[extropy-chat] Continued Energy for the Infinite Future

[Keith Henson]

At 01:09 PM 4/28/2007 -0700, you wrote:

>  For the sake of this post, I'm going to assume that
>our Universe is not going to end in a Big Crunch but
>will continue forever. I was trying to think of a way
>to continually produce energy for an infinite period
>(assuming that the Universe may eventually run out of
>use-able nuclear fuels, etc.) What about a giant,
>planet-sized generator of sorts? Construct a gigantic
>permanent magnet (with a decent amount of gravity)
>that has a powerful magnetic field. Then put wire
>coils attached to batteries or capacitors into a tight
>and fast orbit around the magnet. (Under typical
>conditions, a wire moving through a magnetic field
>will carry an electric current). Alternatively, you
>could also attach the wire coils "directly" to
>orbiting computers. It looks to me that all that is
>required is gravity (which I don't see going
>anywhere), and that nuclear protons don't eventually
>decay (Hasn't this already been tested with results
>indicating no decay?). No doubt, there will be far,
>far more efficient methods in the future, this is just
>a simple example. Does anyone familiar with physics,
>cosmology, or engineering know of a reason why this
>wouldn't work? I'd be interested to know.

It won't work.  Conservation of energy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tether

Sorry.

Keith