Logically, tidal power should slow the Earth's rotation.

Mechanical energy, imparted by the combined gravitation of the Sun and Moon
is converted to electrical energy, then primarily dissipated as heat. Drag
applied to the tidal surge must, to some extent, add drag to the Earth's
rotation.

 

Now, does the extracted energy also slow the Moon's revolution about the
Earth?

 

Dave

 

From: sundial [mailto:sundial-boun...@uni-koeln.de] On Behalf Of David
Sent: Sunday, January 1, 2017 7:19 AM
To: sundial@uni-koeln.de
Subject: Re: Leap Second Quiz Question

 

On 01/01/2017 12:30, Frank King wrote:

Dear All,
 
I hope you all enjoyed the extra second
in bed this morning and that your alarm
clock didn't go off one second early.
 
Here is an easy question to start off
the New Year...
 
Every Sunday at 08:00 I check the first
stroke of the hour-bell of the University
Clock against a radio-controlled UTC clock.
 
If it is slow I add coins to the tray on
the pendulum.  If it is fast I remove
coins.  My formula for the required
adjustment includes a figure for:
 
    Last Week's Gain [LWG]
 
Here are my recent observations:
 
  25 December   clock 0.5 seconds fast
   1 January    clock 2.0 seconds fast
 
Is the appropriate figure for LWG:
 
    a) 0.5 seconds
    b) 1.5 seconds
    c) 2.5 seconds
 
Frank
 
Frank H. King
Keeper of the University Clock
Cambridge, U.K.
 
 
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Dear Frank,

Happy New Year! I am sorry to hear that it starts with a problem for you
albeit one of the horological kind, so that removes the pain.

I am somewhat puzzled, too. 

You say:

Every Sunday at 08:00 I check the first stroke of the hour-bell of the
University Clock against a radio-controlled UTC clock. If it is slow I add
coins to the tray on the pendulum. If it is fast I remove coins. 

Does the 'it' at the beginning of your second par. refer to the University
clock?
If so, then if it is slow (i.e. rings after the UTC clock says it should),
then its pendulum is too long (C.G. too low), so needs shortening. So coins
need to be removed, not added. This assumes that the place where you
add/remove the coins is below the current C.G.

As to the main question, between 25/12 and 1/1, the clock appears to have
gained 1.5 s. But the UTC clock has added a second, so the University clock
has gained only 0.5 s so the LWG is 0.5 s. In any case, if the clock has not
been tampered with, it is unlikely that the University clock will have
changed its previous LWG of 0.5 s to 1.5 or even 2.5 s in the space of a
week. So I'll go for 0.5 s as the correct answer.

David.



 

 

 

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