Algodoo

Dunning-Kruger effect.

Because 1. you're not generating any kind of energy (put the simulation in 10x and look how it decreases over time) and 2. it's not really possible in real life, at least from a theoretical point of view. Also if you found a way to make a real source of energy in Algodoo it would not be replicable in real life since Algodoo is very unrealistic

@jon_joy_1999 - Right on!

@SuperMax16 - There are a lot of issues with this, and because of the fact that it's so simple, and it cannot possibly do what you claim it can do (see my explanation below), I think that you posted this scene just to get some comments, and for no other reason. Well, apparently, it worked!

Here are a couple of technical reasons why this idea cannot work:

1. Those two rectangles that you call "magnets" are not configured to repel each other. The stationary rectangle has its attraction attribute set to 100, which will actually make it "attract" other objects rather than repel them! A positive attraction value causes an attractive force, and a negative attraction value causes a repulsive force. The rotating rectangle has it attraction attribute set to ZERO! Therefore, it does not attract nor repel any other object.

2. You are attempting to make a perpetual motion machine which has been proven over and over again that such a device is physically impossible in the real world. It can be accomplished in an Algodoo scene because Algodoo is capable of defying physics. But of course that doesn't count because it is make-believe.

@Xray I have edited the scene so that the magnets now repel. I originally put a -100 so i'm not sure how it's now positive 100. I did not post this scene for comments; i was genuinely interested in this idea.

@jon_joy_1999 I never claimed to be intelligent, i just posted an idea that was stuck in my mind. Insult wasn't really necessary.

To be fair you asked for criticism. I could have given the reason that your scene description is contradictory (a thing that runs "forever" cannot "run out" of the thing that is making it run. If it did then it would not run forever). Therefore the description displays a lack of skill. Then, with forming the question "Why isn't the government using this?", you imply that you believed you knew as much as the government or more with regards to unlimited energy generation.

@jon_joy_1999 There is alot of money to be made in the oil industry, therefore the governemt may be hesitant to use this idea. I wasn't implying the many physicists working for the government hadn't already thought of this. This method of generating electricity would produce MUCH less enviromental polutants.

@SuperMax16 - You said: "There is alot of money to be made in the oil industry, therefore the governemt may be hesitant to use this idea."

The reason why "the government", or any privately owned company, for that matter, is hesitant to use this idea is not because of "a lot of money to be made", but because the idea is technically not possible. YouTube has no shortage of "magnet motor" videos and other such free-energy devices. Some of those videos are nearly a decade old, but I haven't seen a single "magnet motor" in operation in any commercially available device. That's because it does not and can not work. A permanent magnet is not a power source, just as a metal spring is not a power source. But many people simply refuse to believe that fact, and they instead come up with the crazy notion that the big oil companies are paying off (or killing) all of the successful inventors of such devices. There are certain things which Nature does not allow, and one of those things is perpetual motion (aka, "free energy").

@Xray But there is still force that is given by magnets, while not an unlimited power supply, it can still turn a turbine for a relatively long time. Surely this is better than burning coal or oil that release polutants such as sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air?

Nope. I'll say it again.... Magnets are not a power source. If they were, then of course they would be "better than burning coal or oil". Show me a magnet motor that has been proven to work by an independent engineering firm, and I would be the first person in line to buy one!

@xray But if i put two repelling magnets together, there is an undeniable force there. They are both acting away from one another so why can't this be taken advantage of?

Because YOU had to push them together before they repel each other. In other words, YOU put energy into the system. It's not unlike when you wind the spring on a clock. You put energy into the spring and then it puts pressure on the gears to make the clock run. That energy came from YOU, and not from the spring. Get it?

@The inertia that the wheel has after each push of the magnets brings the magnet on the wheel closer to it's original position to be pushed again. Is 'you' not replaced by the momentum of the wheel?

No, of course not. Nothing in the device can some how magically create energy out of nothing. The device has only the energy that YOU put into it when you first pushed it. After that initial push from you, there is no other energy in the magnets or in any other component of the device, and so it will slow down and stop. The "free energy" community will try to convince you otherwise, but to this day, none of them has created a magnet motor that continues to run on its own magnetic "power".

I don't want to ramble on this subject any longer, so I suggest that you do your own research on "magnet motors" and other such "free energy" and perpetual motion devices, especially if you don't understand the law of conservation of energy.

Thanks for the chat, but I'm done here.

@Xray https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHW6b1aFPfU

SuperMax, trust people like Xray and me. We are years older than you and have sit through countless physics lessons that taught us many things that you don't know yet. And amongst these things was the first law of thermodynamics, stating that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. What is happening in your scene is very simple and easily explains why your scene does not contain a perpetuum motion machine:

Your wheel is basically a flywheel. It contains lot's of energy by rotating quickly.
This energy is transfered to the magnets, slowing the wheel down, but bringing the magnets closer to eachother in the process.
The magnets repell each other, thus converting the contained energy and accelerating the wheel again, while moving away from each other in the process.
The cycle repeats, with the wheel shifting energy to the magnets and then reclaiming it afterwards.

All that happens in this scene is energy moving around. It is never created and never destroyed, meaning this is not a free energy generator, but a simple energy battery.

@FRA32 Thankyou for finally explaining it, i understand the laws of thermo dynamics, i am predicted an A in physics and am currently in year 11, it's just that magnets do seem like they are creating energy of there own, repelling each other out of what seems like nothing but i now understand that there is no net increase in energy overall, it is simply just being slowed down and sped up again.

@SuperMax16 Exactly. As you may already know, energy can be defined as different types, like kinetic, potential, chemical etc. What happens in this scene is the conversion of kinetic energy(rotation of the disk) to potential energy(distance between the magnets). Potential energy is energy stored by changing the position of something, i.e. getting something further away from the source of some attraction force, getting something CLOSER to the source of a repulsion force, putting force on a spring etc. In all cases, you seem to manifest energy out of nothing just by letting the object move freely. However that motion can only occur if the energy was risen in the first place, i.e. moving the object out of it's "calm state".

@Xray updated

@FRA32 What if the magnet can be removed momentarily so that the speed will not be reduced before the next revolution, could you please tell me what would be wrong with that?

SuperMax16 - I said that I was done talking about this issue, but I have been reading the excellent responses by FRA32, and I have since been thinking of more that I could possibly add to this discussion. So.... I'm back!

If I may answer your recent question (and FRA32 may have more to add if he so desires) this is how I see it. By momentarily removing the magnet, it may appear like you are not doing any work, but you are! It requires energy to remove and then to replace the magnet. Therefore, you are adding energy into the system which you want to avoid if this device is to be truly self-operating. And the replacing of the magnet would need to be perfectly timed so that the action adds to the rotor's angular momentum. That would require energy to do that! Everything you do costs in terms of increased energy consumption, which is why the old adage is true, "There's no such thing as a free lunch". It is certainly true when it comes to "free energy" devices.

@Xray could a small ratio of the electrical energy converted from kinetic energy be used to move the magnet back and forward? i can't imagine that it would require alot of energy.

Well, the answer to your question is, MAYBE. It depends on what you mean by "small", and it would also depend on how much energy is needed to move the magnet in order for it to do the work that would be required of it. By specifying "a small ratio of electrical energy", you are limiting what may actually be required. And if a "small" amount of energy is not enough, then your idea would be a failure before it even gets built.

You can keep coming up with ideas, but the laws of physics will prevent your free energy device from working no matter how hard you try. There already have been a countless number of people over the past couple of centuries who were a lot smarter than you or I who have tried and failed to make such devices work.

@SuperMax16
If you move the magnet away during the rotation, thats totally fine. However, the moment you move it back in place, you force it closer to the magnet on the wheel, which would require energy once again, meaning no energy is gained in the process. If you use electrical energy from the wheel to move the magnet, you consume it for that process, and when the energy of the magnet is inserted into the wheel, it is equal or less to the amount you used as electricity. After all, something needs to hold the magnet in place, which needs energy.

@FRA32 I take it that an electromagnet that you could switch on and off would also be inefficient as the same amount of energy you convert from kinetic energy to electrical will be used up powering the magnet and other factors like thermal enegy etc will be lost, causing it to stop?

@SuperMax16
When using an electromagnet, the energy of 2 magnets being close to each other is not stored as potential energy, but as electrical energy which would affect the current in the coil of the magnet. Usually, a completely resistance free electromagnet consists of a wire coil filled with electrons that move freely, but directionless. If you bring a magnet towards the electromagnet, the decreasing distance shifts the electrons, thus charging the power source and storing the energy. If you cut off the power source before this happens, the effects of the electromagnet cease due to no place for the electrons to go, meaning no repelling effect. However, if you decide to connect the powersource in the moment the other magnet moves away from the electromagnet, the electrons instantly shift, but CONSUME energy from the powersource in the process. If there is no energy left there, the magnets would not repell each other. So even in this case, the electromagnet acts as an energy battery, this time storing part of the rotation energy of the wheel as electrical energy instead of potential energy.

SuperMax16 wrote: "Why isn't the government
using this to turn generators?"

Answer: Because they do not have Algodoo!

how do u make magnets in algodoo?

Since you are using lasers to modify the scene via the onHitByLaser event, and then using the onCollide event, your scene has ventured into the realm of 'not possible'.

There are ways to create such a machine using magnets that do not change polarity and are not tied to any scripts with algodoo.. check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87_-1e74RI