weEvil Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 The Onion is not a real news source. Its satire.Kind of like Fox/CNN. Just as reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturndude Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 (edited) I would love to believe in a perpetual motion machine. But several times in my lifetime (I'm 41 right now), people have claimed that they made one, and later they (and their machines) have turned out to be frauds. Kind of like the furniture store in my town that has had three "going out of business" sales JUST IN MY LIFETIME and never actually closed up shop (they're still open in fact). I get tired of believing after a while.First, there is friction, as people have said. Even motors like the case fans in your computer have friction. And they wear out.As the wheel spins and turns a load and does work, the circular magnets must be spun around to continue to repel the magnets attached to the wheel. As the workload increases, this will take real, substantial force. It doesn't look like it will take much on paper, but I think you will be surprised.The force needed to repel the wheel's magnets will be equal to the work the wheel is doing (more, if you count friction).If you use coils of wire with alternating current to change the magnetic fields instead of the circular magnets pictured, you have an AC motor. Those things aren't exactly perpetual motion machines.The advantage to motors, of course, is that you can get fantastic torque at zero RPM, like a diesel-electric train locomotive. (Generators, turned by diesel engines, supply power to DC motors at the wheels).And yes, magnets can deteriorate over time, but this is rare, and they are not "used up". The magnets in my flywheel work fine to this day (1981 Honda CM400T). And my Dad's two-stroke boat motors work fine (1981 Evinrude, 1955 Gale). Edited January 10, 2008 by saturndude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weEvil Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 I understand the theory behind why it shouldn't work, but on paper it looks nice.It might make a nice project though. Cheap too. All I have to do is get some magnets.This could make a nice project. Even if there is an incredibly high chance it won't work... at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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