The Museum of Unworkable Devices

Jippy_ writes "The quest for perpetual motion has been going on since at least the 11th century according to this site, and scientists have been getting it wrong ever since. Take a gander at some of the most valiant efforts (and ultimately the biggest failures) in trying to beat the laws of physics through the last 1000 years, along with other impossible inventions and devices."

Comments

Scientists ?

[Anonymous Coward]

> scientists have been getting it wrong ever since.

No. NON-scientists have been getting it wrong.

People will always try

[Blaine Hilton]

I for one have always been interested in perpertal motion machines and the related laws of physics. I believe so that if we could just improve effeciency we will achieve very near pertual machine like effects. I meen if we are using engines that are only 40% effiencent and we can improve that to 98% then that is still very possible. IMHO

Re:People will always try

[Space cowboy]

I wonder which way (physics or perpetual motion) your interest swings. The Carnot cycle places a limit on even ideal circumstances for the thermodynamic production of Work from Energy.

For a typical steam power plant, (800K hot, 300K cold), the maximum theoretically possible efficiency is ~60% for a 100% reversible reaction (hint: these don't exist in power plants). I seriously doubt it is possible get anywhere near 98% efficient without some new ground-breaking physics in the same vein as Newton -> Einstein.

Simon.

Re:problem with PM machines

[Space cowboy]

You're defining a PM machine by excluding the 'machine' bit. Part of the definition of a machine is that it has to do Work (technical definition - The transfer of energy from one physical system to another).

A body set spinning on a (somewhat miraculous) journey along an isopotential of gravitational force in the universe will continue spinning for eternity (or thereabouts. The universe might collapse...)

The spinning body's still not a perpertual motion machine because it doesn't interact, and should it ever interact, it'll be subject to the laws of motion and thermodynamics and still not be a perpetual motion machine.

Simon.

Re:problem with PM machines

[EngMedic]

physics is a very terse discipline - most words have only one meaning. to be completely technical, Work is one of several things : the dot product of Force and Distance vectors, or the integration of Force with respect to distance. Defining it as the transfer of energy isn't wrong, per se... but it's definetly hazy, and that kind of sloppy definition has a nasty habit of leading to trouble.