I hadn't really thought of that...a funny image, that. All the same, it seems clear from experiment that multiple ramps can be joined in a line. Perhaps as you say, after many such ramps the ball will peter out, hooking somewhere between the exit and entrance. It would seem like frictional losses would mount as you progressed down the line. Yet each ramp could also been seen to be adding a certain amount of energy, to be subtracted on the return trip.
It'd really be better to focus on one ramp, and the critical return circuit. I suggested to Greg, with the usual utter lack of acknowledgement, that this would be his unique piece of IP to be patented. The "heart and soul" of the SMOT. The ramp had already been done by someone else, as I mentioned. He claimed to have not followed up on Emil Hartman, but someone should, probably an interesting story there. K. -----Original Message----- From: Grimer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 6:56 PM To: vortex-L@eskimo.com Subject: RE: non-looping smot At 04:09 pm 13-05-05 -0400, you wrote: >Frank writes: >>I don't think one has to go as far as having a circle of >>ramps. If the steel ball could transit a straight line of >>100 SMOTS, say, that would be pretty convincing. > >What's the difference between 2 and 100? Nothing, IMHO. Well if it will go 100 against air resistance and other losses then presumably it will go 1000, 1000,000 and eventually encircle the earth in which case the line will have curved back on itself. No? ;-) Frank
