The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by their own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.
RiderFan said: The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by the own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.
Give it a few years and I would not be surprised to see this
RiderFan said: The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by their own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.
I highly doubt whatever electricity such a device may generate would come close to the cost of building and maintaining them. It's akin to the hamster wheel, it is less efficient to feed the hamster to run than to burn the food directly to power a machine.
Still, there's gotta be something to this in the near future seeing as the fossil fuels are getting exhausted; a new way to recycle energy through exercise, FUND IT!!!
unicode said:It's akin to the hamster wheel, it is less efficient to feed the hamster to run than to burn the food directly to power a machine.
On the other hand, these girls are going to burn their energy derived from caloric intake on PE or something anyways. People who go to gyms or run on tracks are completely wasting that energy, so why not use it for some practical purpose and kill two birds with one stone?
Whether it's feasible or not is another question. Of course, you're probably better off using direct mechanical energy rather than a generator, but a generator might make controlling acceleration/deceleration easier.
I, for one, welcome our new schoolgirl train fuel.