Bah! Don't tell me I'm that bad in English. -_-;;;
English is my third language, with algebra being first and Russian coming close as second. So don't blame me if I'm that bad.
This isn't a class project (I wish we had that kind of stuff in class...). I'm fiddling with a new method of acceleration I've thought up. While eventually I want to see if I can design an engine that'll work with this kind of acceleration, right now I want to test just how well it works. And I'm doing so by accelerating a steel ball.
Now the problem here is that the ball will be moving *fast*. So if I won't monitor the acceleration process, the momentum of the ball will damage the engine. Or even worse, the ball will damage a person. >_<;
So to make it safe I've thought up of a method of deceleration
that involves electric magnets. I've placed the magnets on the surface that the ball will be moving on, so when the speed becomes too fast, the magnets will turn on and start to attract the ball towards the surface. (Increasing the friction and pulling the ball in the opposite direction)
Several magnets of the right strenght is enough to decelerate the ball.
So, my problem is that if the magnets will be turned on at *all* times, they'll slow the ball down instantly. That's why I need to turn them on during specific times. And to find those specific times, I'm using the motion detector to find out the exact location of the ball and which magnets to turn on/off.
Is that detailed enough?
Hmm...Light beams. Sounds like a good idea. Any suggestions on where can I get a supply of the kind that will best suit the project?