Magnetic braking of magnets sliding along a sloped aluminum surface

[lumen]

Well, that's it then. It should be easy to build a free energy device using a wheel with some magnets with one larger magnet for a local field.
Just keep the local field the same magnitude as the earths field and place it inline with the north pole and opposite the inclination angle for your area.
The side of the wheel in the local field will rotate up while the other side will use the earths field and rotate down.
It should rotate for about 300 or 400 years.

[BEP]

Well, that's it then. It should be easy to build a free energy device using a wheel with some magnets with one larger magnet for a local field.
Just keep the local field the same magnitude as the earths field and place it inline with the north pole and opposite the inclination angle for your area.
The side of the wheel in the local field will rotate up while the other side will use the earths field and rotate down.
It should rotate for about 300 or 400 years.

I wish I could hand you a cigar but not today.

When the magnet 'falls' up - don't you think the effect will reverse? Symmetry again 

[lumen]

When the magnet 'falls' up - don't you think the effect will reverse? Symmetry again 

No, That is what the local field does. It makes that side of the wheel want to flip the other way. I just tested this and I'm thinking it works. The local field is only a small sphere inside the earths large field. One half of the wheel uses the local field and the other half uses the earths field.
It would be like if you could have a local spot of anti-gravity, could you make that work?

[BEP]

No, That is what the local field does. It makes that side of the wheel want to flip the other way. I just tested this and I'm thinking it works. The local field is only a small sphere inside the earths large field. One half of the wheel uses the local field and the other half uses the earths field.
It would be like if you could have a local spot of anti-gravity, could you make that work?

Ok. I think I have the correct picture. I need to sleep on your idea. In the mean time, I think our discussion is going outside the scope of this thread.

[lumen]

So now we know that the magnet sliding on an aluminum plate and sticking or flipping, is actually because of the earths magnetic field!

I believe TK first mentioned this and it seems all testing indicates this is the case.

It indicates to me that I have always under estimated the strength of the earths magnetic field. I always figured it was very weak until doing some tests myself. Just playing with a N50 magnet in your hand you can feel the earths influence, once you know what to look for.