Can a Hydraulic Ram Pump Make a Perpetual Motion Loop?

In this video I talk about how a hydraulic ramp pump works and why it doesn't break the second law of thermodynamics.

[IncroyablesExperiences]

I love how electrical components can all be reproduced in an hydraulic system, this is definitively a DC/DC boost converter (the inductance is water inertia).

[grantpeterson]

Really interesting! This works in pretty much the EXACT same way as a boost converter in electronics (converts a lower voltage to a higher voltage, but with less current). Crazy how similar fluid dynamics and electronics are!

[martintopp]

HI from NZ. I sudscribed in about 10 seconds. You explain things clearly and concisely. That was a great demonstration. My family used to live in an old house that was badly damaged in the Christchurch 2011 earthquakes. We had an old Ram pump in the front garden that pumped water to 2 x holding tanks about 4 metres off the ground. The pumping ratio was 2/3 wasted to pump 1/3 to the tanks. The waste water was piped off to a nearby river. This house used to have 7 Ram pumps and provided water for the whole street. Another man who lived close by also had an old well. He plumbed his water out to the front of his property and provided emergency water for approximately 60000 people that lived in the area after the 2011 earthquakes hit. His flow rate was 30 litres per Minute. He got the water tested. It was 15 x more pure than shop bought water!

[RodrigoMllo]

I've learned about that in my undergrad, as it is widely used in family farms here in Brazil to pump water uphill, the source is a flowing river, and it does really great.

[thewesty]

I learned about ram pumps at Ha-Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri. The old tower was up several hundred feet from the spring below. This method was used to supply water to the houses at the top of the cliff. Thanks for the easy explanation!

[rvxn]

About a year or 2 ago, I watched this on a Survival TV show and I was confused.
Thanks for making a video about it.

[loganbaileysfunwithtrains]

This is how a lot of off grid homesteads get their water to their gardens or to their wells, I fell in love with the simplicity of the Ram pump, eventually I’m going to build one at home when I find an actual use for one

[MCP]

The bang you usually hear when turning your faucet off real fast is not the pipe expanding, but rather the pipe moving due to the weight of the moving water suddenly coming to a stop, and banging the pipe against something else. This is especially common when there's a long straight run of pipe, like along the basement ceiling, or up the wall to an upper floor that's not well anchored/secured.

[Noccyboy]

I purposely do not subscribe to many channels on YouTube, but over the past year I have continuously loved your content and your personal presentation of it. Today, I subscribed, you have earned it

[Bob_Adkins]

The ram pump trades volume for pressure like so many other machines, including lift on the airplane wing. You can always achieve higher pressure/force by trading a larger distance/mass/volume.

[leonidas]

Engine intakes runners rely on the flowing air in much the same way. As the engine revs faster the column of air in each runner flows faster, then when the intake valve slams shut the air in that runner compresses slightly against it. When the valve opens again the compressed slug of air pushes into the cylinder. Generally, long intake runners aid in low rpm power, short runners for high rpms. A well tuned naturally aspirated engine can actually displace more air than its volume.

[BuckeyeStormsProductions]

My grandparents had one of these on their farm to supply water from a creek to a self filling water trough in a barn. I used to love to listen to the clacking almost clock like rhythm of it. I later learned how they worked, but was convinced it was some type of clockwork mechanism when younger, because of that click clack rhythm.

[FelanLP]

7:10 - 7:15 That's why I learned as a kid to turn it off not to fast. This sudden change in presure can damage the pipes or at least increase the changange of it getting damaged.

[davidshettlesworth]

Thank you for an awesome detailed explanation on how the ram pump works. I learned a lot!

[ajayjo]

I had read about water ram pumps in engineering school some 45 years back, , and forgot all about it. This summer I visited a manor house in Scotland and those guys had installed a water ram pump 125 years back... so it all came back to me. I am going to make one for myself now.

[jkz]

I have tried so hard to understand ram pumps for months I swear, watching various videos here and there, but this demonstration shows it very simply and it totally makes sense now! Thank you!

[thehyperscientist]

Sometimes it's crazy how these kind of things are so simple, yet I've never heard of them. This channel has brought a lot of relatively intuitive things to light for me

[thomasjefferson]

Thank you for explaining it so well. I watched several video's on how to build a ram pump and they didn't go into the actual physics of it like you did. You made me understand it. 😊

[alphathelearner]

Oh my goodness, this is a charm! Great explanation, certainly got me subscribed! :D

[douglasharley]

lol, one useful benefit of taking physics classes in college is that anytime someone suggests to you that something they have is a violation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, you instantly know IT AIN'T.