SMOT! - (previously about the OC MPMM)

[gwhy!]

Omnibus,,, you dont half make me laugh.... 

[shruggedatlas]

Not now. It has been sorted out long ago. A spring cannot spontaneously stay in a strained position. When let go after being strained it always relaxes back to its normal state. Not so in SMOT.

I agree on the bit about the rubber band wanting to relax back to normal state.  My question is, why does it matter?  Let's say we never allow the rubber band to relax.  Then, it becomes no different from a magnet.  Examine the scenario below, where we add a green bar to stop the ball from retracting back to X.

So what happens is the ball starts at A, pulled against the green bar.  Then,as before, experimenter places the ball at B, lets go, the ball spontaneously moves to C, falls of the rails and returns to A.

I do not see any difference between this concept and your smot.

[Omnibus]

Not now. It has been sorted out long ago. A spring cannot spontaneously stay in a strained position. When let go after being strained it always relaxes back to its normal state. Not so in SMOT.

I agree on the bit about the rubber band wanting to relax back to normal state.  My question is, why does it matter?  Let's say we never allow the rubber band to relax.  Then, it becomes no different from a magnet.  Examine the scenario below, where we add a green bar to stop the ball from retracting back to X.

So what happens is the ball starts at A, pulled against the green bar.  Then,as before, experimenter places the ball at B, lets go, the ball spontaneously moves to C, falls of the rails and returns to A.

I do not see any difference between this concept and your smot.

I said that and I'll repeat it. Your experiment would be analogous to SMOT if, after the ball goes up the ramp in your experiment, it goes through C and A in your experiment and then spontaneously returns at B in your experiment. In your experiment the ball can never return spontaneously at B, however. Therefore, it is not analogous to SMOT. In SMOT, on the contrary, the ball returns spontaneously at what you have marked as B (in SMOT your B is denoted with another letter, namely A).

This may not seem significant to you but in fact it is quite significant. In SMOT for the first time ever a possibility is shown to have spontaneous acquiring of energy (straining) instead of spontaneously spending it (relaxing). Another analogy to that would be to see water spontaneously running uphill. This you'll never see in the case of water but in the case of a ball in SMOT it is exactly what is seen and that's quite significant.

[Omnibus]

Notice carefully, in SMOT the greatest strain is at what is marked there as point A (in your experiment this is point B). Point A in SMOT (that is, your point B) is where the experiment begins and spontaneously ends in SMOT. In your case the experiment begins at your point B but does not end spontaneously there. Hope now you can see the difference and that it's a substantial difference.

[shruggedatlas]

Notice carefully, in SMOT the greatest strain is at what is marked there as point A (in your experiment this is point B). Point A in SMOT (that is, your point B) is where the experiment begins and spontaneously ends in SMOT. In your case the experiment begins at your point B but does not end spontaneously there. Hope now you can see the difference and that it's a substantial difference.

Maybe you are confused by the fact that B is lower than A, or where the ball position is.  Please do not put so much emphasis on this.  I know you are a smart person, so I think you can picture it the way I meant it.

Between our two experiments, A is A, B is B, C is C.  I can put the ball at A in the drawing if it helps matters.  I simply put it at B, because that is where the action is, so I thought it would be more illustrative, but I think in restrospect it was slightly confusing.  Surely you can picture my experiment, where the ball starts at A, is moved by hand to the ramp at B, accelerates to C, falls off and returns spontaneously to A?