451
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
top 41 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

This works in Kerbal Space Program

[-] [email protected] 10 points 9 hours ago

Because you need to put it on the back and have it repel the truck forward instead of attract it forward obviously

[-] [email protected] 12 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

If you ever talk to someone confused by this, maybe ask them to lightly push the front magnet in the direction it's trying to go.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 14 hours ago

Needs more magnets and some springs.

[-] [email protected] 99 points 1 day ago

Young lady, in this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago

It would work if the repulsion/attraction only went in 1 direction. But since it goes both ways, they just cancel out.

Conversely, the fan version of this idea (fan blowing into a sail) does actually work. But it's nowhere near as efficient as simply turning the fan away from the sail to push you the normal way.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Well because there the whole system now becomes the ship+air/water molecules rather than just the ship + you use energy to work the fan which imparts that energy to the air/water molecules. In the end the air/water molecules literally get pushed behind so the rest of the system can move forward.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago

You think it would work if one end is a magnet and the other ferrous metal? I'm pretty certain it wouldn't

Whatever happens there's no work done as the magnet and it's partner don't move relative to each other. There's force between them, but no movement.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Yeah, as long as no other energy is put into the system, nothing will happen. Since the two parts are statically attached to the same object, so no additional movement or energy means no effect on the overall object.

It is basically like putting two nails in a piece of wood and stretching a rubber band between them. Nothing will happen without additional steps

[-] [email protected] 7 points 21 hours ago

You think it would work if one end is a magnet and the other ferrous metal?

No, because the force of attraction is still working in both directions just not as strongly as it would with two magnets.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago

Curse you physics

[-] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago

Did you try flipping the magnet over? If you put the two north ends together they’ll repel instead of attract.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

The beauty is that you can make the mental gymnastics to make it work both ways.

If they are opposite, the magnet attracts the car which moves the magnet away creating infinite motion

If they are the same, the magnet is repelled by the car, moving it away, moving the car forward creating infinite motion

You can even do mental tricks to make the contraption go backwards: Opposites: car attacks magnet which moves the car backwards Same: magnet reppels the car which moves the contraption backwards

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

By your though process shouldn’t the car be going backwards?

[-] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago

I tried something like that when I was about ten.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago

I still hold feelings against the force range being so short. Too close and the wire bends. Too far and there is barely any attraction...

Ugh, I just want to break physics, let me be.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

The wire/metal holding it needs to be springy and bobbing back and forth to generate the momentum, duh.... Half-assed implementation I say.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

Excellent! It is always nice to see people asking questions - the journey towards the answer should prove most enlightening! :-D

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

The magnet isn't strong enough.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Maybe it needs gas?

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago
[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Why would it? Think about it, would the two magnet gets closer if the wheels started rolling?

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Not with that attitude they won't.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Need a bigger magnet.

Also, how do they work?

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

Real, totally heavily simplified answer. All atoms could be magnets, but most don't have a force because the electron orbitals aren't out enough. In fact just about everything can be explained by what the electron orbitals are doing. Even why the chair you're sitting in feels solid. It's the orbitals. See Richard Feynman's bit on magnets and the deeper lesson on knowing the right questions to ask.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

No, atoms with a symmetrical subatomic structure could never be magnets! And what would be the point of somehow enlarging the electrons orbit? You surely know a magnet needs a positive pole!

You are also definitely wrong about your third statement!You could never explain anything based on just the electron cloud, much less physics; a whole scientific field that generally works with the atomic core

[-] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Missed the first sentence I guess. It's why I included the video for a much better, although also simplified and incomplete answer, and he says why.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

What did you oversimplify to get there? And so you understand thats nonsense but have had commented it regardless? Hope everyone is at an situation where they can watch that vid of urs, everyone else because I am not

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I love listening to Richard Feynman talk in those interviews

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

they come from the ground so they have gravity in them

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I am pretty sure the other guy is talking nonsense and he kinda didn’t explain anything, its basically an atom with such a subatomic structure where there are more electrons on one side than the other, making that side more negative! The whole deposit is made up of atoms facing the same way!

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQ7plIgcsKhof-nwcD7OcmJvJcNqtpjmpJjTA&usqp=CAU

https://www.coolmagnetman.com/images/maghow23.jpg

[-] [email protected] 0 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Oh boy, this is very incorrect, because it sounds like you are attempting to explain magnetism with electrostatic forces. Here is a basic model which separates the difference between the two:

  1. Electrostatic forces are caused by the electric field. Something produces an electric field simply by having an unbalanced charge. Positive attracts negative, negative repels negative, positive repels positive.

  2. Magnetic forces are caused by the magnetic field. Something produces a magnetic field by having an unbalanced charge AND is moving.

This is why when trying to explain how solid magnets work, we focus on the electrons because electrons are charged particles that are always moving. So they produce both an electric field (being charged) and a magnetic field (being a moving charged system).

Rhaedas is sorta correct. Any solid system has the capability of being a magnet, but this takes an incredible amount of physics work where iron is special. Iron's electrons are able to easily maintain a synchronous orbit with each other which results in magnetic forces being observable at a macroscopic scale (seeing iron magnets pull on each other). In most other materials, the electrons orbits are chaotic, so even though magnetic fields are still being produced by their electrons, the lack of order results in no magnetic force being observable on the macroscopic scale; but if you place this non-iron material within a very strong magnetic field, you may be able to align their electrons orbits so that it becomes magnetic on the macroscopic scale (like iron).

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Did you use ai to form that? No human has ever, ever written that magnetic force causes magnetic field; nor electrostatics force causes an electric field…

No, electrostatic fields is caused by stationary charges

I don’t dare imagine what you think an unbalanced charge is, but a moving electric charge is enough to cause a magnetic field.

‘It takes incredible amounts of physics work to get something’… You know, ai used to worry me quite a bit but comments like yours calm my soul! We are thankfully not there yet where it’s actually would be capable of replacing hack squat!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Lol you weren't kidding... The full sentence is even weirder:

Any solid system has the capability of being a magnet, but this takes an incredible amount of physics work where iron is special.

I kind of hope a human didn't write that...

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

need two separate vehicles and two magnets, one weaker then the other

so the weaker one will repell the other and it will kick forward moving the other forward and rinse and repeat at a sonic speed

thats gotta generate some kinda motion

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This is basically how a ~~rail cannon~~ coil gun works, just with electromagnets that can reverse their polarity.

It's a powerful way to accelerate anything — I think it's most famously used in those types of metal roller coasters that start you at a flat-with-the-ground angle, and then just fuckin launch you up a ramp to 45° with electromagnets. The issue is that you need a fuckton of energy to do that.

What we need for true perpetual energy is to just capture that guy Blanka from Street Fighter.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

What we need for true perpetual energy is to just capture that guy Blanka from Street Fighter.

Surely that dude has to eat a lot in order to produce so much energy, no? Or is it just all stored somewhere in his body?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's not how a railgun works, that's how a coilgun works. Railguns create a loop of electric current that flows into one "wire" (the rail), through the projectile into the other wire, and back down to the starting point again, this configuration creates a force that pushes the projectile down the rails

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Ah, I appreciate the correction. I'm not an engineer but the youngest cousin of a clan of them, so I just got the highlights of the true evil genius shit. :p

this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
451 points (99.3% liked)

Memes

11156 readers
738 users here now

Post memes here.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.


Laittakaa meemejä tänne.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS