Difference between revisions of "Debate:Why is a perpetual motion machine impossible?"

Revision as of 17:42, December 31, 2006

• The phrase "perpetual motion" is old-fashioned language. It does not mean simply something that stays in motion forever. This might be theoretically possible—it does not violate conservation of energy, although it might violate the second law of thermodynamics, I'm not sure. The phrase uses "motion" in an older sense to mean motor or engine, and it means something that can deliver energy—to run an automobile, for example—without requiring any external source of energy, such as gasoline. It means something for nothing.

• For an interesting example of an attempt to build a machine that will stay in motion for a long time, see The Clock of the Long Now. This is a serious effort to encourage long-term thinking by solving the engineering and social problems involved in building a clock will actually run for ten thousand years. Dpbsmith 07:37, 31 December 2006 (EST)