Quote:
Originally Posted by Ecky
Unfortunately, the force is only infinite if the magnet is a point source with no physical dimensions - a bit like those physics textbook problems talking about ladders moving at the speed of light through an open barn door. Doesn't actually exist. From my reading, in practice all magnets have the center of their pole somewhere inside their structure (not at the very edge), and the pole is really only where the electromagnetic field lines converge, and it moves around depending on how it interacts with other fields. With a purely steel gear of that size, you're likely to get a few fractions of a pound of repulsive force.
I spent a few hours reading on this but didn't save any links. Best I can tell, to build this, you'd need to recast the gear where the alloyed metal in the middle is not ferromagnetic (possibly in a face centered cubic crystalline structure), while having the atoms in the teeth all aligned outward with a different crystalline structure, such as body-centered. The magnetic fiends of the different teeth would interact with each other, and there needs to be a path for the field lines to make their way around to the underside of the teeth without interference. You also risk any shocks to the gear (such as when changing gears) completely reorienting the magnetic fields. I expect this to be a multimillion dollar project to produce one set of gears, which would have a repulsive force under a pound, that might demagnetize the first time you put it in gear.
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Well there goes one crazy idea!
I'm glad it caught your imagination and thx for researching it and replying Ecky.