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Re: Weird ideas
From: John H. Couture[SMTP:couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net]
Sent: Monday, December 08, 1997 2:25 AM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: Weird ideas
At 05:27 AM 12/7/97 +0000, you wrote:
>
>From: Mark S Graalman[SMTP:wb8jkr-at-juno-dot-com]
>Sent: Saturday, December 06, 1997 8:11 AM
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Re: Weird ideas
>
> Adam, you misunderstood my meaning. For
>instance a car standing still with the engine
>running is operating at ZERO efficiency.
>Unless of course you're comparing idling
>rpm's.
>
>Mark Graalman TCBA #1399
>
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mark -
A car standing still with the engine running is NOT operating at zero
efficiency. This is because energy is being consumed in overcoming friction
in the engine, etc.
Zero efficiency has no meaning in engineering. Zero efficiency could imply
perpetual motion. Why?
Efficiency = output / input = 0 ?
Input = output / 0 ? meaningless
The energy output would be the losses in the engine when the car is
standing still with the engine running. However, work done (force x
distance) would be zero.
Efficiency = work done + losses / input
Efficiency = 0 + losses / input = losses / input
The efficiency might be higher when the car is standing still than when
moving. The losses standing still are low but so is the input.
The efficiency of a Tesla coil might be higher without secondary sparks than
with sparks. However, this probably is not possible because of the losses in
the primary spark gap.
In fact to determine the efficiency of a Tesla coil when no secondary
sparks are present would be an interesting test. Does anyone have any
suggestions?
John Couture