Do magnets work in a vaccum enviroment, or do they need air to work?

Question

This is for a neat idea I have...
Dont say anything to any companies, but I think I've discovered a self-working power generator.

Thanks deep thought.
Fine, here's my idea.
A magnet spinning inside a coiled wire make electricity, right?
Vaccum tube, indefinitely spinning magnet inside, coiled wire outside.
I can't help but think that somebody hasn't allready thought of this.

Thanks, shaw. I knew there had to be a flaw...

Answer 1

Of course magnets work in vacuum. Air (or at least oxygen) weakens the effect of magnets slightly.
Are you sure about the generator or are you just sucking from electromagnetic waves that are about anyway (e.g. radio waves)?
Try measuring the voltage in a coil when you are near a radio transmitter or a high voltage power line. That will give you some small power but you dodn't get it from nowhere - you would be sucking from a source intended for other purposes...and with your rotating magnet... that is one of the standard ways of generating electricity; wires moving relative to a magnetic field; but you have to push.

Answer 2

Magnets work in a vacuum, and as you stated, moving a magnet relative to a wire will induce an electrical current in that wire.

The problem with your idea is that the current in the wire produces a magnetic field of its own that opposes the magnetic field of the moving magnet. Even if you had a way to keep a magnet spinning indefinitely (in the absence of a surrounding wire), and a wire that has no electrical resistance to eliminate resistive losses (e.g., a superconducting wire) once the wire is introduced, the magnet would start to slow down due to the interaction between its magnetic field and the wire's field. That's why one has to continuously supply energy to keep the magnet(s) moving relative to the coils in a real generator.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Answer 3

Yes, magnets will work in a vaccum.

If your toying with the idea of passing a long strand of wire through a magnetic field in the vacuum of space, keep in mind that NASA already looked into it some years back.

Answer 4

Magnets work virtually the same in a vaccum as they do in air.

If you have a working perpetual energy machine, sign me up as your first investor. Working is the critical word here, since perpetual energy unfortunately violates the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Answer 5

Yup, they work anywhere..... and sorry dude, there's no self working generator...If you are talking about a perpetual motion machine(PPM) that is...A machine cannot produce power without consuming some energy..If you still think its going to work, Mail me your design.

Answer 6

They would still work, what matters is that you are near something generating the field (like the Earth).

Answer 7

It does work in vacuum and it does work in weightlessness