Everyone has been talking about "perpetual motion" and "eternal motion" for a long time, whether it is their direct meaning or extended meaning. However, not everyone can really understand these words. the meaning contained. A perpetual motion machine is an imaginary machine that can move automatically and continuously, and can also do some useful work (such as lifting heavy objects, etc.). Although many people have been trying to make such a machine for a long time, no one has been able to make it successfully until now. Many people's attempts failed, which convinced people that it was impossible to create a perpetual motion machine, and from this point established the law of conservation of energy - a basic law in modern science. As for the so-called "eternal motion", it refers to a phenomenon of non-stop motion that does no work.
On the edge of a wheel, there is a movable short pole, and a weight is mounted on one end of the short pole. Regardless of the position of the wheel, the weights on the right side of the wheel must be farther from the center of the wheel than the weights on the left side. Therefore, the weights on this side (right side) always press down to make the wheel rotate. In this way, this wheel should continue to rotate forever, at least until the axle is worn out. This is what the inventor originally thought. However, after it is actually manufactured, it does not rotate. The inventor's design actually doesn't work. Why?
The reason is this: Although the weights on the right side of the wheel are always farther from the center of the wheel, the number of these weights is always less than those on the left. There are only 4 heavy objects on the right side, but there are as many as 8 on the left side. As a result, the wheel remains in a balanced state, so the wheel naturally does not rotate. After swinging a few times, it stops at the position as shown in the picture.
It has now been definitely proven that a machine that can move automatically forever (especially while doing work while moving) is impossible to manufacture. Therefore, if anyone is working towards this Effort would be a hopeless labor. In the past, especially in the Middle Ages, people spent countless time and labor in vain to study and solve the structural problem of this "perpetual motion machine" (the Latin name is perpe-tuummobile). At that time, the invention of a perpetual motion machine was even more fascinating than refining gold from base metals.
In Pushkin's work "Several Scenes from the Age of Chivalry", he once described a visionary named Berthold:
What is perpe- tuummobile? Maldin asked.
"Perpe-tuummobile," Berthold answered him, "is eternal motion. As long as I can conceive of eternal motion, then I will try to see to the edge of human creation... You know, my dear Mardin! Refining gold is naturally an exciting job, and the discoveries in this area may also be interesting and beneficial, but if you get a perpe-tuummobile...ah..."
People have come up with hundreds of "perpetual motion machines", but none of them have ever turned. Every inventor, as in the example we gave, always overlooks some aspect of the design, which destroys the entire design. Here is another imaginary perpetual motion machine: a round wheel containing a heavy steel ball that rolls freely. The inventor's idea is that the steel balls on one side of the wheel are always further from the center of the wheel than the ones on the other side. Therefore, under the influence of their gravity, the wheel must continue to rotate.
There are many models of this type of fantasy perpetual motion machine. At one time, they were installed in the windows of watch shops to attract customers' attention: these models were secretly rotated by electricity. .
In the history of mankind trying to invent a "perpetual motion machine", magnets have also played a not insignificant role. Failed inventors have struggled to use magnets to build machines that could move forever. The magnetic "perpetual motion machine" introduced below was designed by the 17th-century Englishman John Wilkins (the bishop of Jester City).
Place a strong magnet A on the small post. Two sloping wooden troughs M and N are stacked and leaning against the small pillar. There is a small hole C at the upper end of the upper groove M, and the lower groove N is curved.
The inventor thought that if a small iron ball B is placed on the upper slot, then due to the attraction of magnet A, the small ball will roll upward, but when it rolls to the small hole, it will fall to the lower slot N, and it will continue to roll upward. Roll to the lower end of groove N, then go up along the bend D and run to the upper groove M. Here, it is attracted by the magnet, rolls up again, falls from the small hole, rolls down the N groove, and then returns to the upper groove through the bend to start moving again. In this way, the ball will keep running back and forth, performing "eternal motion." What is so absurd about this invention?
It is not difficult to point it out. Why does the inventor think that after the ball rolls along the N groove to its lower end, it will still have a speed that allows it to go around the bend D to the top? If the ball only rolls under the action of gravity, it is not difficult for it to rise along the bend, because at that time it is rolling downward at an accelerated rate. But the ball is rolling under the action of gravity and magnetism, and the magnetic force is so strong that it can force the ball to rise from position B to C. Therefore, when the ball rolls along the N groove, it cannot accelerate, but slows down; even if it can roll to the lower end of the N groove, it cannot accumulate a speed to enable it to rise around the bend D. .
The design mentioned above reappeared many times later with changes in shape. There is a similar design that, strange to say, was patented in Germany in 1878, 30 years after the law of conservation of energy was established! The inventor disguised his absurd basic idea of ??a magnetic "perpetual motion machine" so well that he even confused the technical committee that issued the patent. Although according to the regulations, no invention patent license should be issued for any invention that contradicts the laws of nature, this time the invention was patented. But the lucky man who was the only one to obtain the patent for "perpetual motion" will probably soon be disappointed with his creation, because after only two years, he stopped paying patent taxes, and this ridiculous patent also lost its legal effect: "Invention" becomes everyone's property, but no one needs it