Name: Why We Want a Perpetual Motion Machine, But Still Can’t Get It
Uploaded: 2020-04-04T08:32:24.000Z
Duration: 4 min 21 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

A machine that can sustain motion forever with no energy input is the greatest dream

And while many have tried to invent a perpetual motion device, all have failed.

Will we ever create such a machine and harness free energy forever?

Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but a machine that can keep its parts moving forever violates

some pretty fundamental laws that govern how we think our universe works, and videos on

the youtubes where people claim to have invented perpetual motion machines are as fake as my

First let's lay out just what we mean when we say a machine that can keep going forever.

If you created a perpetual motion machine and set it running it would just keep going,

longer than any of us would live, longer than our sun would live, as long as the entire

And getting more energy from an outside source is cheating, it should keep running in total

You're not allowed to power it with light or ambient heat or by leaving money in your

will for your grandchildren if they give it a push every now and then.

That's a pretty daunting challenge, but it hasn't stopped people from trying.

Over the years they've come up with ideas that seem plausible in a sketch on a patent

application, but less workable in reality.

A classic example that comes in many variations is the overbalanced wheel.

No matter if they use fluids or rolling balls or weights on articulated arms, the concept

is always the same: as the wheel spins, masses on one side move to a wider radius, providing

more torque and unbalancing the wheel to keep it spinning forever.

There are more weights on one side of the wheel, balancing out the side with fewer weights

All that really accomplishes is the center of gravity gets shifted below the axle, making

the wheel behave more like a pendulum, swinging back and forth before stopping.

A simple wheel might work better, and while a well made wheel will spin for a long time,

it will eventually succumb to the great nemesis of all machines: friction.

If friction could be totally eliminated it would be possible to make a machine that runs

Just give it that initial bit of energy and so long as it doesn't lose any, it'll

But no surface is smooth enough to be frictionless.

Well maybe with the exception of superfluids, but even those are usually supercooled which

means you'd need to use energy to maintain those low temperatures.

Mechanical parts will rub, which will turn some of the mechanical energy into heat and

But while a machine that, once started, can run forever is theoretically possible at best,

machines that power themselves and generate free energy from nothing are flat-out breaking

The first law of thermodynamics, which is you do not talk about thermo- wait no I'm

It's the idea that in a closed system, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted

This is one of those laws on which we've built our entire understanding of the universe,

anything that would upend it would rewrite multiple scientific disciplines.

A machine that can keep itself running forever and could power your toaster to boot would

In other words, it would get something from nothing, and from everything we've ever

So, sorry but every time a video surfaces of some zany wheel that can supposedly spin

forever, you can rest assured that it's fake.

At this point the never-ending stream of phony claims about them is the only thing that's

So getting your own perpetual motion machine might be a far away fantasy, but getting a

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Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and check out this video for more

One last thing- Despite their impossibility people still keep dreaming up perpetual motion

machines, to the point that the U.S. patent office flat out refuses to review new patents

Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time.