1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,319 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: are you? So I thought I would do a tech 5 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: stuff tidbits about perpetual motion and why that is based 6 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: upon our understanding of the universe. Impossible and the sad 7 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: fact of the matter is y'all. Originally I was thinking 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: about referencing a guilty Pleasure song I love Faith Hill's 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: This Kiss, because in my mind there was the line, 10 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 1: it's perpetual motion. Here's the thing that's not in that's 11 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: not in the song. The line is it's centrifugal motion, 12 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: It's perpetual bliss. And I conflated those two lines in 13 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: my head. So I guess what I'm saying is that 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: I don't really have a reason for doing this episode. 15 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: You don't understand how distraught I am over this, Like 16 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: I build episodes around dad jokes and references, and I 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: just I feel all at sea. But I think it 18 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: is widely understood among most people that devices like perpetual 19 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: motion machines or the related concept of free energy devices 20 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: are based upon an understanding of the universe. Impossible, they 21 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: cannot work. But why can't they work? What fundamental obstacles 22 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: block such things from working? Why can't we have a 23 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: device that can continue to operate under its own power indefinitely, 24 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: or one that wants set in motion can actually generate 25 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: more energy than it requires to continue to run. Why 26 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: is that impossible? Well, on this show we often talk 27 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: about laws, and usually the laws I talk about are 28 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: the human made kind, the laws like in the EU 29 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: that protect personal data of citizens there, or the law 30 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 1: in the state of Montana that bans TikTok. But some 31 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: laws are greater than anything humans have put in their legislations. 32 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: Some laws are universal, or at least appear to be, 33 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: And among those are the laws of thermo dynamics. Now 34 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: there are four laws of thermo dynamics, the zero law, 35 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: the first, second, and third law. We don't even need 36 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: all four. We just need laws one and two to 37 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: squish perpetual motion machines. That is, assuming that we aren't 38 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: wrong about these basic laws of physics, or that there's 39 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: not some sort of like quantum exception out there, and 40 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 1: maybe there is. The quantum world is a very unusual 41 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: and strange place. Even without Bill Murray. That's an ant 42 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: Man Quantumnia reference. I don't know how many of we 43 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: all saw it. Didn't do so well. Not a great 44 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: movie anyway. You can think of thermodynamics as the branch 45 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,239 Speaker 1: of physics that pertains to different types of energy and 46 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: how those types of energy relate to one another, and 47 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: the concept of work within a system. Now, sometimes this 48 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: is a fairly easy concept to understand. If we're talking 49 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: about an isolated system, one that's a system unto itself, 50 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: it can actually be pretty easy to see how the 51 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: laws of thermodynamics apply. But if we're talking about the 52 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: real world, where systems can and do connect to other 53 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: systems or even be encompassed fully within another system, sometimes 54 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: those connections are a little bit harder at the spot, 55 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: and that ambiguity creates opportunity for mistakes or misunderstandings or 56 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: illusions or sometimes outright chicanery and rahap scalionism. But let's 57 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: start with those two laws. Law number one tells us 58 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: that energy can be nice either created nor destroyed. This 59 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: is also known as the law of conservation of energy. 60 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: So energy can convert from one form into another. That's 61 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: possible electricity could convert into heat, for example, but that 62 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: doesn't mean the energy was destroyed. It just changed from 63 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: one form to another. It's sort of like how potential 64 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: energy with maybe say a ball at the top of 65 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: a ramp, turns into kinetic energy when the ball is released, 66 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: but you don't lose energy. It's just been converted from 67 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: one form into another. And that explains why you might 68 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: notice that you're putting more electric juice, as it were, 69 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: into a system. Then you get out on the other end. 70 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: Let's say that you have a meter that tells you 71 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: how much electricity is moving through the system once it 72 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: gets to the end of it, and you realize, oh, 73 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: it's lower than the amount of energy I put into it. 74 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: And that's because somewhere along the way, some of that 75 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: electricity was converted into something else, and therefore you don't 76 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: have as much electricity at the end. The system as 77 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: a whole still has the same amount of energy, it's 78 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: just some of that has been changed into a different form. 79 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,239 Speaker 1: That's another important part of this, though, is that energy 80 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: can actually enter or leave a system if it's not 81 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: fully isolated from everything and nothing ever really is so 82 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: if we don't notice it that energy is coming into 83 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: a system, it may appear to us that the system 84 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: is running under its own power, or if the energy 85 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: is leaving the system, but we can't easily see it, 86 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: we might not understand why it winds down and stops working. Now, 87 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: that first law is a doozy when it comes to 88 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: perpetual motion machines and free energy devices, because that law 89 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: tells us you cannot get more energy out of a 90 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: system than already existed within it, or that you have 91 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: put into that system. So a perpetual motion machine, if 92 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: it were possible, would be unable to generate electricity and 93 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: continue to move indefinitely. It would have to operate under 94 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: a set of rules where you know, it was not 95 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,839 Speaker 1: losing any energy, because if it did lose energy, ultimately 96 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: the system would break down. It would stop working. So 97 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: some of the energy the machine uses to move turns, 98 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: you know, maybe into electricity. Let's say it's a generator, 99 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,799 Speaker 1: but that would mean that the energy that's being used 100 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: to keep the system going is leeching out of it, 101 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: and eventually you reach a point where there's not enough 102 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: energy left for the system to continue to operate. And 103 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: we're talking about basic machines here, so we'd be talking 104 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: about kinetic energy. Eventually, enough of the energy would be 105 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: leached out of the system that you wouldn't have the 106 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: kinetic energy necessary to keep the system moving. So let's 107 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: imagine an example. Let's say we have a wheel. Let's 108 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: say we've got this wheel and we position it vertically right, 109 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: so the wheel it's like a bike tire with the 110 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: bike standing up. And we've mounted this wheel on an axle. 111 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: And let's say that when you turn the wheel, it 112 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: turns the axle, and the axle has on the end 113 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: of it a couple of permanent magnets attached to it, 114 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: and these magnets move past a conductive wire. Well. The 115 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: laws of electromagnetism tell us that a fluctuating magnetic field, 116 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: such as that created by rotating magnets, will induce electricity 117 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: to flow through a conductor if it's within range of 118 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: that magnetic field. And this is how basic electric generators work. Right, 119 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: some mechanical component causes magnets to move or causes conductors 120 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: to move relative to some magnets, and this induces electricity 121 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: to flow through the system. Now, we just have to 122 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: get the wheel to start turning right, and if we 123 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: can find a way to get it to turn and 124 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: keep turning by itself, well, it would then mean that 125 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: the axle would be rotating and would continue to generate electricity. Boom, 126 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: we've got our free energy. So maybe we would try 127 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: a really old idea. Bascara's wheel is what it's called. 128 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: It was proposed by a twelfth century mathematician named Bascara 129 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: the Second in India what is modern day India. He 130 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: suggested a wheel that would include some curved spokes in 131 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: the wheel, sort of like ribs on the inside, and 132 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 1: they kind of curve so they create little cups. And 133 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: this means that you have different chambers within the wheel, 134 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: and you would fill those chambers partially anyway with a liquid. 135 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: He proposed liquid mercury, which of course is liquid at 136 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: room temperature. And he proposed that as the wheel would spin, 137 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: the mercury inside these chambers would naturally flow to the 138 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: lowest point of that chamber, which means your wheel would 139 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: be unbalanced. You would have a heavier side on one 140 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: side of the wheel. It would be overbalanced. And Bascara 141 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: thought that if you started such a wheel spinning, the 142 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: flowing mercury would create the torque that would allow the 143 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: wheel to continuously spin. You would just have to get 144 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: it going, and then once it was going, it would 145 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: just keep going forever. That was his thought. But here's 146 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: the thing. If you actually were to build Bestcars wheel 147 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: in reality and try it out, you would notice that 148 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. It actually kind of swings a little bit. 149 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: And there are a couple of reasons for this. One 150 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: is that the wheel ends up weighing a bit more 151 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: on one side than the other. But that also changes 152 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 1: the center of mass, so the center of mass of 153 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: the wheel would no longer be the center point of 154 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: the wheel itself would actually be off a little bit, 155 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: and it would mean the wheel would act more like 156 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: a pendulum than it would a wheel. Also, in order 157 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: to keep the wheel to continue to spin, you would 158 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: really need a way to change those spokes dynamically, to 159 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: essentially change the radius of the spokes, And to do that, 160 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: it would mean that you would have to impart some 161 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: energy to make those spokes change, right, You'd have to 162 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: have some mechanism to do that, and that would require 163 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: energy to do which means you would be inserting more 164 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: energy into the system, and that means that's not a 165 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: perpetual motion machine. I mean, that's essentially the equivalent of 166 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: the wheel starts to slow down, so you give it 167 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: another push. There's no real difference here. It's just that 168 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 1: occasionally you would have to inject energy into the system 169 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: to keep it going, which means it's not a perpetual 170 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: motion machine at all. Okay, So with our hypothetical example 171 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: with that electro magnet, we would see that while you 172 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: could start the wheel spinning, it would ultimately slow down 173 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: and stop and stop generating electricity. As a result, if 174 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:42,959 Speaker 1: you could somehow continue its spinning and generate electricity in 175 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: the process, then it would violate that first law of thermodynamics. 176 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: It would be creating energy and you can't do that. Okay, 177 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, 178 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about law number two and why that 179 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: also has a part to play with the impossibility of 180 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: perpetual motion machines. But first let's think our sponsors. We're back, 181 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: so we're up to law number two of thermodynamics. Like 182 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: I said, these are the two laws that actually really 183 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: pertain to what we're talking about here. So the second 184 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: law of thermodynamics gets into the concept of entropy, which 185 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: gets a little bit complicated. Also, like entropy can mean 186 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: different things in different contexts, which makes it a little confusing. 187 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: If one person is thinking of one definition while another 188 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: person is thinking of another, they can create a difficulty there. 189 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: But really, one of the things the second law explains 190 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: is that if you bring two systems together so that 191 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: they interact with one another, eventually they will reach a 192 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: thermodynamic equilibrium. So the easiest way I can think of 193 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: to explain this is by talking about temperature. That's just 194 00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: one example, but we can it's it's easy enough one 195 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,559 Speaker 1: to think about. So let's say we've got two things 196 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: of different temperatures. Let's say we've got a giant block 197 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: of ice and it's at freezing so it's at zero celsius, 198 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: and we've got a vat of boiling water that's at 199 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: one hundred degrees celsius in isolation. These systems are in 200 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: thermodynamic equilibrium with themselves, right. They are at equilibrium as 201 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: far as temperature goes anyway throughout the material, but they 202 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: are not an equilibrium with one another. And so if 203 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: we then combine these two systems, we I don't know, 204 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: pour the boiling water on top of the block of ice. 205 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: That boiling water would transfer heat to the block of ice, 206 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: until eventually you would end up with a pool of 207 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,559 Speaker 1: water that's at a single temperature somewhere between freezing and boiling. 208 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: The two systems have entered acted with one another and 209 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:56,560 Speaker 1: have reached thermodynamic equilibrium. You would not continue to have 210 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: one section that's freezing in one section that's boiling. Moreover, 211 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: you cannot have a situation in which a colder body 212 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: spontaneously transfers heat to a warmer body. That's just not 213 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: the direction that heat will transfer. It has to go 214 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: from warmer to colder. It can't go colder to warmer, 215 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: so the block of ice can't make the boiling water 216 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: even hotter. That's not possible with perpetual motion machines. This 217 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: really comes into play when we start talking about stuff 218 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: like friction. Any machine with moving parts is going to 219 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: generate friction, that resistance of one body moving against another. 220 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: Friction converts kinetic energy into heat, and that heat will 221 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: dissipate from the source. So that means you're always losing 222 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: energy from your system. You're not destroying the energy but 223 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: you are losing it. It is leeching out of your 224 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 1: system into the surrounding environment. So as the system continues 225 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: in motion, it generates friction. The friction is lost in 226 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: the form of heat, or rather energy is lost in 227 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: the form of heat because of friction, and you just 228 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: gradually see the energy meter of your device decrease till 229 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: it can no longer have enough energy to operate, so 230 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: it will come to a stop. Now, all that being said, 231 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: it has not stopped people from trying to find a 232 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: way around these laws of physics to create a perpetual 233 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: motion or free energy device. They're all sorts of examples, 234 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: some of which were well intentioned and sincere attempts to 235 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: create perpetual motion devices or free energy devices, some of 236 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: which were scams from the very beginning. There are countless 237 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: videos on sites like YouTube where you can see devices 238 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: that appear at first glance to be perpetual motion. But 239 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: I guarantee you that in every single case that there's 240 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: either a limitation where the device will eventually stop working 241 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: on its own, or there's an external source of energy 242 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: that's powering the device that is not in easy view. 243 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: I'm reminded there was a sort of a teeter totter 244 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: perpetual motion video that went viral a few years ago. 245 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: I remember I had a couple of like golf balls 246 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: on it, as I recall, and the golf balls were 247 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: supposedly providing the energy to tilt the teeter totter from 248 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: one side to the other and that would continue to 249 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: go forever. But it was clear that there was some 250 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: other mechanism operating on the teeter totter, because the whole 251 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: thing would tilt at different points even if the balls 252 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: weren't where they needed to be to impart the energy 253 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: that the inventor claimed it was doing. So in other words, 254 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: it was not a real perpetual motion machine. It was 255 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: a trick. But you know, sometimes people just create something 256 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: that's really remarkable that on a casual glance, looks like 257 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: it could be perpetual motion, but upon further investigation, it isn't. 258 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: And it's not that they were trying to trick you. 259 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: It's just they came up with a really clever kind 260 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: of mechanism. So I would say that the Beverly clock 261 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: falls into that category. It looks like it's a perpetual 262 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: motion machine, but it isn't. A man named Arthur Beverly 263 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: designed this clock in the nineteenth century. It looks a 264 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: little bit like a grandfather clock. And here's the remarkable thing. 265 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: It only needed to be wound once. It was wound 266 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century, and it hasn't been wound since, 267 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: at least not by people. So if you were to 268 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: visit the University of Otago in New Zealand, you could 269 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: see for yourself the clock is still ticking, or at 270 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: least it would likely still be ticking. It would depend 271 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: upon the day you were there. And it certainly sounds 272 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: like if you only ever needed to wind the clock once, 273 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: that there must be some sort of perpetual motion thing 274 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: going on here. But no, it actually relies on an 275 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: external source of energy to replenish what it expends mechanically. Now, 276 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: in this case, that energy takes on the form of 277 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:07,640 Speaker 1: atmospheric temperature and to a lesser extent pressure. So inside 278 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: this clock there is an air tight box, and as 279 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,159 Speaker 1: the box warms up, it expands, and as it cools 280 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: down it contracts. So the expansion of this box puts 281 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: pressure on a diaphragm that in turn will lift a 282 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: one pound weight, and if that one pound weight is 283 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: lifted by an inch, that creates enough of well potential energy, 284 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: and then as the weight drops, kinetic energy to power 285 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: the mechanism of the clock itself. So in other words, 286 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: as long as there are changes in temperature sufficient enough 287 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: to lift this weight up by an inch, the clock 288 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: will stay wound by itself and you don't have to 289 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 1: touch it. It doesn't need a six degree change in 290 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: temperature in celsius in order for this to work, and 291 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: most days that's fine, Like the coldest part of the 292 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: day is usually at least six degrees celsius off from 293 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: the warmest part of the day. But every now and 294 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: then you get days where there isn't that big of 295 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: a difference, and then the clock doesn't get reset properly. 296 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: So the clock actually has stopped a few times since 297 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: it was first wound, but it's never been rewound because 298 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,479 Speaker 1: the temperature does that for the clock. So again, at 299 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: a casual glance, you'd say, oh, this is perpetual energy. 300 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:29,959 Speaker 1: It was, it was a perpetual motion. It was wound 301 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: once and it keeps on going. But in fact it's 302 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: dependent upon this external source. So just as if you 303 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: were to have a device that looks like it works 304 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: on its own, but it turns out you've got it 305 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: plugged into the wall. Well, the wall is clearly the 306 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: external source of energy. You don't have a perpetual motion machine, 307 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: then you just have a machine. Same sort of thing 308 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: with the Beverly clock, except it uses temperature, not electricity 309 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,920 Speaker 1: from the wall. Still a very clever device. And again 310 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that Arthur Beverly was trying to hoodwink anyone. 311 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: He just created a really interesting clock and I think 312 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: it's neat. But yeah, just a quick reminder, perpetual motion 313 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,440 Speaker 1: probably not possible if our understanding of the universe is flawed, 314 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: and we know there are gaps in it. If it's 315 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: flawed enough, then maybe one day we will break through 316 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 1: and find a way to crack that. But it's highly unlikely. 317 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: So whenever you see any claims about perpetual motion or 318 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: free energy, be incredibly skeptical. It would require phenomenal evidence 319 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: to prove that in fact it did qualify. And that 320 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: is a text of tidbits on perpetual motion and the 321 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,239 Speaker 1: first two laws of thermodynamics. I guess I hope you 322 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: are all well, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 323 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 324 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to 325 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:01,919 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.