Pseudoscience and speculators. Perpetual motion machine

Perpetuum mobile (lat. Perpetuum Mobile) - an imaginary device that allows you to get useful work more than the amount of energy communicated to him.

The self-moving wheel of the German inventor Orfireus rotated for two months in a sealed room, the doors of which were guarded by the grenadiers. During demonstrations, it not only rotated at a speed of 50 revolutions per minute, but also lifted loads to 16 kg. In 1725, Peter I was going to Germany to personally inspect the perpetual motion machine, which the inventor Orfireus agreed to sell to Russia for 100,000 efimki (1 efimok — about a ruble).

In 1775, the Paris Academy of Sciences made its famous decision not to consider perpetual motion projects because of the obvious impossibility of their creation. But still at scientific conferences in Russia and other countries, ideas about extracting energy from vacuum , pulsating fields (which exclude some of the negative work in a closed loop), energy transformations with changes in the internal structure of space-time, the so-called " free energy. "
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Some scientists manage to get patents for especially abstruse inventions where the patent bureau is unable to immediately recognize the perpetual motion machine. Moreover, the great scientists of the past, including Robert Boyle and Johann Bernoulli, offered their own perpetual motion designs. Many years devoted to the invention of the perpetual motion machine of Leonardo da Vinci.


Perpetual Motion of Bhaskara, 1150 g

The first mention in the historical literature of a particular perpetual motion device refers to the year 1150. The Indian poet, mathematician and astronomer Bhaskara in his poem describes a kind of wheel with long, narrow vessels half-filled with mercury attached along the rim. The principle of operation of this first mechanical “perpetuum mobile” is based on the difference in the moments of gravity forces created by the fluid moving in the vessels placed on the circumference of the wheel. As the author himself describes, “a wheel filled with liquid in this way, being mounted on an axis lying on two fixed supports, continuously rotates by itself.”

Rotating wheel was often used in ancient perpetual motion machines. In a sense, the “perpetual motion of the wheel” even had a religious meaning. Even in the Vedic religion, the wheel symbolized the divine principle. At the very beginning of its development, science began to borrow some religious attributes for its own purposes, putting them into practice in the form of constructive elements of various machines.

Different modifications of the wheel of Bhaskara are found in the literature of the Arab countries in the following centuries. In Europe, the first drawings of perpetual motion machines appear simultaneously with the introduction of Arabic numerals , that is, at the beginning of the 13th century.


Drawing of one of the oldest projects "perpetuum mobile" in Europe (circa 1235) from the album of Villare d'Onnecourt

For some reason, there is no evidence that European engineers worked on perpetual motion machines in ancient times, that is, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, although they had enough qualifications and knowledge for such experiments. Probably, at that time there was simply no demand (public order) for an eternal source of energy. The energy problem was successfully solved by an unlimited number of slaves available for use at any time, practically free of charge.

Thus, in Europe, the projects of perpetual motion appeared only after the 12th century. In the Renaissance, European scientists and inventors began to study this topic with a new force. For example, Leonardo da Vinci devoted a significant part of his life to this. He began with the schemes of the "perpetual wheel", known from past centuries, then tried to use the buoyancy of water, the water wheel, the Archimedes screw, with which the ancient Greeks lifted the water to irrigate the fields. Naturally, every time Leonardo failed, but he did not give up for a long time. At one of the stages, the inventor made an exact calculation of the moments of forces for the “perpetual wheel” project and came to the conclusion: “The total moment of forces rotating the wheel in one direction is exactly equal to the total moment of forces rotating the wheel in the other direction”. For its time, it was a serious scientific discovery. In fact, Leonardo da Vinci approached the discovery of the law of conservation of energy. By the way, this law was formulated in 1842 by the German naturalist Julius Robert von Meier, who, even at the age of 10, tried to design a perpetual motion machine. At the age of 28 years, the scientist published a paper "Notes on the forces of inanimate nature" in the journal "Annals of Chemistry and Pharmacy." In it, he pointed out the equivalence of the work expended and the heat produced, and thus substantiated the first law of thermodynamics.

In the end, Leonardo also acknowledged that a perpetual motion machine cannot exist. In his notes there is a phrase: “I came to the conclusion that the existence of the“ eternal wheel ”is impossible. The search for the source of perpetual motion is one of the most profound delusions of man. ”

Fortunately, in the following centuries, scientists did not heed the conclusion of Leonardo da Vinci. They continued their attempts to invent a perpetual motion machine, sometimes making remarkable scientific discoveries as they searched.

The perpetual motion machine of Johann Bernoulli is, to the point of genius, a simple construction (see figure on the left). In the vessel in which there is a mixture of heavy and light liquids, the tube is lowered. The upper end of the tube is open, and the lower end is closed by a membrane that allows only the lighter fluid from the mixture to pass through the tube. Then, under the influence of the pressure of the heavier mixture, the light liquid in the tube will rise. If you choose the right height of the tube, as well as the ratio of the densities of liquids, then the light liquid rises so that it will pour out of the tube. This will lead to an eternal circulation, and "thus, the movement of fluid will be eternal."

Robert Boyle, like his colleague Johann Bernoulli, referred to the water cycle in nature - supposedly a real example of a perpetual motion machine. Bernoulli believed that the water cycle in nature is due to the difference in the densities of salt and fresh water, but Boyle explained it by the action of capillary forces. According to the inventor, the liquid rising through the capillary should be poured back into the vessel if the length of the capillary is not too long.

As history shows, such attempts of “crazy” inventions really move science forward. This is the "perpetual motion" for science and technological progress. Unsuccessful experiments help to look at the problem differently, better understand the forces of nature and discover new, previously unknown laws of nature.

For example, at the end of the 16th century, the Dutch mathematician and engineer Simon Stevin showed a drawing that could make an impression of a perpetual motion machine on uneducated citizens. In this figure, the two balls to the right do not seem to balance the four balls to the left of the vertex of the triangle. Thus, the chain of balls supposedly must always rotate counterclockwise.



In fact, Simon Stevin found the condition for the balance of bodies on an inclined plane - another scientific discovery.

In other words, scientists began to search for previously unknown laws of nature, including the conditions for the equilibrium of bodies, based on the postulate that the perpetual motion is impossible. Now, looking at the scheme of the next “perpetuum mobile”, the scientist first of all asks the question: what forces did the inventor not take into account in his perpetual motion scheme?


Vacuum power plant N.A. Shesterenko (VESH) on Laval nozzles . For details, see the author's books “ VESH. Generator of vacuum energy "and" VESH and "KNOW-HOW". Getting energy from the physical vacuum. Christ creating

Inventors are working on new designs perpetual motion so far. Physics and chemistry have advanced significantly over the past centuries, so the authors of such inventions have much richer “tools” for use. In their constructions they use not only mechanical constructions, but also the laws of hydraulics, carry out experiments with magnetism, use chemical reactions, try to apply the laws of quantum mechanics, etc.


Clem Super-Single Engine

For some obsessed inventors, their work becomes a matter of life, a fix idea. These people are convinced that the perpetuum mobile exists and has already been invented several times before, but powerful corporations and governments of countries do not give such inventions a course. The authors of such inventions allegedly often die under mysterious circumstances. In the inflamed logic of inventors, this is easy to explain: after all, the creation of a perpetual motion engine will forever change the course of human history, completely reverse the existing ideas about science, change the order of things in economics and technology, deprive the sources of money and the power of the powerful.


Magnetic engine

Until now, dozens of applications for perpetual motion designs are submitted to the US Patent Office each year. The authors of modern inventions are sometimes intelligent and talented people who are distinguished by a rich technical imagination and extensive practical experience, but they often lack basic theoretical knowledge in physics.

However, in many modern "inventions", technical ideas proposed in the Middle Ages, and even in the 12-13 centuries, are resurrected in one form or another. For example, perpetual motion motors with a rotating rotor are still very popular. Often used pneumatic mechanisms, perpetual spring motors, hydraulics, chemical reactions, electromagnetic fields.



At first glance, it is even difficult to classify some constructions - whether it is a perpetual motion machine, or indeed a working machine that uses some poorly studied physical processes. Perhaps we can mention the construction of the "impossible" engine EmDrive , which creates a thrust in a closed loop. He was tested in the laboratory of the Space Center. Lyndon Johnson NASA. Scientific work describing this engine, seemingly violating the law of conservation of momentum, has undergone an independent examination and was published in an authoritative scientific journal, and experiments on Earth have shown the real presence of thrust.




EmDrive test facility in the laboratory of the Space Center. Lyndon johnson nasa

Working on an incomprehensible principle, the engine produces thrust even in a vacuum, where any thermal convection is excluded. Physicists put forward different explanations for EmDrive. Some say that pairs of photons may appear in the EmDrive resonator that are out of phase with each other. Such couples carry momentum in the opposite direction of the engine. And the interaction of such photons contributes to the emergence of a zero-polarized electromagnetic wave. The impulse transfers such a wave. There is a theory that the EmDrive thrust is a consequence of the appearance of the “quantum vacuum of a virtual plasma” of particles appearing and disappearing in a closed contour of space-time.

Hope to find a perpetual motion engine gives inventors tremendous strength and energy to work. The most important thing is to direct this energy in the right direction. Then, the real scientific and technical discoveries of Leonardo da Vinci, Robert Boyle, Johann Bernoulli, Simon Stevin, Julius Robert von Meier and other "crazy" inventors can become a side effect of their work.

Like the Paris Academy of Sciences, the US Patent Office does not formally grant patents for the "perpetuum mobile". This rule is valid for more than a hundred years. However, the International Patent Classification retains sections for hydrodynamic ( section F03B 17/00 ) and electrodynamic ( section H02K 53/00 ) perpetual motion machines, since the patent offices of many countries consider applications for inventions only in terms of their novelty, and not physical feasibility.


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