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This occurred to me some time ago, but I only thought to investigate the idea recently. I have no idea if anyone else has thought of it, though.
My original question was this:
"Can the Earth's magnetic field be utilized to lift a mass into orbit?"
Now, you may be thinking (unless you've noticed this, too) that this is just bonkers.
But the thing that drove me to wonder is quite simple: I have a small, metal pin resting atop my monitor. Whenever I turn the monitor on, the pin jumps at least two inches into the air. I pondered why.
The pin isn't magnetic. I checked. So it isn't a simple case of opposing magnetic poles.
So I pondered some more.
I remembered that its generally safe to place a floppy disk or VHS video underneath a tv or monitor, because their electro-magnetic field is at its weakest on the side closest to the Earth.
Then I made the assumption (I've yet to check up on this, but the train of thought is just so interesting I had to post this) that the reason for this was simple: the Earth's magnetic field is stronger than that of the tv, and so the shape of the television's magnetic field reflects that.
But why is the pin jumping?
I figured that the reason is simple: the tiny, tiny magnetic field that the pin is producing is being acted on by two much stronger magnetic fields - that of the Earth, and my computer monitor. As the monitor's magnetic field gains strength (ie, additional energy is added to the residual charge that exists in the tube) upon my turning it on, the magnetic field of the monitor extends in an upwards direction counter to that of the Earth - the monitor just doesn't put out enough energy in the form of magnetic radiation to act upon the Earth's many-many magnitudes stronger magnetic field.
The amount of energy supplied to the pin must be tiny indeed, yet it is enough to lift the pin off of the monitor for a small amount of time. Believe me, it really /jumps/.
Unless I recall incorrectly, this is the basic principle behind a compass, is it not?
Anyway, the basic idea is that if a magnetic field of the right properties could be made to be /acted upon/ - not act upon - the Earth's magnetic field, could it be utilized to lift an object into orbit ?
Ex Astra, Scienta
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It would have to be a huge force...a pin is 2 ounces or so. A spaceship is in the 10+ tonnes range.
But I don't have an answer other than that it would be pretty difficult in any case.
Interesting, though.
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Grrr! I'll try again... hopefully my computer won't reboot halfway through me typing this out again.
Right. I did a few quick (and very rough) sums, and figured that it would take 576000000 times more energy than that which was being used by the monitor to propagate its magnetic field to lift a ten-ton space-ship. So... thats rather alot of energy, aye.
Ex Astra, Scienta
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I think it's more likely to be electro-static repulsion between the pin and the monitor than magnetic.
The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down. - Rita Rudner
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This Star Tram thing sounds like a sort of magnetic left.
Star Tram
[url]http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?Echus[/url]
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Hey, what happened to Aquakah?
[url]http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?Echus[/url]
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My (me being Auqakah) account was deleted. I have no idea why.
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I think that happened to RobS too!
Edit, nah, I just checked the members list. I just recall seeing that Guest thing after rememebering that someone had commented about something and it wasn't Guest...
Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.
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