alt.energy.renewable

"CWatters" wrote in message
news:13scu62pp6d9h3d@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "J Chace" wrote in message
> news:vdtxj.25$Oq3.104551@news.sisna.com...
>> and lasso the moon to get er turning
>>
>
> That would work, but it would slow the moon down slightly so it wouldn't
> work indefinitly. Hence it's not strictly a "perpetual motion machine".
>
>

Actually, since I presume you'd be standing on the Earth when you did this,
the Earth's rotation being faster than the revolution of the moon means
you'd actually be speeding up the moon slightly (i.e. 'pulling it forward
around the Earth'). So as energy is transfered from the Earth to the moon,
it would actually move to a higher altitude.

But of course you're right, eventually the moon and Earth would be locked
together such that the same side of the Earth always faced the moon. So
it's not 'perpetual' :-)

daestrom