I have made a modified simple machine lever that shows more work out than work in.
I would like someone else to duplicate it and report back on your results and your
thinking.

The modified lever is similar to a 30 inch yardstick with a bicycle spoke for an axle
and at that axle is a 1 inch dowel about 1 inch long centered on the spoke and
glued to the yardstick. It is then balanced so it does not drop to either end.
A string is then tied to the dowel so that when the yardstick drops it pulls the
string up. Then a small weight is hung on the end of the yardstick and a larger
weight is hung on the string. And it is mounted on 2 uprights so it will pivot.

In my case the distance is 15 inches from center to the small weight and 1/2 inch
from the center to the dowel with the string.  The real leverage varies as the
arm drops down because the weight gets closer to the axle. So it starts out with
max leverage and proceeds toward 1:1 leverage. At some point the weights and
leverage will balance out and it will stay in place. When I place a small washer
at the end of the yard stick and 9 larger washers on the string it will drop
down about 40 degrees and lift the large washers. When I add an even smaller
washer  the arm drops to about 80 or 85 degrees lifting the larger washers even further.

Then when I calculate the work in ( w x distance) and the work out I get over
100%.  Adding the smaller washer increases the net work out to about 200%
vs about 130% with the first washer.

For my calculations I do not use ft lbs but units which are oz. / 1/8 inch distance
which I call units.  so 1 unit would be 1 oz at 1/8 inch.

So here is what my last measurement was.
work in 3.559 units and work out(lifted) 7.2 units. - about 200%

So if I attached the two small washers to a string on a pulley it would
only take maybe 4 units of work from the 7.2 units of work lifted to reposition
the two small washers back where they started so we are ready to repeat they
cycle. And we have about 3 units left over to use for whatever we want.

None of this makes sense in classic lever science so I ask you to take
an hr. to make this and get measurements to see if I am deceiving myself
somehow.

I use a bicycle spoke because it is strong and does not bend. Other wire might
work but it can't bend or it will distort the measurements.

I will upload a photo later.

Norman


 

In your setup there are many sources of possible measurement error. For calculations, you must be very very precise in your measurements of things like the diameter of the wooden dowel, the distances and angles through which things move, the weights of the washers etc. I have no basic problem with your use of "units" as you have defined them but you have to be able to measure your distances to extreme precision (because of the small size of the dowel) and your angles also (because the moment arm calculation is quite sensitive to the angle.)
You may also be plagued by asymmetrical friction in your axle arrangement.

I think the most important measurement here aside from the Mass vs units of measurement,
is the Height, with respect to the central axis of rotation.

Hi norman,
How exactly is this thing suppose to work?
Could you post a diagram on how to build this and how it works?
Better yet post a video of this thing please explaining how it works and stuff.

Thank you in advance.