GRAVITY MOTOR - DEVELOPMENT
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Your
gravity motor will be fun to play with but it will be much better if you
can build something for it to drive. It will work best turning an object
which is light and balanced, so that once it is turning it will act as
a kind of flywheel.
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Ideal are animation toys that create the illusion
of moving pictures. Two are illustrated on this page. The one on the
left, a ZOETROPE,
is fairly common, you may have made one already.
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The one on the right is called
a PHENAKISTASCOPE [yes, really!]. In fact
the one shown seems to be powered by what looks like a gravity motor.
What do you think?
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The
modification shown on the left allows the tread to run down between 2
tables of the same height - so there's one way.
If you decide to have a longer drop and take the thread over a pulley
that is higher than the motor then the motor will fly into the air! Then
you will need some way of holding it down.
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If
you are going to use your gravity motor to drive some sort of simple machine
you are not going to want to hold it in your hand all the time. If you
try running the thread over the edge of the table the weight will pull
the motor across the table and over the edge. So, short of nailing it
down, what are you going to do?
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There is one kind of machine that has
used gravity power for centuries - the CLOCK.
From the eariest mechanical church clocks of the
Middle Ages to the elegant long case, or 'grandfather', clocks of the
nineteeth century falling weights have been used to do the work of turning
the hands. That's why we 'wind up' clockwork - we wind
the weights up again when they have
reached the bottom.
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