4 ms·
It's a shame when comments like these are downvoted. You're spot on, magnetic bearings certainly have a very small drag, but it's not zero. Going over that reed
by MertsA 8y ago
It's a shame when comments like these are downvoted. You're spot on, magnetic bearings certainly have a very small drag, but it's not zero. Going over that reed switch will also produce a tiny amount of drag, it's miniscule by any measure, but it's still additional drag. Even just the fact that it's a spinning magnet passing by that conductive copper is going to induce a tiny drag force.
What would be cool is a version of this but instead of permanent magnets in the rotor make it an induction motor or an electrostatic motor.
- MrEldritch 8y agoHe's being downvoted because that's completely irrelevant - the thing isn't relying on just coasting for millennia. That figure's based on the actual, measured power draw of the motor, which includes the bearing friction and other drag, and dividing by the energy stored in the battery.