Simple Magnetic Overunity Toy

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The Simple Magnetic Overunity Toy (SMOT) is 1985 invention by Greg Watson from Australia that claims to show "over-unity" energy — a route to purported perpetual motion.

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Overview

In SMOT, a steel ball is pulled up a ramp by magnetism and then falls, so the magnetic energy is converted into kinetic energy. A SMOT-like structure is shown in Emil T. Hartman's patent, US4215330Template:Ref. Watson claims that a mechanism called regauging happens. This process allows the cycle to be repeated without the application of outside energy.

Adherents state that the device must be carefully tuned to work, and failures are usually attributed to poor adjustment in the device. Skeptics note that many attempts have been made to use magnetism to overcome entropy, without success.

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Principle of operation

The principle of operation is not complex:

  1. a magnetizable metallic ball rises up an inclined ramp with magnets, positioned on its sides at angles and in couples,
  2. the potential energy of the magnetic field is changed into kinetic energy, and
  3. the effect of gravity exerts itself during the drop.

Jean-Louis Naudin calculated that the energy gain from a SMOT was 0.424 mJ and that the loss after the drop was 34%. The loss is due to the mechanical design in measuring the output energy, using a glass receiving tube. The efficiency with mechanical loss was measured by Naudin to be at 113%.Template:Ref

The device does not gather "free energy" as is sometimes advertised, though. It does convert potential energy in the form of the steel ball's distance from the magnetic source to kinetic energy as it rolls towards it. No energy is generated from outside the system, because when the ball drops from the ramp it is in a position of lower potential energy with regard to the magnetic field. But with another independent track series, continuous motion can be obtained until friction wears down the track.

If a SMOT is laid flat on the ground, the ball will roll through the magnets, come to a stop, and probably roll back (and forth) depending on the strength of the magnets and the surface. Similar forces are at work in the swinging of a pendulum, but the representation is created by the perceived increase in gravitational potential energy as the ball rolls up the ramp. The eye is not attuned to see the decrease in magnetic potential energy as it moves towards the magnet.

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References

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External articles

General

Skeptics

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