alt.energy.renewable

-> But the Foucault pendulum might be something we could stand on to
-> extract energy not from the pendulum, but from that rotating Earth.
-> Then again, it might not - one would need at least a good gyroscope,
-> and remember that it will try to go in a perpendicular direction...

-> John Savard

It is not possible for a machine that is sitting on the earth's surface
to extract energy from the earth's rotation. Not even a little bit.
There's nowhere for the angular momentum to go that would be removed
from the earth.

The ONLY way to get energy from the earth's rotation is to couple to
something beyond the earth, such as the gravitational field of the moon
or sun. In fact, this is easy. Just use the tides. Tidal power is power
from the earth's rotation. Nothing else is. Machines with pendulums,
gyroscopes, etc., NEVER extract power from the earth's rotation.

dow