Perpetual motion machines are impossible due to the laws of thermodynamics, which state that energy cannot be created or destroyed and that heat energy seeks cold areas. Inventions that appear to use perpetual motion usually rely on hidden external energy sources. No inventor has successfully presented a working model of a perpetual motion machine.
The idea of perpetual motion seems simple. An electric car powered this way could recharge its batteries forever, and a clock could automatically rewind itself for years. But there’s a reason perpetual motion machines remain in the realm of fantasy; are the laws of thermodynamics. Some inventions may appear to be powered by perpetual motion, but they usually rely on a hidden source of external energy.
Both the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics keep the perpetual motion car in the garage. According to one part of the First Law, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed into different forms. The batteries that power an electric car contain only a fixed amount of energy. Most of this energy goes into propelling the electric motor, but some is inevitably lost to friction and the recreation of momentum after a stop. Your car charger should create more energy to keep your batteries at full capacity. There is no such energy generator, nor can it be built if the laws of thermodynamics are true.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics also prevents perpetual motion machines from becoming a reality. Part of the Second Law states that heat energy inevitably seeks cold areas, eventually creating a neutral temperature state called entropy. This means that the car will eventually burn out from lack of usable heat energy. The motor case gets hot while working and some of that heat energy would be dissipated into the air, not into the battery system. Since external factors such as gravity and friction would be constantly pulling on the machine, eventually all usable energy would be lost.
Perpetual motion machines would only be possible if a substance could be found that generated more energy than it consumed. Some inventors hoped that radioactive materials would prove useful in this way, but their energy is still considered finite. Magnets have also been used to power potential perpetual motion machines, but their continuous operation often requires an external power source. Gravity is generally thought of as a force hostile to perpetual motion, but some inventors use gravity to their advantage when creating theoretical machines.
Since laws and scientific theories generally deem perpetual motion impossible, patent offices are extremely reluctant to grant patents for such machines. The proposed machines are the only devices that require a working model at the time of the patent application. To date, no inventor has successfully presented a working model of such a machine.
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