Perpetual Motion

Duration:

Year Published: 1969

Complete Record: is it possible to make a machine that will run forever? By the 13th century, the sun, moon, and stars were observed to make regular and repeated motions. their source of energy was not understood, and it appeared that they moved perpetually. The need for dependable sources of power was urgent enough to provoke ideas about the possibility of designing perpetual motion machines for doing such necessary work as milling grain and sawing wood, without having to depend upon the wind (windmills) or flowing streams (water wheels). Four significant examples of such proposed perpetual motion schemes are examined in the film; their fallacies are exposed and valid physical laws are emphasized. The general conditions that produce energy losses (heat and sound) are shown to be common to man-made machines, and contradict the hope of devising a self-contained perpetual motion system. The need for sources of power to do work has always led man to try to build a machine that would run by itself. Some of the earliest designs are shown with operation models, and the principle of the theory of each is examined. Failure of the schemes is shown to be due to energy loss in heat and sound, with application implied to the earth and the concept of entropy.