11 May
2012
11 May
'12
1:06 p.m.
[I must admit that when I was quite young, [...ad-hoc
M-G set...] I
spnt some time playing with different typs of motor,s gearing them
together in various ways, trying to make a thing that could generate
the power needed to run the motor that turned the gears and
generator... Of coruse it never worked. Some years later I found
out _why_ it never worked. But I am not sure I was totally foolish
for trying. Was I?]
No, you were not. (Well, my opinion.) We wouldn't be so confident of
conservation of energy if it weren't for an extremely large number of
experiments that could have falsified it but didn't, like yours. (And
some of the most interesting discoveries in physics have arisen from
experiments that at first blush appeared to falsify it but on deeper
investigation revealed something formerly unsuspected that made it all
work out. Neutrinos were first invented, er, theorized to preserve
conservation of energy.)
What's more, the mindset of "investgate!" is what drives most human
advancement. Investigations that don't end up where the investigator
was initially trying to go aren't worthless - I daresay you developed
some electrical and mechanical expertise while playing with that stuff!
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