SMOT Magnetic Accelerator

Difficulty of realization 4/10

Step 1: How It Work

In the theoretical SMOT design, a steel ball is pulled up a ramp by an array of permanent magnets. At the top of the ramp it falls, converting magnetic attraction into kinetic energy.

This is a revised version of the project SMOT (Simple Magnetic Overunity Toy)

Step 2: How It Make

It's very easy to make, you need some magnets , some steel balls and a non magnetic ramp.

The only trick is to have the magnets properly with correct polarity as shown in the images above.

You can realize it with Geomag

If you like this experiment visit and subscribe to my youtube channel "Magnetic Games"

https://www.youtube.com/user/kappaquellobello

Comments

[ExS]

You should try the same design but using a non-metallic ramp and magnet
supports. Metal of any type will have Eddy currents induced within
thereby wasting the stored energy for projectile acceleration.

[Magnetic Games]

The eddy current are formed between non-magnetic metal and a magnet, in this experiment the ball is not a magnet, it is a steel ball, then should not create eddy currents. Visit my youtube channel, there is some experiment on eddy currents

[ExS]

I understand your explanation but wonder if you are familiar with what happens during magnetic attraction between a magnet and an unmagnetized ferromagnetic material (the steel ball). Basically, there would be no attraction if the magnetic domains in the steel ball did not align with the magnetic field of the external magnets. In short, the unmagnetized steel ball becomes a magnet when it is in an external magnetic field. This same principle is how a current carrying coil of wire makes an electromagnet out of a non-magnetized ferrous core.

It the design you graciously shared there may be limited benefit in using my suggestions. However, should the projectile reach a high enough velocity, you will find that no matter what you do there will be a limit on that velocity due to the paramagnetic properties of the aluminum track and the EDDY currents generated by the moving magnetized steel ball. There are ways to break this speed limit while using an aluminum track but then you should find that the 'not a magnet' steel ball will refuse to stay in the track. This usually results in the dangerous safety hazard of shattered driver magnets. While coaching rail-gun experimenters I try to highlight the dangers involved. SMOTs are great experiments but there should be a requirement to always wear safety glasses. In the more advanced ones I always insist upon the use of full face shields along with safety glasses.
I do appreciate your SMOT post and the quality of it. Hopefully, this will kick-start others to try these things. There is far more to learn than most would think. I think my first was a little over 50 years ago and I still build them!

[Magnetic Games]

Thank you for this post. In fact, your analysis is correct, the ball magnetized can induce eddy currents in the aluminum track, I believe that the reduced speed makes this force almost negligible. I am very curious to see your SMOT experiments, you shared your work on the internet? with your knowledge I believe that you can make a very interesting instructable.

[Lolorun]

I love playing with magnets thx for inspor

[Magnetic Games]

thank you for watching :-)

[jeanniel1]

I love magnets, and this is a really fun cool way to show how they can affect other metallic magnetic items! Good video - especially near the end when the magnet ball would jump to sides! Ha ha!

[Magnetic Games]

thank you very much :-)

[Lolorun]

I love playing with magnets thx for inspor

[danieldenny987]

cool

[RussellS8]

Playing with magnets is one thing, saying you're working on perpetual motion is another.

[ByronB2]

Both are pretty fun tho.

[KhoiS]

Real experiment for kids: Make a simple 6502 based computer operated by a hand programmed EEPROM and 6522 VIA

[rickharris]

Overunity? Perpetual motion Mmmm Not that I know of.

[Magnetic Games]

SMOT, this is the name of this type of experiments. Obviously there is no perpetual motion.

[jellmeister]

I do think you should make it clearer that this can't actually be 'overunity'... perhaps a third step of why it can't be? Left alone the deceleration at the end as it try's to exit the magnetic field cancels the energy released as it entered. The only way to make it leave is by pulling the magnets away manually, thereby adding the required energy for the ball to overcome the field. As it stands this instructable could easily mislead.

[mnorth]

It really doesn't matter. What's the worst that could happen if someone thought that this was actually overunity? Besides that, I doubt that anyone who knows what that means will be so easily misled.

[jellmeister]

The worst that could happen is someone showing an interest in Science and Technology could instead be misled, waste a load of their time and be branded a fool for chasing the magic unicorn of perpetual motion. We should be trying to engage the interested in real science rather than misleading them with promises of nonsense

[mnorth]

First off, that is not going to happen. Anyone who is serious about science will quickly learn the rules rather than reading one thing online and being so wildly misled that it ruins their credibility. Second, we have made many discoveries because of people who challenged what was thought to be fact so even if they do try to create perpetual motion at least we might learn something from it. I swear that science people are more dogmatic than religious ones.

[starphire]

Having grown up prior to the internet era, my natural inclination is to agree with you - only someone who was cutoff from the bulk of scientific knowledge could be fooled into thinking that a fringe idea that was enthusiastically believed by a minority but shunned as ridiculous by everyone else could be fooled into devoting their energy to the fringe idea.

Then I think about the recent proliferation of Youtube videos and websites devoted to convincing folks that the Earth really is flat and doesn't revolve around the sun. A person with the right combination of curiosity and limited critical thinking skills could be fooled into thinking that was just as likely as any other model of the Earth, especially if the people around them were Flat Earthers too. The ability to link to a very large set of sources and content on the internet supporting one particular theory, however wacky, also enables a knowledge seeker to get lost in a maze of pseudoscience. Possibly for quite a long time.