Apr 22
The Gravitational Pull
When you think of natural resources, the ones that immediately come to mind are either the ones introduced to you in elementary school or the ones constantly in the news for their depletion. You picture coal, oil, various minerals, soil and trees. You think of things that you can touch and feel, but what about a natural resource that is a little less tangible? What about gravity?
A man in Springfield, VA recently designed a lamp powered solely by gravity. The product, named Gravia, is lit by a mass that spins a rotor as it slowly falls. It turns on and off with weights that are moved from the top to the bottom of the device, and involves no cords, no noise and very little energy. The light emitted from it is equivalent to that of a 40-watt bulb. What makes it so amazing, however, is that if used 24 hours a day, seven days a week it would last for approximately 200 years.
That definitely gives you something to think about. The one thing we’ll never run out of is gravity. It’s a constant presence on this earth, so why not use it to light up our rooms and power our gadgets?
Of course, we can’t rely on gravity to build our homes. We’ll have to look to other natural resources for that, but if we can use gravity for electricity, what can’t we use to make four walls?
