible to make it work on a useful scale under control - without releasing all the potential energy all at once like the hydrogen bomb.
It would produce energy without any leftovers by just feeding in the fusion materials (molecules smaller/lighter than nickel)....

In the meantime, there seems to be a large group of people with inappropriate physics education who fervently believe that technologies exist to do that today but are surpressed by the "energy producing industry or powers". The video you were shown is one such example of people who want to prove to even more people that this conspiracy theory is true but can be undermined.
Believe it or not.....

[bob ward]

Free energy = smoke and mirrors and BS. Always!

[snowyskiesau]

It's not done because it's not possible.
There's a battery somewhere.

[doug3030]

What is being shown in the video is kind of possible but not practical.

The fan is powered by an electric motor. An electric motor can be used as a generator by turning the motor by mechanical means. A motor consists of magnets and electrical coils that create electro-magnets when electric current is applied. If an electrical current is applied to the electro-magnets and the motor shaft is turned mechanically, the magnets in the motor induce a current into the electrical coils that make the electromagnets.

In the video they are turning the motor in the fan by effectively creating a bigger stronger motor out of rare earth magnets on the blades and also one fixed magnet to provide the repelling force to turn the fan. So what we have is an electric motor turning another less efficient, weaker electric motor to make it act as a generator.

This would definitely produce electricity. However, I do not believe that a generator as small as the motor in the fan would be able to produce enough to light the globe. Light globes are becoming more and more efficient, particularly with LED technology (I replaced 50w halogen downlights with 5w LED downlights about 6 months ago for the same brightness, so the improvements in technology are real) but it may be a long time until we can find a light source efficient enough to run for free on a computer fan and a handful of rare earth magnets.

Until this is achieved, let the U-tubers play. They are inspiring others to experiment and discover.

Cheers

Doug

[.RC.]

Scam. Either the globe or the fan contain a battery to light the globe.

I dunno, I think it is just a really low micro wattage LED bulb and the energy extracted is just really really tiny, notice how he does not start the fan with the light attached...

It might produce a few millionth's of a watt... But you can get some really low power LED's these days....

Thing about engines like this, is you have the magnets pushing away on both sides, so while it is repelling the outgoing magnet, it is also repelling the incoming one..

To make one the size of powering a house, might need to be the size of a planet...

[snowyskiesau]

For opinions on this magic device, take a look at this thread over at eevblog.com. Majority of posters there are electrical/electronic engineers and don't take kindly to pseudo scientific BS.

EDIT: My apologies for the link above. I've just checked it again and it has degenerated into a thread about religion - a common occurrence on a site with no active moderators

[NCArcher]

Of course it's not possible.
It's not even a real bulb. It's a novelty thing made of plastic. You are supposed to activate it with a ring on your finger making contact between the base and metal side of the bulb.
The wires from the fan are merely twisted together. You'll notice he only ever touches the wires to the globe while the fan is spinning. The bulb would still light even if the fan was stopped.

[simonl]

I must admit I have only glossed over the replies from people here who say it can be done but short answer is it can't be done. Energy can nether be created not destroyed, only transferred. Nuclear energy from fission exploits the nuclear binding energy within the nucleus of the atom by breaking down large atoms into smaller ones. Magnets are not an energy source. You can create as much smoke and mirrors as you like with motors and magnets driving other motors etc but the net energy coming out is no more than what you put in minus any losses from friction. Agree with Joe, Fusion is the goe, once they work out how to harness it for things other than blowing eachother up! Simon

[cba_melbourne]

just another "perpetuum mobile".... presented by another magician.....

[.RC.]

Magnets are not an energy source.

Would they be a potential energy source.... Like if I was in a plane and jumped out I would have gravational potential energy I would be losing as I fall...

I am wanting to know if the fan spinning is actually real, or is it the movement of the magnet in the hand to repel the first magnet, which gets the fan spinning which does all the work, then from then on the fan is actually losing speed and only spinning through inertia.. Sort of like a flywheel...

[doug3030]

I must admit I have only glossed over the replies from people here who say it can be done but short answer is it can't be done.

So without reading the replies that say it can be done how can you contradict them with any authority?

[KBs PensNmore]

I failed all subjects at school except wagging, so I can't comment on the physicians side of things.
Kryn