Building a self looping "SMOT"

[happyfunball]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vINnB7tii8s

[norman6538]

Hi, Dreamthinkbuild, that is a very nice drawing that shows your concept very well. I want to put that idea together to see how it works. What software do you use to draw?

Norman

[JouleSeeker]

  In this quest for new understanding, I think we should give Elecar's device a chance.  And I think most of us are doing so.  There is something about permanent non-conducting magnets well worth exploring, IMHO.  And I appreciate Elecar's sharing.

  Now there is a "sleeper" post from the last page that caught my attention -- by MeggerMan:

What you have here is very interesting.
This evening I have been playing with some 10 x 13 x 10 x 1.5mm x 1m aluminium chanel and a 24mm steel ball bearing and a very large 6 x 4 x 1" ceramic 8 slab magnet.
I can see the effect where the ball is pulled up the incline and then falls back down again under gravity, the cycle then repeats, with the ball zipping up and down the track for around 30 seconds before it stops.
I tried it with the track sitting on top of the slab magnets long edge on so the N-S faces of magnet face out to the sides.
Not sure it this config would be good for your setup as the magnet is below the track.
I have been using Lego bricks to build the support for the tracks.

You are right about the null spot in the middle of the magnet array, this would make the logical exit point away from the magnet using the downward momentum to carry it away from the null point and back around to the start.

Looks like you have an interesting "replication" MeggerMan.

"I can see the effect where the ball is pulled up the incline and then falls back down again under gravity, the cycle then repeats, with the ball zipping up and down the track for around 30 seconds before it stops."

This is significant -- can YOU show us a video?  Say, a 40 second video so we can see this cycle repeating? Very interesting stuff!    And notice, again, the use of non-conducting permanent magnets...

[maw2432]

Here is a photo. The ball is sitting where it stopped at 14 inches and was dropped from the top on the left. I did not have magnets in this photo but there are 2 jigs in the center. One has two half holes to align the tubing so the nails can hold it at the right place. The jig on the  left was used to make the holes evenly and at the center of the tubing.
The tubing does not look evenly spaced due to the camera angles but it is quite evenly spaced.

Not much but may be helpful to other builders.

Norman

Norman, 
It looks like your ball may also be riding/touching the ply-wood base causing increased friction.   If so, maybe your rails are too far apart?
Bill

[JouleSeeker]

  I found the scientific treatise I was looking for, that I referred to earlier:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/mansuripur.pdf

  I especially urge TK and Conrad to read and comment.  It is an eye-opener! 

Note that Dr. Kirk McDonald is writing from Princeton University and has written a number of papers on the momentum associated with magnetic fields.
   Here I quote from the conclusion of the above-linked paper:

2.7  Physical Realizations of Magnetic Moments[/font][size=0px]The behavior of a moving current loop in an external electric field depends on the physical[/size][size=0px]nature of the current.[/size][size=0px]If the current flows in a resistive conductor, that conductor would "shield" the current[/size][size=0px]from a constant, uniform external electric field[/size][size=0px]E[/size][size=0px]if the conductor is at rest or in uniform[/size][size=0px]motion with respect to the field. In this case there would be no Lorentz force on the current[/size][size=0px]due to the external field, and no torque in the frame where the current loop has velocity  v.[/size][size=0px]Similarly, if the current loop is a superconductor, the supercurrent is "shielded" from the[/size][size=0px]external field, and there is no torque.[/size][size=0px]A model of a neutral current loop that could realize Mansuripur's paradox is a pair of[/size][size=0px]nonconducting, coaxial disks with positive charge fixed to the rim of one and negative charge[/size][size=0px]on the other, with the disks rotating in opposite senses with the same magnitude of angular[/size][size=0px]velocity. The paradox applies also to models in which the current is a charged, compressible[/size][size=0px]gas or liquid that flow inside a nonconducting tube (models i and iii of [5]).[/size]25[/font][size=0px]In sum, the present example can be realized only in rather "academic" thought experiments if the magnetic momenent is due to conduction current loops.[/size][size=0px]The most practical realization of the present example would involve magnetic fields due[/size][size=0px]to intrinsic (Amp`erian) magnetic momentums,  such as associated  with a nonconducting permanent magnet, or a neutron.[/size]

Thus, there is something "different" with the "nonconducting permanent magnet" -- as found empirically by Elecar and I think MeggerMan and perhaps others.

Attached see some of the math behind his conclusion, to encourage further reading of the treatise: