williamwright wrote:

On 24/08/2020 10:59, Radio Man wrote:
williamwright wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:27, harry wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QLEERYS5C8

No-one seems to know why flywheels store energy. Not really.

Bill


Angular momentum.



That's just words.

Bill

I find it simplest to avoid the question of whether it *stores* energy
and just accept that it can provide energy to a system that slows it
down to the same speed and orientation as the rest of the planet. And,
symmetrically, you can provide it with energy to start it spinning
again. Whether it is stored or simply doesn't exist when you are not
using it is a philosophical point, to which the philosophical answer is
that energy is conserved in the system containing the flywheel. But
that is just words, what matters is that you can put energy in and take
energy out, the conservation of energy being a property of the system
rather than of the flywheel.

--

Roger Hayter