Perpetual Motion Machines
Any machine that produces more energy than it consumes is considered to be a perpetual motion machine. Over the years there have been many proposals for creating such a machine. The problem is that none of these devices actually work.
Energy in our universe is conserved. You can not get something for nothing. If you want to produce energy in some form, you will have to derive that energy from some other form. Modern society runs off chemical energy for the most part, with some input from nuclear sources. Most perpetual motion devices claim to extract power from static fields of force. Gravity is perhaps the main force utilized by claims of perpetual motion, but magnetism is also employed.
The overbalanced wheel is perhaps the best known perpetual motion device. In this device, weights are arranged on levers around the circumference of a wheel. The weights are hinged and can swing out when the wheel is in one position and swing in on the other side of the motion. The increased torque from the weights on one side of the wheel is supposed to drive the wheel to rotation. What happens in practice is that the weights collect on the side of the wheel where they are closer to the pivot, and the wheel balances and does not operate as supposed.
Various people have invented perpetual motion devices from electrical components. The most common of these inventions use an electric motor to drive a generator, that then supplies power to the motor. Such a device can not possible work. Motors and generators are not 100% efficient. There are also mechanical losses in the bearings. Other types of electrical or magnetic perpetual motion devices claim to use magnetic fields to force wheels to rotate or weights to move upwards against gravity and then release energy by falling. Such devices can not in fact operate.
Energy is so prevalent in our society, but few people actually understand much about how it operates. This leaves many people vulnerable to being duped by unscrupulous salesmen who offer investment opportunities in perpetual motion devices. This is in fact an old form of fraud. It takes some source of energy to get useful work out of a device. In most instances, people who claim you can get something for nothing are trying to get some of your money for nothing.
The patent office will not issue patents for perpetual motion devices, because they will not actually work. The laws of physics are proven with experiments and are not going to change. It is through the study of physics that a person can understand the principles of energy. There is nothing secret about scientific knowledge. Any person who is interested can find out about how the world operates. The universe works as a system of cause and effect. Without some cause, an event will not happen. Without some source of energy, a device will not give out energy. It is a very simple principle that some people just refuse to acknowledge.
Even today, in the age of instant information, there are still people trying to sell perpetual motion devices. Take for instance the HHO car fuel devices that are being sold everywhere. These are a very inefficient example of a perpetual motion device. In theory, these things take electrical energy from the car’s electrical system, use this energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, then burn the hydrogen and oxygen in the engine to make mechanical power to drive the car forward and generate more electrical power to split more water into hydrogen and oxygen. An idiot could see how this can not possibly work. A typical internal combustion engine is something like 5% efficient at extracting mechanical energy from combustion. A generator might be 90% efficient at generating electrical energy from mechanical energy. Electrolysis of water is seldom more than 50% efficient at converting electrical energy to chemical energy. In this system there is a maximum efficiency of .05 x .9 x .5 = 2.25%. To power your car by electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen would require twice as much electrical energy as it would chemical energy from gasoline.
We all want to believe we can get something for nothing. The fact is that everything has a cost. Where energy is concerned, there is no way to avoid paying the price. Perpetual motion machines are nothing but fantasies and are an example of faulty thought processes in their inventors. There are many potential sources for energy in the universe. Human trickiness is not a source of energy. There is no way to derive energy from a machine that does not have a source of energy supplying it. Perpetual motion is nothing but a hoax.
