Research and development history of perpetual motion machine
The first perpetual motion machine that never succeeded.
The idea of perpetual motion machine originated in India, AD 1200? Around the year of perpetual motion, this idea spread from India to the Islamic world, and from here to the west. In Europe, one of the most famous perpetual motion machine designs in the early days was put forward by a Frenchman named Hennecau in the13rd century. As shown in the figure: there is a rotating shaft in the center of the wheel, and 12 movable short rods are installed at the edge of the wheel, and one end of each short rod is equipped with an iron ball. The designer of the scheme thinks that the ball on the right is farther from the axis than the ball on the left, so the rotating torque generated by the ball on the right is greater than that generated by the ball on the left. In this way, the wheel will rotate endlessly in the direction indicated by the arrow, driving the machine to rotate. This design has been copied by many people in different forms, but it has never been endlessly turned over. After careful analysis, it will be found that although the torque produced by each ball on the right is large and the number of balls is small, the torque produced by each ball on the left is small, but the number of balls is large. Therefore, the wheel will not continue to rotate to do work, but will only swing a few times and stop.
What happened afterwards? Renaissance Italy? Leonardo da v? The perpetual motion machine inci, 1452- 15 19) also has a similar device built in. When he designed it, he thought that the heavy ball on the right was farther away from the center of the wheel than the heavy ball on the left, and the wheel would always rotate in the direction of the arrow under the action of imbalance on both sides, but the experimental results were negative.
Leonardo da Vinci keenly concluded that perpetual motion was impossible. In fact, according to the principle of lever balance, in the above two designs, although each weight on the right has a great rotating effect on the wheel, the number of weights is small. Accurate calculation can prove that there will always be a suitable position, so that the opposite rotating action (torque) exerted by the weights on the left and right sides on the wheel is just equal, which cancels each other and makes the wheel balance and come to a standstill.
A mechanic in Italy in the 65438+70s? Steele also put forward the design scheme of perpetual motion machine. In the design, Stell thinks that the water flowing from the upper water tank impacts the rotation of the waterwheel, which drives the waterwheel to rotate, and at the same time, a set of gears drives the screw pump to lift the water in the reservoir to the upper water tank again. He believes that the whole device can continue to operate in this way and work effectively. In fact, less and less water flows back into the water tank, and soon all the water in the water tank flows into the reservoir below and the turbine stops running. Buoyancy is also a good helper in designing perpetual motion machines. It is a famous design scheme of buoyancy perpetual motion machine. A series of balls, wrapped around the upper and lower wheels, can rotate like a chain. Some balls on the right are put in a container full of water. The designer thinks that if there is no water container on the right and the number of balls on the left and right sides is equal, the chain will be balanced. The balls on the right are immersed in water. When they are floated by water, they will be pushed up by water, driving the whole string of balls to rotate around the upper and lower wheels. There is a ball on the water. There is a ball below, which passes through the bottom of the container and is added. Such forever? Is the perpetual motion machine not made because it is technically difficult to let the ball below pass through the bottom of the container without water leakage? Technical difficulty is not the main problem, but the principle of design. When the ball below passes through the bottom of the container, it bears the pressure of the water above, just like the bottom of the container, and because it is at the bottom of the water, the pressure is great. This downward pressure will counteract the buoyancy of the ball above, and the fluid power machine will not stay still forever.
In addition, it is also proposed to use the inertia of wheels to make thin tubes? Capillary action? All kinds of perpetual motion machine design schemes that can obtain effective power, such as electromagnetic force, have failed without exception. In fact, in the design of all perpetual motion machines, we can always find a balanced position, where the forces just cancel each other out and there is no longer any driving force to make it move. All perpetual motion machines will inevitably stop at this equilibrium position and become unpowered. Since the Gothic era, there have been more and more such designs. During the17th century and18th century, people put forward various designs of perpetual motion machines, including "screw water pump", inertia of wheels, buoyancy or capillary action of water, repulsion between like poles, etc. The court gathered all kinds of scheme designers who tried to make money with this illusory invention. Both learned and uneducated people think perpetual motion is possible. This task attracts researchers like a mirage, but all these schemes ended in failure without exception. They have been wandering around the same place for several years, but they have not produced any results. Through constant practice and trial, people gradually realize that any machine that does work outside will consume energy. A machine cannot do work without consuming energy. Some famous scientists at this time? Stevin? Huygens and others have begun to realize that it is impossible to make a perpetual motion machine by mechanical means.
/kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, a series of scientific workers made great contributions to correctly understand the mutual transformation relationship between thermal function transformation and other material motion forms, and soon great? The law of conservation and transformation of energy has been discovered. People realize that all substances in nature have energy, and energy has various forms, which can be transformed from one form to another, from one object to another, and the sum of energy remains unchanged in the process of transformation and transfer. The law of conservation and transformation of energy provides a more accurate and richer scientific basis for dialectical materialism. It effectively attacked the idealistic view that material movement can be created and destroyed at will, and completely broke the dream of perpetual motion. After all the attempts to make the first perpetual motion machine failed, some people dream of making another perpetual motion machine, hoping not to violate it? The first law of thermodynamics, and it is both economical and convenient. For example, this kind of heat engine can directly absorb heat from the ocean or atmosphere and make it completely become? Mechanical work. Because the energy of the ocean and atmosphere is inexhaustible, this kind of heat engine can work endlessly and is also a perpetual motion machine. However, on the basis of a lot of practical experience, the British physicist? Kelvin put forward a new general principle in 185 1: it is impossible for a substance to absorb heat from a single heat source and convert it into useful work without other influences. In this way, the second idea of perpetual motion machine is shattered. The endless design schemes of perpetual motion machine all failed under the strict examination of science and the ruthless test of practice. 1775, the French Academy of Sciences announced that "undergraduate colleges will no longer review all the designs of perpetual motion machines". This shows that the scientific community has realized from the long-term accumulated experience that there is no hope of success in trying to create a perpetual motion machine. The idea of perpetual motion machine has lasted for hundreds of years in human history, and this idea has been refuted, which is not only conducive to people's correct understanding of science, but also conducive to people's correct understanding of the world. Energy can neither be produced nor disappeared out of thin air, but can only be transformed from one form to another, or from one object to another. In the process of transformation and transfer, the sum of energy remains unchanged, which is the law of conservation of energy. So the first perpetual motion machine can't be built. The transformation and transfer of energy is directional, just as heat can be spontaneously transferred from a hot object to a cold object, but it cannot be spontaneously transferred from a cold object to a hot object without causing other changes, so the second type of perpetual motion machine cannot be made. Others think that according to Newton's first law, an object can do endless motion by inertia without being forced? Moving in a straight line at a uniform speed, I want to do experiments in outer space. But the technology at that time did not allow this. Newton also put forward the law of universal gravitation, that is, any two objects in nature attract each other. So this object will stop after a long time-or only a few minutes-and it can't stay still forever.
Although many people worked hard, it turns out that they all failed without exception. Perpetual motion machine is an illusion, which will never succeed, because it violates one of the most common laws of nature, namely the laws of energy transformation and conservation. As early as the15th century, the famous scientist Leonardo da Vinci put forward the view that perpetual motion machine is impossible. He once designed a runner, as shown in the figure, and a series of containers were installed on the edge of the runner, which contained some mercury. He thought that the movement of mercury in the container might make the runner rotate forever, but after careful study, he came to a negative conclusion. He realized from many similar design schemes that the attempt of perpetual motion machine was doomed to failure. He wrote: "The visionary of eternal movement! How futile your exploration is! Or? Perpetual machine to be a gold digger! " However, in the hundreds of years after the15th century, the activities of making perpetual motion machines never stopped.
For example, in the17th century, a prisoner named Marchis was imprisoned under the Tower of London in England. He made a rotating "perpetual motion machine", as shown in the picture. The diameter of the runner is 4.3 meters, and 40 steel balls, each weighing 23 kilograms, move along the outer side of the spoke wing to increase torque. When the wheel turns high, the steel ball will automatically roll to the center. It is said that he once performed this device to King Charles I of England. The king was very happy and pardoned him. In fact, this machine relies on inertia to maintain short-term movement.
Soft-arm perpetual motion machine
/kloc-a special mechanism was designed in the 0/9th century, as shown in the figure. Its arms can bend. There is a groove on the arm, and the ball rolls along the groove to the extended arm end, which increases the torque. Turning to the other side, the soft arm begins to bend and approach the shaft. The designer thinks that this can make the machine get torque. However, he didn't think of it? Although the moment arm is shortened, the resistance is increased and the runner can only stop in the same place.
Archimedes spiral perpetual motion machine
168 1 year, the famous British doctor Vlad suggested that archimedean spiral should be used to lift the water in the pool to a high place (as shown in the figure), and then the rising water would drive the turbine. The water turbine can not only drive the waterwheel to do work, but also enable archimedean spiral to continuously lift water. If we go on like this, won't we have to worry about drought? At that time, many people responded to him, and various automatic turbines were put forward one after another, which led to a boom.
Magnetic perpetual motion machine
Around 1570, an Italian professor Tesniers suggested that perpetual motion machines could be realized by the attraction of magnets. His design is shown in the picture. A is a magnet, and the iron ball C can be attracted by the magnet to roll up along the inclined plane, reach the upper E, fall from the small hole B, return through the curved surface BFC, and be attracted by the magnet again, so that the iron ball can continuously move along the spiral path. Maybe he hadn't built it then? Coulomb's law does not know that the magnitude of electric field force is inversely proportional to the square of distance. As long as you think about it more, its absurdity will be clear at a glance.
There are many similar examples, so I won't repeat them here. Just listing some names is enough to show how extensive and attractive this futile activity is.
For example: surface tension perpetual motion machine, buoyancy perpetual motion machine, permanent magnet perpetual motion machine, automatic car, automatic washing machine, etc. While some people are keen on making perpetual motion machines, scientists have gradually realized the objective laws of nature from the study of basic mechanics theory.
After Leonardo da Vinci, Steven wrote a book "Fundamentals of Statics" at 1568, in which when discussing the decomposition of forces on inclined planes, he clearly put forward the view that perpetual motion machines could not be realized. The illustration he used was painted on the title page of the book, as shown in the picture, which read: "Magic is not magic." Pass 14 small balls of equal weight evenly through the thread to form a ball chain connected end to end and put it on the inclined plane. He thinks that the endless movement of the chain is absurd, so both sides should be balanced.
1775, French scientists solemnly passed a resolution refusing to try perpetual motion machines. In the book History of the French Academy of Sciences, it is recorded as follows: "This year, the Academy of Sciences passed a resolution and decided to refuse to listen to the answers to the following questions: cubes, angles, squares with the same area as circles, and any machines that show eternal motion."
And explained: "it is absolutely impossible to build a perpetual motion machine. Even if the friction and resistance in the middle do not destroy the original power, this power cannot produce the same effect as the cause;" If we imagine that power can work continuously, the effect will be infinitely small in a certain period of time. If the friction and resistance decrease, the initial motion tends to continue, but it cannot interact with other objects. Under this assumption (nature can't exist), the only possible eternal motion will not help to achieve the purpose of the perpetual motion builder. The disadvantage of these studies is that they are extremely expensive, which not only destroys a family, but also the technicians who can provide a lot of services to the public often waste their tools, time and intelligence. "However, even under such a clear warning from the French Academy of Sciences, the activity of creating perpetual motion machines has not yet converged.
/kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, the law of conservation of energy has been established.
186 1 year, a British engineer, Delks, collected a lot of information and wrote a book entitled 17 and 18 century perpetual motion machine, warning people not to dream of fame and good luck from the gift of perpetual motion machine. However, Delks' "warning words" failed to stop the perpetual motion machine from continuing to flood.
/kloc-at the end of 0/9, someone in Pennsylvania, USA, tried to replace the hammer of the pendulum with a magnet, tried to replace the clockwork with a magnetic force, and thought that it could automatically maintain the swing without clockwork, but the result was in vain. In the 20th century, more complex and specious designs were put forward. For example, some people want to "invent" automatic cars, some people want to "create" automatic washing machines, some people want to make "automatic" pumps by using "molecular gravity" in water, and some people want to make generators simply by permanent magnets. Especially under the stimulation of the "energy crisis", such activities are increasing and emerging one after another. Another perpetual motion machine is often put forward, which is confusing. For example, in the 1980s of 19, Gammy, an inventor in Washington, USA, designed a Zeromotor, in which liquid ammonia was used as the working medium to absorb the heat of the surrounding environment, and ammonia changed from liquid to gas, generating a pressure of 4 atmospheres at 0℃, which could push the piston to do work. In this case, there is no need to use fuel. He further explained that ammonia gas will be expanded and cooled after driving the piston, and will automatically condense in the container, so it can work circularly. 188 1 year, his design was supported by the chief engineer of the US Navy and praised by the government. Even the then president of the United States watched the design model with great interest. They may think that if this kind of engine is really successful, the American fleet will not need to add coal stations, and can get endless heat energy from the Wang Yang sea. However, as long as it is scientifically analyzed, it will be found that Gammy's design belongs to a single heat source heat engine, which violates the second law of thermodynamics and is the second kind of perpetual motion machine that cannot be realized. If the invention of perpetual motion machine is beneficial to mankind, it is that people can learn a lesson from it: all "creations" that violate natural laws such as energy transformation and conservation are doomed to failure.
Regarding the impossibility of perpetual motion machine, we should also mention the Dutch physicist Stephen. /kloc-Before the 6th century, in statics, people only dealt with seeking? The resultant force and its balance of parallel force systems and the problem of decomposing a force into parallel force systems will not be dealt with yet? Balance problem of cross force system. To solve this kind of problem, people boil it down to solving three exchanges? The balance of power. The problem was solved by clever debate. If you put a uniform chain ABC on an asymmetric upright (frictionless) wedge, the chain will be subjected to the reaction of two contact surfaces and its own gravity. It happens to be three converging forces. Will the chain slide here or there? If so, which way? Stephen imagined stopping the wedge in the air and connecting the chain at the bottom with CDA to close it. Finally, the problem was solved. The chain hanging at the bottom is self-balancing. Connect the suspension parts with the upper chain. Stephen said, "If you think the chain on the wedge is unbalanced, I can be a perpetual motion machine." In fact, if the chain will slide, then you will inevitably introduce that the closed chain will slide forever; This is obviously absurd, and the answer must be that the chain does not move. He got paid for it? Conditions for the balance of three forces. He thought this proof was wonderful, so he put it on the title page of his book "Memory of Mathematics", and his colleagues carved it on their tombstones to show their admiration. The solution of the balance problem of cross force system also marks the maturity of statics.
With the realization that perpetual motion machine is impossible, some countries have imposed restrictions on perpetual motion machine. For example, as early as 1775, the French Academy of Sciences decided not to publish a newsletter about perpetual motion machines. 19 17, the us patent office decided not to accept the patent application of perpetual motion machine. Nevertheless, the inventor of perpetual motion machine is still advancing wave after wave and struggling tenaciously. According to F. Charlesworth, assistant evaluator of British Patent Office, the first patent of perpetual motion machine in Britain was 1635. Between 16 17 and 1903, the British Patent Office received about 600 patent applications for perpetual motion machines. This does not include the patent application for perpetual motion machine using the principle of gravity. However, in the United States, after 19 17, there are still many perpetual motion machine schemes that can't see the mystery at the moment and are accepted by the patent office.