Perpetual motion machine: is it possible

The problem of creating a perpetual motion machine has been haunting the minds of scientists for more than one hundred years, and with enviable regularity here and there "sensational" information pops up that someone managed to create this eternal engine.

Let's try to figure out why a really working perpetual motion machine has not yet been assembled and whether it is possible in principle.

Types of perpetual motion machines

Perpetual motion machines can be roughly divided into two types:

• The first type is products that by their work violate two laws at once: the First and Second laws of thermodynamics.
• The second type is products that, by their work, question only the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

For example, let's consider this variant of an impossible engine:

Let's take a conventional metal ball and place it between opposite poles of a strong magnet.

In this case, let us assume that the initially massive metal screen shields the ball from one of the poles under number No. 1, then under the force of electromagnetic attraction, the metal ball will begin to move to the pole under №2.

As soon as the ball approaches pole # 2, the screen in front of pole # 1 is lowered, and the screen in front of pole # 2, on the contrary, rises.

As a result of this, the metal ball will change its direction of movement and begin to move towards pole # 1.

So the energy will be extracted from the rolling ball itself, and if these screens are located at the ends of such a balancer, then no energy will be spent on their lowering and raising.

Everything seems to be beautiful and, in theory, such an engine may well run indefinitely.

The main disadvantage of such an engine is that when the metal screen is moved in magnetic field, an electric current will arise in it according to the law of electromagnetic induction Faraday.

This, in turn, means that the system will leak energy due to the work of Ohm's law.

It is easy to imagine that if the magnets are strong enough to make the metal ball move, then there will also strong enough to cause large resistance losses in metal shields when they are moved in a magnetic field.

It is for this reason that such an attractive engine simply will not work.

This is the simplest version of the "perpetual motion machine", but on its example one can understand that at first glance an ideal engine will not work in practice if you do not take into account all the factors that affect him.

But the enthusiasts who create such engines are not diminishing, therefore, back in the middle of the 20th century, the US patent office, which was simply inundated with applications, put forward the following requirement for projects of perpetual engines.

Along with the technical documentation for obtaining a patent, it is imperative to present a working prototype.

After the introduction of such a requirement, the flurry of applications dried up completely.

Of course, I do not presume to assert that perpetual motion machines are impossible in principle. Rather, they are not possible with our current technology.

Perhaps the engineers of the future will fundamentally change all existing theories and write new physics. But so far the reality is such that a perpetual motion machine is just a pipe dream.

What do you think? Write about it in the comments, and do not forget about the like and repost.

Thank you for your attention!