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Experiments

Most importantly, before you start to get too excited, I have never gotten a Reed Magnetic Motor to keep running for more then a second or two. As of now, they don't work.

I am an egger skeptic, I am not sure if a magnetic motor is possible or not. Science and experimentation both say it's impossible, but hope continues to drive me to seek information that may not yet have been uncovered. Who knows what small fact might reveal the answer, and make it this all possible. We need it to be real, so it's worth thinking about at the very least.

I'll go through my simple experiments and give my observations and thoughts. The key challenge is that while there is force pulling the rotor forward for about 2/3 of the track area, the ther 1/3 of the track slows it back down with the same level of force. I do have a theory about how it might be possible to keep it running.

It might be that 3 or more rotor arms with the rotor magnets aligned at different parts of the V pattern might allow the force of 2 or more magnets in the acceleration potion of the pattern to push a third rotor magnet, positioned deep within the breaking section, to get pushed through. If we can maintain more magnets in the accelerating attraction mode than we have magnets in the deceleration mode, then it should keep spinning. I won't know for sure till someone tries it. Will you try?

My Experiments

Assumptions
• All experiments are based on the Reed Magnetic Motor Template Designer (RMMTD) at http://reedmagneticmotor.com/TemplateDesigner/ 
• RED colored features of the RMMTD represent magnets placed with the NORTH pole pointing out of the foam core.
• GREEN colored features of the RMMTD represent magnets placed with the SOUTH pole pointing out of the foam core.
• The rotor magnet will be placed in the rotor so that it’s ends align with the BLUE lines with the orientation being SOUTH to NORTH, inside to outside, so that the outside NORTH pole of the rotor magnet aligns with the outer most blue circle.

Notes
I have set the magnets in several configurations but always a 12" to 15" diameter rotors. I have only used foam core as my base material and low cost, very small, neodymium magnets. The very small size and low cost almost assure unequal force exerted by each magnet. Also the foam core and manual construction assures inaccuracies in my construction.

I find that if you use the default settings on the RMMTD but set Track Section Count to 7 and Rails Per Track Section 14, it creates a nice track

Experiment 1: (The single V)
Construct a rotor and track and fill only a single V with magnets. Release the rotor with the rotor magnet aligned to the narrowest point of the V.

Findings:
Note that when you align the rotor magnet with the base of the V and release it, without adding any forward momentum, the rotor is strongly driven to seek the widest point in the V and stop. It accelerates over about 2/3 of the V and in the last 1/3 begins to slow. I am told that, ignoring friction, the exact same amount of force that is gained during the acceleration is then given in the breaking area, no more, no less.

With a single V you do not need to add any forward force to get the rotor started, it will pull the rotor magnet from the narrow point to the widest point naturally. Typically the rotor will stop but only after passing the point of strongest attraction and then osculating to a resting position aligned with the point of greatest attraction.

If you pull the rotor back to the first point where the narrowest magnets in the V will pull the rotor forward and release. This will allow excess time in the acceleration period and will cause the rotor to often fly past the end magnets and come to a friction based stop past the ends of the V and out of the influence of the magnets. So with no additional force input into the system, it overcomes the breaking force and continues to spin for a short distance.

Preliminary Conclusions:
This is a balanced system and because friction is robbing the system of energy, it must come to a point where the forward momentum cannot carry the arm through the breaking force. Thus, the system cannot maintain momentum beyond any extra force we add to the system to get it started.  When the start point allows for extra momentum to be built up, it is possible to escape the breaking force.

Experiment 2: (Multiple V’s but not a full circle)
My next experiment is putting several V’s on the track one after the other. I typically put four V’s down for this test. Other than more V’s containing magnets the setup is the same as experiment 1.

Findings:
When the rotor is started aligned with the narrowest point of the first V, it will typically travel to the end of the first V, sometimes the second V. When released at the max distance from the first V to give more initial momentum, it typically stops at the widest part of the 3rd V sometimes stopping at the 1st, 2nd or 4th.

Preliminary Conclusions:
The extra momentum from starting the rotor as far from the start of the V as possible seems to give the furthest travel before stopping. It is possible to break past the breaking force and continue the on to the  next V and again gain in momentum. The momentum pattern appears to be saw tooth shaped.

Experiment 3: (Full Track)
My next experiment is to fill all the V's with magnets, completing the track. Other than all the V’s containing magnets the setup is the same as experiment 1 and 2.

Findings:
There is no longer a place on the track where you can start the rotor prior to the start of the first V to gain extra momentum because the start of every V is coupled to the ends of the previous V. You can release the rotor almost anywhere on the track and it will seek the nearest widest point, typically going forward. Once it crosses the widest point, the rotor tends to  oscillate and come to a stop.

Preliminary Conclusions:
This eliminates the early momentum opportunity that showed such promise in pervious experiments. The equal breaking force now nearly always stops the rotor from continuing to a second V. Even introducing momentum manually, the momentum is eliminated quickly by the breaking action and the system stops.