What Are the Odds of a Perfect Machine? Perpetual Motion Possibilities

[Ethan_Tab]

What are the odds that humans will come up with a 100% (or extremely close to) efficient machine within the next couple centuries. If so, what principle do you think it would work on? How about a perpetual motion machine?

Share your thoughts.

 

[russ_watters]

Perpetual motion machines would violate the laws of physics and are thus completely impossible. They will never happen.

However many electric heaters are exactly 100% efficient and energy harvesting devices can have coefficients of performance of well above 1:1.

 

[Ethan_Tab]

Perpetual motion machines would violate the laws of physics and are thus completely impossible. They will never happen.

In what ways would a perpetual machine violate the laws of physics?

 

[russ_watters]

In what ways would a perpetual machine violate the laws of physics?

The three laws of thermodynamics describe the general problems (and the PMM wiki describes the associated violations) and many claimed PMMS are not well enough developed to take further. But for ones that are, the violations can be anything. Common ones include Newton's laws of motion, Ohms law Archemede's principle and Lentz's law.

 

[berkeman]

In what ways would a perpetual machine violate the laws of physics?

PMMs are on the Banned Topics list in the PF Rules (see Info at the top of the page). We list some website that are good resources for your further reading outside of the PF.

Banned Topics -- Pseudoscience, such as (but not limited to):

Perpetual motion and "free energy" discussions
http://wiki.4hv.org/index.php/Free_Energy_Debunking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion
http://www.skepdic.com/freeenergy.html
http://www.skepdic.com/perpetual.html