June 28,2004 - Perpetual Motion Generators -
Okay, I was skimming through channels and came across a show on perpetual motion. This is something I have always been interested in. Some guy in switzerland invented a huge ferris wheel kinda thing. He gave it a kick and it started turning as a normal wheel would, clockwise. The one difference is that he had large weights every 12 degrees on the wheel. THese weights could rotate a little less then 180 degrees in place. Now when the weights got to the bottom of the wheel a metal rod would push the weight to it's extreme limit on the right side. Up on top a spring would push the top weight to it's limit on the right side, this way there is always more weight on the right side then there is on the left, so it would perpetually turn, at a constant speed. The only problems with this is that it would need to be in a sort of a vaccuum so that wind would not slow it down. Also the spring would decrease in efficiency after a while, so it would need to be replaced every so often. However this is minor when you think that this perpetual motion machine could easily be turned into a generator, by attaching a coil of wire and magnets in the basic electo-magnetic generator set up. The turning of the wheel would turn the coil of wire which would produce electricity. And all without using any fuel. A completely fuelless generatot, one which would only depend on gravity, would revolutionize society, and definately save the earth's ecology.
The technology could be made portable, but so far as I can see the only practical application would be in large boats. The wheels are approx. 10 -15 feet tall, so they are not very compact. Several wheels could fit in one large boat and they could generate enough electricity to power electric motors. Sails would also efficiently harness the power of the wind, so as to lower the dependance on the motors, because output would be fairly low.
I'm not sure how well a miniaturized wheel would work, but I'm sure it wouldn't generate enough energy to power a car, even if you had several placed side by side, hooked up to different genrators. So it looks as if we'd have to depend on gas powered cars for a while. But there could be a decrease on pollution caused by coal and oil burning plants, and a decrease in wastes, as the only waste produced by a perpetual mnotion generator would be a broken spring, and that can be melted down, and reformed. Also a perpetual motion generrator could be placed anywhere, it wouldn't have to rely on a running water source like a hydro plant, or high winds, or the sun. One could be set up underground even. There are a ton of possibilities. But I'm sure the idea won't catch on for a long long time, which frustrates me.