- Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:48 am
#6025
This idea is so simple that I'm certain I'm not the first to think of it, although I do not know of anyone else who has.
Fill a ring-shaped tub with water. On one side of the circular containter, place a propellor which is powered by a motor. This starts a current and circulates the water around the tub. On the other side of the containter, place another propellor, but this one is connected to a generator. The motion of the water turns this propellor, thus generating electricity. Wire the generator to the motor, and the generator supplies electricity to the motor which continues the flow of water, allowing the generator to continue to produce electricity, etc etc etc.
If this device worked, it would never stop moving. Ever. It is a perpetual motion machine, something that science has determined to be physically impossible. Obviously, the device could never work in practice, but in theory it seems to make perfect sense. Why doesn't it work?
Fill a ring-shaped tub with water. On one side of the circular containter, place a propellor which is powered by a motor. This starts a current and circulates the water around the tub. On the other side of the containter, place another propellor, but this one is connected to a generator. The motion of the water turns this propellor, thus generating electricity. Wire the generator to the motor, and the generator supplies electricity to the motor which continues the flow of water, allowing the generator to continue to produce electricity, etc etc etc.
If this device worked, it would never stop moving. Ever. It is a perpetual motion machine, something that science has determined to be physically impossible. Obviously, the device could never work in practice, but in theory it seems to make perfect sense. Why doesn't it work?