water tower?

if you had a water tower full of water (manually put there) if it was drained through a device which in turn powered a water pump, would it be enough power to keep the tower full and the water pumping indefinitely?

OGIONIK wrote:

if you had a water tower full of water (manually put there) if it was drained through a device which in turn powered a water pump, would it be enough power to keep the tower full and the water pumping indefinitely?

It depends on your definition of pump.
Have you heard of a siphon? Theoretically, although impractically, you could siphon water(which is a sort of self powered pump) through such a tower and even derive extra energy from it. That energy, of course, would come from the potential energy of whichever water reservoir was of higher elevation.

if you had a water tower full of water (manually put there) if it was drained through a device which in turn powered a water pump, would it be enough power to keep the tower full and the water pumping indefinitely?

There are instances where a system is semi-self-sustaining.

I'm not sure exactly where, but in one {or many?} of the aquifers that feed one of our large western cities...somewhere in the mountains... where the water has to be passed over a ridge, they have generators on the down side that catch the "free energy", then these turbines send the power back over the hill, to help aid the pumps that are lifting/pushing the water to begin with.

I only mention this because, it seems like whenever one of these types of questions comes up...the answer is always given....that being a flat No, of course....but it is almost never followed up by the fact that we do utilize such energy when possible.

Is the Universe not a perpetual motion machine? /quote]

Is the universe closed? Indications and observation are strong that it is; consequently until documentable and verifiable indication is presented that it isn't I'll continue to believe that it is and the big kahuna isn't fickle.

So if the universe is closed then its entropy is increasing and the universe is not perpetual.

Spendi, I would recommend that you try a little more time looking at some physics and lot less on the metaphysics. In this world of technology, your Aristolean thought is centuries passé.

Rap

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Aqueduct


"Water flows through the aqueduct in a series of abrupt rises and gradual falls. The water flows down a long segment, built at a slight grade, and arrives at a pumping station powered by Path 66 or Path 15. The pumping station raises the water, where it again gradually flows downhill to the next station. However, where there are substantial drops, the water's potential energy is recaptured by hydroelectric plants. The initial pumping station fed by the Sacramento River Delta raises the water 240 feet (73 m), while a series of pumps culminating at the Edmonston Pumping Plant raises the water 1,926 feet (600 m) to cross the Tehachapi Mountains. The Edmonston Pumping station requires so much power that several power lines off of Path 15 and Path 26 are needed to ensure proper operation of the pumps."

The part in bold is what I was referring to...from what I remember, the engineer that was talking about this {History Channel or TLC} said that the energy created by the falling water on the "downside" of the "hill" was sent back into the power grid. Since most grids are interconnected, in essence the water does in fact aid itself.

Spendi, I would recommend that you try a little more time looking at some physics and lot less on the metaphysics.

A siphon is no better than just having the water fall down a tube.