A machine to convert gravity to mechanical energy # 2

[TinselKoala]

The maximum impact velocity for a object falling 10 ft is about 17 mi/hr.
For 8 ft the tanks fall in a continuous column, when the tanks fall as a continuous column there is almost no drag with the water. At the top and bottom the tanks are pulled along by the draft of the preceding tanks.       

Which, sadly, once again, illustrates that you have very little experience or knowledge about how things really behave. Your first sentence assumes free fall of an unconnected weight. The rest of the statement refers to your device, where the falling tanks are also lifting the rising tanks, hence, very much slower than free falling, hence your momentum calculations are in error.
In addition, even though your tanks are falling in a column, there will be a lot of resistance from the water.
And in another addition, your pulley mechanism, like all pulley mechanisms, trades off force for distance. The quantity you are dealing with is foot-pounds, as several posters have pointed out. Your "mechanical advantage" comes with a price.   

If anyone wants some casual amusement, you can compare Mondrasek's and my early dialog from a few months ago, concerning his magnet-assisted gravity wheel, with the current dialog between Mondrasek and brian334.

[mondrasek]

Brian,

I'm trying to follow the progress of one cylinder all the way around the "loop".  I'll start at the bottom, where the cylinder has no velocity, but is now boyant since it has expanded and is filled with air.  I'll call this cylinder #0.  So it starts at zero velocity and begins to accelerate upwards.  But the cylinder above it (let's call it #1) has already accelerated to a velocity greater than zero and is continuing to accelerate.  So cylinder #0 will never catch cylinder #1.  In fact, the gap between them will increase on the way up.

Likewise, the gap between cylinders will increase on the way down when they are heavier than the water they displace, right?

Brian,

This is from my first reply to you.  It explains how your cylinders will *not* be in a continuous column, end to end, either while falling or rising.  There will always be a gap between them that will actually increase the further they drop or rise.  There will be water on all sides creating drag.  You will never come close to the 17mi/hr speed you are assuming.

The drag due to water only on the sides (if you could create a continuous column of tanks) is also quite real and large.  That is why boats, that are neither sinking or rising, require so much energy to be pushed through the water.  It is due to the drag of the water on the hull, very much like the drag your tanks will have on their side surfaces.

Consider a topedo or submarine, both shapes that are designed to be as fast as possible in water.  How fast do they go, and how much thrust does it take to achieve those speeds?  Your tanks are not similarly shaped to minimize the drag, any you only have one pound of "thrust".  Your terminal velocity will be much, much lower than 17 mi/hr.

Have you ever considered how quickly a bullet slows when fired into water?  It is again a very good shape to go quickly through a fluid.  But the drag due to the water will slow it quite quickly to it's terminal velocity, in only a few feet!  This is because the force due to drag is also proportional to the speed at which you are going through the fluid.

M.

[mondrasek]

If anyone wants some casual amusement, you can compare Mondrasek's and my early dialog from a few months ago, concerning his magnet-assisted gravity wheel, with the current dialog between Mondrasek and brian334.

TK, I totaly understand the frustration I brought to you back then!  And I feel I owe you and this community for the help and knowledge you and others gave during that exchange as well as since while trying to understand other neat ideas posted here.  Guess that is why I am trying to help Brian out similarly.  Thanks again for sticking it out with me back then.

M.

[brian334]

TK
The falling tanks do not lift the rising tanks.

[brian334]

HOW MUCH WOULD THE TANK EXPAND?
Imagine a tank that displaces about 1 cb ft of water submersed to a depth of about 10 ft.
The dimensions of the tank are about 12 in x12in x 12 in.
At the top of the submersed tank is a 64 lb lead weight. Say the lead weight at the top of the tank is 1 inch thick.
That means the 64 lb lead weight can fall 11 inches before it hits the bottom of the tank.
Now imagine a piston with a surface area of 1 square inch is attach to the bottom of the lead weight.
The external water pressure at a depth of 10 ft. is about 4.3 lb/ sq in.
Could 64 lb weight overcome the 4.3 lb/sq. in. external water pressure and push the piston with the 1 sq. in. surface area out of the tank? Yes it could. How many pistons with a surface area of 1 sq. in. could 64 lb. Push out of the tank?
64 lb. divide by 4.3 lb/sq in = 14.9
So, as the 64 lb weight falls a distance of 11 in it will push 14.9 pistons with a surface area of 1 sq. in. out of the tank a distance of 11 in.
What is the volume of the 14.9 pistons? 1 sq in x 11 in x 14.9 pistons = 163 cubic inches
So, the displacement of the tank would increase by 163 cubic inches.
Water weights .036 lb/cu. in.
So how much less would the submersed tank weight after the 14.9 pistons were pushed out of it when the 64 lb weight in the tank falls 11 in ?
163 cu. in. x .036 lbs/cu in = 5.8 lb.
So what we can conclude is that a 64 lb weight falling a distance of 11 in can increase the displacement of a tank submersed in 10 ft of water by 5.8 lb.
  The next question is what if the 64 lb weight falls 10 ft instead of 11 in ?
Would the falling 64 lb weight expand the tank by 10 ft x 5.8 lb/ ft = 58 lb. No it would not.  The tank expanding 58 lb would be the maximum possible. 
  The maximum impact velocity for a object falling 10 ft is about 17 mi/hr.
So how fast would the 64 lb fall? For 8 ft the tanks fall in a continuous column, when the tanks fall as a continuous column there is almost no drag with the water. Drag is based on the amount of liquid moved. When the tanks fall as a continuous column there is almost no liquid being moved. At the top and bottom the tanks are pulled along by the draft of the preceding tanks.
The maximum increase in tank displacement caused by the 64 lb weight falling 10 ft is
58 lb.  What if we only got measly 50 %?     29 lb - 3 lb wt of the tank = a increase in the displacement of the tank 26 lb/cycle.  We could probably do better than 50 % of the maximum.