There has been some discussion about the potential power available from Bessler’s wheel. Comparisons have been made between the Merseburg wheel and the Kassel wheel. The two wheels were of a similar diameter but the Kassel wheel was 18 inches thick compared with the Merseburg wheel’s 12 inches. The Kassel wheel, which turned more slowly than its predecessor, the Merseburg wheel, was designed to complete a long endurance test, of over one month of continuous rotation, which it easily achieved. Clearly a slower speed of rotation would withstand wear and tear to a greater degree than a faster rotation. The design had to be modified to achieve the slower rotation speed but the machine was still able to lift similar weights to previous machines and I suggest the extra thickness of the wheel satisfied this need.
Bessler wrote that he could make wheels of greater or smaller size and with various speeds. He went on to suggest that the useful output of the machine could be multiplied by increasing the size of the interior workings, or by making wheels of up to 20 ells in diameter, about 37 feet! In 1700, John Rowley built a tidal wheel to pump water from the Thames to the Royal family at Windsor which measured 24 foot long by 12 foot high, so Bessler’s estimate was quite possible. An alternative number of identical wheels could be mounted on a single axle thus multiplying the power of the resulting assembly many times.
These suggestions make good sense, so deriding the potential power possible from Bessler’s wheel without considering how one might increase the output and versatility of this remarkable invention seems like “throwing the baby out with the bath water”, an old German proverb.
Bessler’s suggestion that his wheel could help pump water from water flooded mines was never developed due to the Newcomen steam engine, but increasing the power of his wheel was never examined due to the distrust built up by the maid’s false accusations.
This does raise the question, what could have his perpetual motion machine be used for? He suggested mills, and irrigation but satisfactory alternatives were in daily use and there was little call for his invention to be brought in to test the market. Of course electricity generation would have provided an excellent use for his machine, but he was about 300 years too early! But not now - the time is right, with global warming, pollution from fossil fuels, lack of affordable, low tech ways of generating electricity Bessler’s wheel is needed today.
JC
"But not now - the time is right, with global warming, pollution from fossil fuels, lack of affordable, low tech ways of generating electricity Bessler’s wheel is needed today."
ReplyDeleteThe general public is slowly starting to think that "Climate Change" was over hyped and "Green Energy" is a scam! More and more countries are starting to view "Net Zero" as a fantasy that cannot be achieved and spending trillions of dollars trying to do that is a colossal waste. Already in Britain the citizens are starting to complain that they were originally told Green Energy would lower their electric bills and help save humanity from certain doom, but now, a decade later, their bills are two to three times higher than the rest of Europe and the atmospheric CO2 levels keep rising anyway.
The problem with solar panels and wind turbines is that they are weather dependent and therefore highly variable. Yes, the Sun and wind are free, but building the infrastructure necessary to capture their energy and convert it into a form that can reliably be fed out into a nation's power grid is most definitely not free. It's actually very expensive and creates a lot of pollution. Paying for all of that can bankrupt nations and lead to a loss of industry and jobs. It's already happening in Europe and many countries are starting to think that China and India, relying mainly on coal, are actually doing the sensible thing!
As an alternative to expensive nuclear power plants, many are switching over to gas powered electric plants. One 800 megawatt gas powered electric plant replaces about 60 of those giant wind turbines in only a small fraction of the space at a fraction of the cost. It can operate 24/7 at near peak output. Wind turbines can remain idle for days if the wind stops blowing hard enough. And, of course, solar panels are useless at night. No problem you say, just use batteries to collect excess power when they are working and use it when they are not working. Sounds great until you realize the cost of something like that. It can actually triple the cost of a solar or wind farm! The world is slowly abandoning Green Energy and going right back to good old fossil fuels. There's even new research coming out showing that the CO2 they emit is only about 4% of the CO2 being emitted from natural sources and plays a negligible role in heating the atmosphere up. Even the computer models used to predict Climate Change have been found to be based on assumptions and exaggerations of various climate factors making their predictions of climate doom questionable.
So, where would Bessler's wheels fit in with all of this? Unless their power output could be dramatically increased, if they are ever duplicated, then they will just remain interesting toys like those little radiometer bulbs that they sell in the gift shops of science museums. The low power of Bessler's wheels in the early 18th century doomed them back then because they could not outperform the then newly arriving steam engines and the exact same thing could happen to them now in the early 21st century. People want results today, not promises of what might be available in the future. Fossil fuels are here and now...not Bessler's wheels. Right now they are just an interesting footnote in the history of mechanics that most of the scientific orthodoxy dismisses as having been an elaborate hoax. It's up to us to prove them wrong and, so far, we cannot do that.
I agree that "Net Zero" will only wind up in economic catastrophe for the average citizen whose nation's politicians are dumb enough to still be chasing it. That nation's national debt will soar, their social services will have to be cut, their taxes will rise, and they will, like Britain is being forced to do right now, have to import more and more electrical energy and fossil fuels (mainly LNG or liquefied natural gas) from other countries to keep from freezing during the cold winter months. Let's hope they wake up before they've gone too far down the drain that they can't crawl back out again!
DeleteRight now CO2 is only 0.042% of the atmosphere or about 420 ppm. Back in the '60's it was about 0.030% or 300 ppm. The "Greenies" want us to believe that 0.012% increase will, if it increases any further so we reach 0.050% or 500 ppm, trigger the end of human civilization! What they don't tell you (and most probably don't even know!) is that reliable research shows the percentage was much higher in prehistoric times and life went on as usual. CO2 in the atmosphere eventually gets absorbed into our planet's oceans and its upper layer of phytoplankton which uses solar energy via photosynthesis to extract the carbon from it to make the various proteins in their cells. They then get eaten by other larger marine organisms up and up the food chain. When those organisms die their remains sink to the bottom of the ocean where the carbonates in their skeletal remains add to a layer of sediment down there. That carbon is then permanently trapped down there and cannot naturally return to the atmosphere again.
We need to stop worrying about atmospheric CO2 and start worrying about feeding the billions of new humans being added to earth's population every decade. Unless that is done, the resulting desperation and political instability will threaten the survival of humanity. Right now fossil fuels can help feed most everyone. It's probably only a few more decades before fusion power becomes available to provide us with virtually unlimited, pollution free electrical energy. By then, few will even remember all of the current nonsense about Climate Change and Net Zero and life will go on.
Since all the net zero talk started a decade or so ago my electric bill is up about 50% but my income is about the same. Maybe instead of blaming fossil fuels for a predicted end of life on Earth we should think of it as solar energy trapped by plants millions of years ago and preserved inside the Earth for our use now? That means fossil fuels are actually "green" and we should use as much of them as we can get. An over supply will bring prices down and the money we save can be used to buy products and services that then provide jobs for people so they can support themselves and their families and live decent lives. Coal isn't our enemy...stupid politicians encouraged by fanatical "greenies" along with their media dupes are!
DeleteThis short little article will give you some of the reasons why the crazy quest for Net Zero is slowly destroying the British economy:
Deletehttps://principia-scientific.com/net-zero-lies-exposed-promises-undermined/
Here's a nice diagram I found which backs up what anon 18:45 wrote above. It shows how carbon moves around in our environment and eventually gets absorbed by the sea life in our oceans and then becomes sediment at the bottom of the ocean which then turns into rocks. Hopefully, we'll never run out of carbon! Without carbon life itself would be impossible!
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Most people don't know that coal is actually used as a semi-precious GEMSTONE! I kid you not. It's a form of low grade coal called lignite that is formed from fossilized wood and, as a gemstone, is called "Jet". It can be black or dark brown in color and sometimes has bits of pyrite in it. It's been used in jewelry for centuries and was popular during Victorian times because it was associated with mourning (most likely inspired by Queen Victoria who mourned the death of her husband, Price Albert, for many years after he died in 1861). It's softer than most gemstones which allows it to be easily carved and polished. It's often made into beads for necklaces, bracelets, and prayer beads. Here's a photo of some jet stones you can buy off of a Chinese website:
Deletehttps://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/UT8j5yEXPxaXXagOFbX6/2267195/UT8j5yEXPxaXXagOFbX6.jpg
"...carbon moves around in our environment and eventually gets absorbed by the sea life in our oceans..."
DeleteOmg! If we cut back on using fossil fuels that means less carbon to make sea life! We would be shrinking their populations and endangering their species. We MUST use more fossil fuels to save our planet's fish!
More "Green" news for the British electric power customers. NEXT month you can expect your monthly electric bill to INCREASE by about 40 pounds! Happy holidays from the "Greenies"!
Deletehttps://principia-scientific.com/get-ready-for-yet-more-energy-price-rises-in-the-uk/
Good comment. Until we succeed in recreating Bessler’s wheel, we won’t know. I know you all think I’m deluded and don’t have anything useful, but I do and I’m facing the possibility of being unable complete the wheel. I have to share what I know and let others do their sims. It won’t be long.
ReplyDeleteJC
Werner von Braun once said "You're a crackpot until you hit the jackpot."
DeleteThe difference between you being considered "delusional" or a true genius is just a single reliable sim showing that your clue derived pm wheel design can work. However, that sim won't be made by you and cannot be made by anyone else unless you do reveal whatever you are working on. The longer you delay, the longer your "day of reckoning" is being delayed. If your design turns out to be a nonrunner, then that means the longer some modification that might turn it into a runner, if that is possible, is being delayed. That then means the longer you getting any credit and well earned fame for finding a design that could be turned into a runner is being delayed.
You are actually running the real risk of dropping dead before you reveal anything! That would be a real shame, imo. As a result, you would receive nothing for your pm wheel research over the years and be considered to be just another delusional pm chaser for the rest of history although you would hopefully still be remembered as a Bessler biographer who managed to commission some English translations of his works to help keep interest in him and his wheels alive. Not exactly a bad epitaph...but one that might have been a lot more impressive...like maybe Nobel Prize impressive!
Blog Topic "Did Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine Arrive Before ItsTime?"
DeleteIt is what it is. It never went to market in its day, or to mainstream. It may never get to market and into commercial use today if it is rediscovered now. Commercial realities of competing and upcoming technologies that perhaps take less space i.e. are more energy dense, and possibly more powerful or efficient. Having said that a runner today would still need periodic repairs and maintenance as do all other competing technologies, and a runner would be a clear winner in one regard for its 24/7 run time and no need to refuel inherent efficiency.
For me the attraction of finally seeing a working Bessler Wheel is not a commercial or utility one. It is finally that someone will solve an age old mystery that has more than taxed the minds of many, even well before and after Bessler. There wouldn't be many more worthy nuts to crack than a mechanical source of ambient free-energy. The intellectual challenge alone as we know all to well is proving to be massive and the sweat and tears expended promotes it when finally found into the realms of one of the greatest puzzles mankind could hope to solve. It may have potential at the very least to rewrite the general understanding and nuances of our classical physics foundation which has previously stood on unimpeachable ground. I'd like to be on the sidelines for that debate, the time is now.
I just want it solved because I want to finally know how it worked. Yeah I know we have that Ken B design but all he has is a sim that HE claims works. No one else has duplicated his sim or made an actual working wheel from it. At least John has something you can put your hands on. In my book nothing beats a hands on model especially if it works. The question is can John's wheel work or be made to work?
DeleteLike all of us he's had nothing but one failure after another for years (more like decades!). His latest and supposedly last attempt could just be another one but maybe not. A friend of mine likes to say we always find things in the last place we look for them. Like everyone else here I'm also waiting to see John's secret design and if it's another dead duck perpetual stationary wheel then I will do whatever I can to try to help him make it work. I don't care if it only puts out 1/4 watt! As long as it can keep itself in motion that is all that will be needed to make all of the "we got all the answers" scientists out there eat their words. They've had their ego trips mocking us for centuries. Hopefully soon it will be payback time!
Just as soon as we see at least two independent sims showing John's pm wheel is a runner I will be contacting a bakery in Warwickshire and have them make up this delicious five layer, five sided ice cream cake for him and have it immediately delivered to his residence (the year on the cake can be changed if necessary). I will also have a case of his favorite wine delivered along with it. His final success calls for a grand celebration!
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Mmmm...tasty ice cream! I intend to get myself an ice cream cake whether John has a runner or not! But, my cake will be octagon shaped. Sorry, John...to each his own when it comes to pm wheel designs.
DeleteHey I'm 100% sure I'll have my wheel running early next year. Maybe someone could send me a free case of booze so I can start celebrating early? Like for Christmas would be good? No wine though cause I need something stronger. Gin would be okay or rum. Thx.
DeleteThat does look very tasty! This year I hope.😃
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