Possibly a stupid question

[Sheldon McIntosh]

If I hooked up a power inverter to a hefty and fully-charged 12v battery, then plugged in a 240V battery charger to the inverter to trickle charge the 12V battery, what would happen?  Free power, or disrupt the space-time continuum? 

I thought it prudent to ask better minds than mine before I try it myself.

[Darryl]

The same thing that would happen if you put a water-wheel at the end of a dam, and used it to drive a pump that pumped the water that had just flowed out over the wheel back up into the dam (except you won't get as wet, and your approach lacks rustic charm and Heath Robinson-esq mechanical contraption amusement value of the water-wheel). The dam / battery will end up empty due to less than 100% efficient power conversion devices.

[Brad M]

Ditto..

Drain the battery.
Energy would get lost through heat loss and inefficiency of the inverter and charger.
That's the best my little mind could come up with.

[Beatle]

The Law of Conservation of Energy:

Basically states "that energy can not be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another, such as when electrical energy is changed into heat energy. From a mathematical point of view, the energy conservation law is a consequence of the shift symmetry of time; energy conservation is implied by the empirical fact that nothing depends on time itself."

Simple;)

And you shouldn't be drinking so much on a school night..........................

[alfagtv58]

Sheldon, you shouldn't let these blokes logic get in the way of innovation.  I say try it, it's what Newton would have done.

[AikenDrum105]

Yep - rift in space-time.   I did it myself the other day when I swapped the active and neutral on the microwave to freeze stuff with it. 

[kartone]

works better in the northern hemisphere due to the right coriolis effect

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Sheldon, you shouldn't let these blokes logic get in the way of innovation.  I say try it, it's what Newton would have done.

I'll show them, logic never stopped me before.   

[Davidm1600]

Yep - rift in space-time.   I did it myself the other day when I swapped the active and neutral on the microwave to freeze stuff with it. 

heh heh, bugger I thought of that idea years ago as well, should have patented it.  I also thought that dehydrated beer would be great, ideal for all those bushwalking trips in hot summers !! Just add water.  Mind you Sheldon's idea, possibly might just work. I wonder what Einstien might thing think of it, with all the concepts around not being able to destroy energy and/or matter.  Physics though was never my strong point.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

I also thought that dehydrated beer would be great, ideal for all those bushwalking trips in hot summers !! Just add water. 

It's on the way!!  http://patsbcb.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/77-uptodate.html

I originally thought it was gonna be great for the shitbox rally (would save us about 80kg of weight), but you can't always trust the water out there....

[Beatle]

I've used dehydrated coolant before....with limited success.

[Stuart Thomson]

While you're at it I have some dehydrated water for you as well.  It's cheap, I'll sell it to you for only $1/liter.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

I forgot to post the results of my experiment, they may not surprise you.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how long the battery lasted.

Pics taken at year zero, then 22 hours, then 24 hours.  At 12.05v the battery may well have still started a small car, but of course there was nothing plugged into the inverter during the experiment, so it basically proves that it's a pointless exercise.

I'll think of ways to ramp-up the experiment.  I hear that putting your battery on a smouldering fire can give it more life?  Maybe I'll try that next.