Possible mostly renewable energy source?

[Ultimate Steve]

Completely ignore me if I'm wrong. This idea may be fundamentally flawed, that's why I'm bringing it up (to ask).

Disclaimer: This idea is from a fictional book. I'm merely asking if it is possible.

 

So, the Earth's core is iron, right? And Earth has magnetic poles. Suppose we found a large copper asteroid somewhere in the solar system, and we somehow put it into orbit around Earth. Would the copper asteroid circling the iron-cored Earth produce harnessable energy?

[YNM]

I think you're describing electrodynamic tether there...

[Green Baron]

Via EM induction you mean, a moving conductor in a magnetic field ? Problem is to get it down. And it won't be enough to light a village.

 

The best renewable energy source is indeed the sun and we know how to convert the radiation into a current and how to store it, charge the car, cook, etc. Depending on insolation.

Edit: supposing we could get an asteroid in an earth orbit; will the asteroids orbit decay due to inductive forces ? Like i have watts and the neighbour a crater ?

Edited October 25, 2017 by Green Baron

[KSK]

I'd have thought the Earth's magnetic field would induce eddy currents in the asteroid that would cause drag and slow it down over time and eventually cause it to deorbit. So it might work (leaving aside the problem of getting the electricty down from orbit) but you'd also need to constantly reboost the asteroid to keep it in orbit. Short but effective video here which demonstrates the principle.

Edited October 25, 2017 by KSK

[YNM]

2 minutes ago, KSK said:

... but you'd also need to constantly reboost the asteroid to keep it in orbit.

Either that, or it'll just suffice to keep it in orbit.

OP is just defining electrodynamic tether. Though not with a tether. I don't think one can generate things with it without the whole thing going soo large.

[PB666]

If you want power just tap into the differential charged region in a solar storm. All you need is a wire 25,000,000 kilometers in length. lol.

The for real here. The earths magnetic field is due to the fact that the surface of the earth is slowing down faster then its molten iron core.

Given that the cause of the slowing down is the moon-tide interaction. Thus the dE is primarily in the tides. If you want dE to tap into go after the diurnal tidal motion.

 

[Green Baron]

18 minutes ago, PB666 said:

The earths magnetic field is due to the fact that the surface of the earth is slowing down faster then its molten iron core.

Then it would be mostly constant, which it isn't at all. It stems rather from a dynamo in the liquid / highly ductile parts of the outer core. The dynamo is (most likely) driven by convection, caused by heat differences in the inner core that causes the overlying masses of the outer core to "do the twist". This model also explains well the sudden (geologically ...) changes in polarity or even multiple poles (speculative).

The first link i found: https://websites.pmc.ucsc.edu/~glatz/geodynamo.html

... and others.

 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Green Baron

[Ultimate Steve]

Thanks for the responses. So, basically, it might work but it wouldn't be effective, and there's easier ways to do this that work on the same general principle?

Darn it I just remembered I live in the 21st century and most of the ideas have been thought of already.

[Codraroll]

4 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Thanks for the responses. So, basically, it might work but it wouldn't be effective, and there's easier ways to do this that work on the same general principle?

Darn it I just remembered I live in the 21st century and most of the ideas have been thought of already.

How general? I'd say most ordinary generators are somewhere in the neighbourhood of the principle you describe, just with a much smaller magnetic field.

[YNM]

11 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Thanks for the responses. So, basically, it might work but it wouldn't be effective, and there's easier ways to do this that work on the same general principle?

- It will work. It's an electrodynamic tether. The problem is that they only work to either move the object against drag or helping the drag itself. There are reports that these might be useful as generators but I could only image it's only going to be useful for the satellite themselves.

- Easier way to work... well, you should just melt that asteroid and get the semi-conductors and make PV.

[magnemoe]

On 25.10.2017 at 11:08 PM, YNM said:

- It will work. It's an electrodynamic tether. The problem is that they only work to either move the object against drag or helping the drag itself. There are reports that these might be useful as generators but I could only image it's only going to be useful for the satellite themselves.

- Easier way to work... well, you should just melt that asteroid and get the semi-conductors and make PV.

Most obvious use would be to compensate for drag, this require energy as in solar panels  it work better for large structures who also has more drag.