Show HN: Sketch, connect and simulate gears and chains
I've always wondered -
Consider the following gear arrangement: http://snag.gy/Tvsgi.jpgThe tiniest push on the gear on the left causes the gear on the right to fly at thousands of RPM.  Of course, there would be a ton of friction in the system to overcome.  However, what if the left gear was a pinion connected to a rack that was pushed by an extremely powerful, yet slow-moving source, such as a glacier or tectonic plate?  With enough gears in this arrangement, an unstoppable force moving just 1mm/year could spin tons of turbines.Would this work?