Adam Savage vs The "Perpetual Motion" Machine!
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Among the artifacts housed at The Royal Society is a curious device purporting to be a perpetual motion machine. The creation of the late British scientist and author David Jones (aka Daedalus), the secret of how this machine gives the illusion of perpetual motion has yet to be revealed. Archivist Virginia Mills shares the backstory of this mystery and Adam takes a crack at uncovering how this implausible invention actually works!
Thanks to Brady Haran for bringing us to The Royal Society! You can find his Objectivity videos at / objectivityvideos
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Thanks to Brady Haran for bringing us to The Royal Society! You can find his Objectivity videos at kzhead.info
My man at Numberphile delivering the goods!
Is it possible that the boxes on the wheel are just full of a Gas that easily changes its temperature, where the top is always a different temperature than the bottom of the wheel? Kind of like how a Stirling engine works with heat or cold. The difference in temperature is what I'm thinking. And the magnets are the decoy .
Is there another episode related to this coming? Would like very much to see what Adam comes up with.
Martin Poliakov’s videos are also made by Brady Haran’s team and are very worthwhile watching. The channel is called Periodic Videos.
All the style of the device is telling that perpetual motion machine is primarily a Lord's privilege. I am not sure if you are not a lord you would want to work on it.
The hardest part of making a perpetual motion machine is always figuring out where to hide the batteries
My guess is the box in the middle
There's a guy out near I live who used to make beautiful wooden flywheel-based perpetual motion machines, gorgeous and fascinatingly complex... they used line voltage, though, and the puzzle was simply to find the drive wheel. But they were GORGEOUS...
I remember one story about a PMM where the inventor had it mounted on a desk in his living room, and it turned out he had hidden a drive shaft in a support tube somehow, which ran to a pulley in the wall with an electric motor in the basement. Lol.
I read this comment in elctroboom's voice
That is the thing with any magic trick (or cheating device), where do you hid the mechanisms... and how do you misdirect the audience to not see them.
Quite the accomplishment, to keep a hamster alive for two years in such a small box.
Agreed. Great point.
People who subscribed to the idea of free energy are difficult to communicate with. I knew a guy who was secretly working with this stuff. I don't take if calls anymore.
Or maybe they just need to add more for mod and water for the hamster every 2 years. And I suppose, clean some poop as welo
Her boobs is quite the accomplishment also for many people.
Xhamster has been alive for longer than that. In a small box called an iPhone.
It’s a perpetual motion machine that every two years we have to send in to replace the batteries.
Adam not being able to find said batteries is impressive in its own right.
That would make it an Over Unity Machine, not the same claim
Accidentally punching the shit out of an ancient relic when you try to actually avoid contact altogether is just so Savage.
Indeed.
i was thinking it may be under vacuum, until he smacked it and the side flopped around
uhhhhhh he tapped the glass with such little force an infant baby wouldn't wake up from it, not sure what you think he punched the shit out of
The ‘80s were ancient???
@@harrylane4 That hurts, because then I'm ancient myself
Another perpetual motion machine that runs for about 2 years is basically a wall clock motor. Swap out the 1.5v pile and your good to go for another 2-3 years.
The funny part is I use my dead AA batteries to run my clock. What other device runs for years off of a "dead battery"?
A calculator?
@@ronnythompson9115 The remote control for a wall-mounted AC unit
A digital watch can actually run for about 7 to 10 years on a large coin battery like a cr2032
I came looking for this comment because that was my exact thought as well.
I love that the envelope with the secret is barely sealed due to being opened by everyone that's ever been in a room with it on their own. 😂
Eh, that loose tape oughta keep the secret safe🤣
The tape looked like it needed to be taped (lol)!
also let's be honest, the royal society could just shine a bright light through the closed envelope, take a real high-res scan and then untangle it in photoshop to get to the readable text, without ever leaving any trace.
Gravity, duh
There is nothing in it. David Jones himself said it's only a scientists joke and not a real perpetuum mobile.
I'm 95% sure it's electrostatic. The boxes and the "U"s aren't magnetic. There's another video where they test it with a magnetometer. Note the pointy electrode, and the series of cups. It's an inverted wimshurst machine. Normally you turn it to generate electric potential and big sparks. But if you do it backwards and apply a high voltage, it'll spin. The fun thing is, it takes a ridiculously tiny amount of energy to move electrostatic motors. Which makes it perfect for something that needs to run for ages. Big chunky battery in the box, and something to hold a charge, and step up the voltage. Some sort of joule thief thingy to make sure it keeps on chooching, and a super well balanced wheel. Tiny electric field keeps the wheel going until the system runs out. The boxes are there so he can easily balance the wheel. 3 points is the number of weights needed to balance a wheel without needing to carefully find the exact point to put weights. Either everything else is a decoy, or he snuck some sort of passive energy harvesting mechanism to help keep the thing charged, but I doubt it if it needs to be "serviced". Serviced means recharged.
agreed i forget the term but its like the brother of piezoelectrics and its what makes static electric possible, and those are capacitors maybe
Hmmmm... sounds very possible.. even small lithiumbattery can works about 7-10 years. That i can confim the service is every 7-8 years. They telling that in science center heureka in Finland.
Could be the wheel bearings need servicing, they aren't something that lasts forever, and 2 years is a long time to always be spinning.
The three magnetic on the wheels are repealing the two U shaped static magnets and that move the wheel
Have you noticed that the heat sink uses ni wire but instead uses two copper tubes ? That means its power is coming from a gas. I would bet the gas is a refrigerant which would explain the heat sink being as an evaporator coil. It's turning because when the gas cools and heats in a cycle it causes an unseen rotation of invisible gas which causes the wheel to turn. So why two years. ? Most R 12 family refrigerants wont last two years in such a small amount. Why ? The gas leaks out of tiny microscopic holes in Pipes, Glass or Plexi causing it to slow down or stop.
She pointed right at the tricky part, and gave Adam every necessary piece of info. My hero whiffed it.
Adam just whipping out a flashlight is the daddest thing I've seen in a while
You call it a torch when you're at The Royal Society mate.
@@sam3317 2 rooight m8
It’s either the Apollo penlight from Luna Replicas or, perhaps more likely for Adam, one of the originals.
@@sam3317 these savages..
@@sam3317 how perfectly rustic
Great machine, I have one of these hanged on the wall, every 2-3 years I do some servicing, throw a double A in and it keeps on going. It also tells time with incredible precision. Marvelous.
That's funny. I've got one too, but I keep it outside my house. From where I stand it's pretty slow; takes about 365 days plus 6 hours to make one revolution. Haven't had to service in years, it just keeps going.
I have one that is so small I can wear it on my wrist, runs for years and so precise that I could even tell the time from its movement alone.
I have one on my wrist too! Unfortunately that lasts for about a day before requiring "servicing" but it has emmence features. It can tell me if I have had electric mail and even send one back. Many other features too.
Mine is hung
i wrote something similar xD
A while back I made a wooden gear pendulum clock that is electrically powered, but takes very little electricity to run (think servicing every two years of this machine). The way the clock keeps running is that in the base is a dual electromagnetic coil, and a transistor for switching. In the bottom of the wooden pendulum is a permanent neodymium magnet. As the magnet passes over the outer dual coil, it picks up enough of a slight charge from the moving magnet passing over a coil to allow the transistor to briefly switch on the inner battery powered coil which is wrapped around an iron nail. This very briefly creates an electromagnet opposite polarity of the magnet in the pendulum that repels the magnet in the pendulum and gives it just enough of a little push to keep it swinging. The cycle repeats each time the pendulum passes over the coil hidden in the wood base, which keeps it swinging back and forth. Now my clock, is not an impossible perpetual motion machine, it's just a clock, however, it demonstrates how easily something can be hidden and keep something moving for a long time with very little power.
Its no shocker that "Mr. Ive got to touch and tap everything with vigor" punched the Lexan outer frame lol. Great videos Adam as always you rule! She grabbed that envelope back like she didnt trust his curiosity.
Adam most certainly needs to do a One-day build video of him trying to create how he believes this machine is made.
I'd give him 2 days.
Yes PLEASE
@@iwinnimi there is another video from a TV show that basically gives it away. You could make this in one day.
@@vituperate1005 link?
@@ZANGETSUxPR Or even just the name of the show D:
a perpetual motion machine that only works if you send it back to the creator once every few months is like a magic trick that's really impressive as long as the entire audience closes their eyes when the trick happens
Exactly. That immediately negates the alure. A “machine that moves for a few months without external intervention” is hardly newsworthy…
I think it’s funny.
It’s impressive how efficient they made it. Obviously toy can make the moving parts smaller and slower, or add more energy storage, but that makes the “hide the batteries” part of building a perpetual motion machine harder. I don’t think the “regular maintenance” revealing that it isn’t perpetual is that detracting, especially considering that we already know “perpetual motion” is impossible (in decoherent systems anyways, there might be quantum mechanical phenomena that one would like to call perpetual, but they require very special conditions and aren’t really possible to create (it’s literally impossible to shield a system from neutrinos, for example)).
Well two years, but... Even so
...which means it doesn't exactly qualify as "Perpetual"
I think it's a very simple thing. The battery is in that box with the heat sink providing power to the 2 far left and right electromagnet (black thing). The gold buttons near the middle, some of them are magnets acting as a sensor/switch to turn on/off the electromagnet at every 120°. The rotating box is just metal for the electromagnet to attract to and as weight to regulate the speed.
When the device was tested with a meter to measure magnetism, only the middle DREDCO box and the heat sink box showed any magnetism. The "U magnets" were not magnetic and showed no activity. So, either fake or so weak that the meter they used could not detect it?
Boxes are magnets where when they pass those iron thresholds it starts a current that travels counterclockwise. The copper insultes the charge so that the machine doesnt get stuck
When I was studying mechanical engineering at Cornell in the late 70s, my thermodynamics prof told a story about a guy who built a boat that appeared to be a perpetual motion machine, confounding all the experts. Later it was discovered that the boat's hull in the saltwater was acting like a giant battery, and the hull was being dissolved.
galvanic reactions are a huge problem in general for anything around salt water, it's too bad that it doens't generate enough to harness. Iron boats have big blocks of zinc bolted to the bottom to act as the sacrificial anode. I know of one place where the city put up very nice decorative railings around the boat harbors. They're completely made out of heavy welded solid iron, all dip galvanized. If i remember right, galvanizing is supposed to add 30'ish years of protection. These railings and gates are maybe 15 years old now and they're 90% bare iron with minor surface rust. the salt environment is super harsh.
@@littlegoobie not just iron boats, all boats. Sacrifice your zincs instead of your shafts and through hulls
@@littlegoobie You really don't want to salvage the energy though. It would just speed up the process.
Somewhat difficult to couple the current produced? And if no separation into cells to stack for higher charge, the voltage would just be that of iron, some 1,21 volts. That would not propel a ship. "The redox chemistry of the All-Iron Redox Flow Battery is based on the iron (II) chloride/iron (III) chloride couple at the positive electrode and the iron (II) chloride/metallic iron couple at the negative electrode. During discharge of the battery, iron (III) chloride is reduced to iron (II) chloride at the positive electrode. At the negative electrode, metallic iron is dissolved into the electrolyte as iron (II) chloride; these processes are reversed during battery charging. An aqueous all-iron redox flow rechargeable battery with a nominal cell voltage of 1.21 V and theoretical specific energy of 170 Wh/ kg is a promising low-cost, durable and eco-friendly energy storage system for large-scale applications."
@@littlegoobie outboard motors have been using them since the 1960's, possibly earlier. if your dock/slip has some current passing through it in saltwater from say a shorted dock light, it will just speed up the whole corrosion process rapidly.
The boxes could be batteries. It turns so slowly a reed switch inside would be a good choice to turn on another circuit briefly that pulses a weak electro magnet that keeps the whole thing spinning. That circuit need only be in one box, the other 2 may be ballast and everything else could be a decoy.
Same thought here. Reed switch requires no power to activate. Battery power is pulsed for a split second into a coil to give a magnetic kick. Just enough to overcome losses in friction of the mechanical bearings of the axle. OR basically a MOTOR.
Could the light sensors be a way to turn it on and off? Similar to a schrodinger's cat situation, when its in the dark and when no one is able to see it, it could shut off and if no one there to witness it off, it would technically still be "running" to everyone else's knowledge. The light sensor is to turn it on whenever it is on display?
I like the idea that he was a wizard who cast a spell of perpetual motion on this wheel and then just put a bunch of nonsense mechanisms around it to keep everyone guessing for years after he was gone
Would it be possible to use magnets to make a machine move back and forth? I'm picturing the same thing, but with big magnets on each side to pull those large blocks up just a bit. It would only swing back and forth. Ideal conditions would be that the magnet can "hold" less than .0001 MG less than the weight the machine puts on it. Though now working through it myself, a bit will be lost to friction with each pass. Unless one was able to 100% convert the heat from friction into movement, it's not possible. One must add an outside energy force or convert literally all change of state energy within a mechanism to power the mechanism.
Hahaha
@@tylerhorn3712 I've been thinking a similar thing for a whole. Is a body in motion not already in perpetual motion until a force acts on it? So all u need is a frictionles surface. What about a superconducting wheel levitated on magnets?
@@tylerhorn3712 No, because magnets pull equally in both directions. Push and pull.
@@9PlatinumGamer9 I know it's not actually gonna work, but the magnet "holds" .0001mg less than the weight, so it enters a "reset point" on each side. If it went above, it would get sucked back down... but that energy isn't needed. As long as the magnet draws it back up into its "reset" point on each side, it should go on untill the magnet looses strength (noticeable magnetic degradation takes 5-10 years).
I love it. A perpetual motion machine that only runs perpetually if it gets regular service.
"service" 😂😂
in theory, even if the machine did defy the laws of physics, it might still need oil to keep the friction low enough.
@@Forty2de I was gonna say similar. Doesn't matter if we can figure out how to produce more energy than the machine consumes, material wear of the moving parts will always be a limiting factor.
Like changing the batteries.
Same as my car. The service consists of putting a strange liquid into it every 1000km... ;)
I remember you Aww it was so lovely in the 90’s with his mate and his moustache Myth busters ???? Great content and really interesting. So glad you haven’t retired and are still keeping science alive x
"we gotta reload it every 2 years" damn duracell kicking hard
"Its a perpetual motion machine, every few years we send it back to its creators to get it moving again" Seems legit.
It’s no secret that it’s not a perpetual motion machine. The fact that it can move for two years on its own is what is impressive. Yes, there is some kind of an energy storage device hidden in it but it’s not particularly obvious where it is. It’s a feat of engineering that resembles pseudoscience.
So, what they're saying is it moves perpetually every two years.
Whereupon they give it a nice spin and hand it back
Just like magic tricks, we all (hopefully) go in knowing it's fake.
If the physics were not what they are, perpetual motion machine doesn't mean that it's indestructible, so changing parts and fixing wear and tear wouldn't take away from the fact that it magically produces energy out of nothing.
I was intimidated by his scrutiny the instant he pulled the flashlight out of nowhere in broad daylight and under ceiling lights.
I carry a pen light at all times for the anticipation that I may be able to use it just like that.
😂
it was very cartoonish the way he pulled that out
He’s getting old man 😂
As a museum technician/guard, I was extremely alarmed when he slammed his finger into the acrylic, also when he pulled his flash light in the Library/lab, it's simply bad etiquette to do so without asking first(Strong lights are banned in paper/film laboratory which are usually kept in dimmed light or even dark). I like Adam, but the way he was pacing and almost running around the table was to say the least not very professional or typical of museum staff which are extremely careful and cautious with their work. His enthusiasm obviously was bigger than his actual respect for the artefact, which is underwhelming coming from a guy so much into conservation and collection of curios /props.
Geniuses that create machinery that defies the impossible usually start with a bike rim from a garage sale
Maybe it is a kind of magnetic pulse motor, also called Bedini Motor. Magnets, Coils and a Batterie and some hidden Transistors and some other parts are needed.
I have a very rare perpetually powered wristwatch. It runs and runs for many years and when it eventually stops I just take it to only person who knows its secrets and its good to go again.
I stopped wearing a wristwatch when I bought a cellphone.
@@Temulon I stopped wearing a cellphone when I got a g string.
Sounds like the same person I took my watch to. I had a watch where the little square date changed at mid-day instead of midnight. He was able to repair this fault for only £100 which I thought very reasonable for such complex and intricate work from an expert in these things.
@@glennross85 I stopped wearing a g string when I shat myself.
@@dobythedog I must recommend to you my expert. He repairs my watch every other month or so, because it insists that all months have 31 days. And he charges only 500 SEK for this very involved task!
I love Adam's genuine almost child-like passion for discovery and learning.
Yeah I would coldly dismiss this machine and her the moment she said it need recharging every once in a while.. that is the whole opposite of a perpetual machine
@@MrParanoyak The fact that it runs for at least 2 years without interference is impressive to say the least. "Recharge" is never used. They mention that it needs maintenance or servicing, but recharge is never said.
@@MrParanoyak Remember, Adam opened his statement by stating that Perpetual Motion Machines are impossible. That's because the our current Physics models show that these machines cannot work.
I also love his passion for discovery and learning. She does say servicing not charging. The mechanism is much simpler. No motors, no batteries. Gravity is doing the work. The magnets slide weight within the boxes. The on the left pulling weight out towards the rim. The right one towards the center. You can see the deformation in the rim as the boxes pass the left magnet. I imagine the servicing is to true and balance the wheel as well as grease the bearings.
I love how Adam tore this thing apart and knew how it worked in no time!
I see alot of people getting really angry over something that is supposed to be fun. No one was trying to decive anyone here. Someone made it and told them "Hey guess how I did that." In other words. Figure out the trick.
The most IMPRESSIVE thing in this video is Adam's ability to hold that envelope and not immediately open and read it like I would've 100% have done much to my chagrin.
It's probably a decoy. They wouldn't hand the secret into random hands and "trust".
@@fusseldieb Adam isn't "random hands".
She snatched it back really quick too! 😂
But then they would have to kill him and everyone who watches this video. All too much bother really.
Ahhh but years working for the Hyneman and other gigs have learned him the way of patients...or get smacked on your fingers.
The hardest part about creating a perpetual motion machine is that it will take forever to test.
It's actually quite simple. You take the machine apart to find the battery.
You would be stuck in a loop!
Actually no. Sorry if I'm not fun at parties, but you technically can measure the speed over and over exactly X hours apart and then plot a graph with the speed decline. If it declines, it's not perpetual motion.
That’s the point. If it never declines you’ll be recording data and graphing forever because you are trying to prove a change that doesn’t exist.
You are absolutely hilarious!!! Excellent point
It's great how passionate they both are about this bicycle wheel slowly turning inside a box. It's funny because when I was initially checking this thing out I'm like "I think there's some stuff in there that doesn't need to be there o.O" I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure there's some bluffs in there. The cathode/anode might be legit, based on the design of them, but!!! Dude would have known how to make them look legit! We see what appears to be brass buttons on an acrylic disk, so what exactly is going on there? Maybe there's some fine copper wire (like transformer wire) going from them to a coil or going up the spokes? Kind of odd, maybe there's a diagram or at least really good images of the machine somewhere I could study... As of now, I'm inclined to agree with Adam and say it's just a motor. Which, it is no matter how it's powered haha So he's not wrong! ;p
After looking closer at another video, I see no wires coming from the brass buttons. So I started thinking it's positively charging on the pointy end, then draining on the round end kind of causing a bit of a push pull thing going on... BUT! I don't think that would provide anywhere near enough torque to turn that wheel. And it would take really high voltage to achieve anyway. So they are probably there to draw your eyes away from the huge boxes in your face... It's most likely operating on the same principles as a coil gun... A very low powered coil gun. So there's 2 options, either each of the 3 boxes have a coil, a battery and probably something as simple as a well positioned reed switch to turn it on and off as it passes by the permanent magnets, or ferromagnetic material. Or. It's the opposite, the magnet looking things are actually the coils and the boxes have permanent magnets in them.. A hall effect switch would turn the circuit on and off. Then the power supply (batteries) live inside of the heat sink box on the bottom. Of course he could have gotten much more technical with it, but I like the simplicity of the design in my head.. It's good and disappointing! haha Edit: After looking closely at the "magnet" looking things I'm even more convinced those are coils. The black tape is pretty fresh so it has been changed since it was built in the 80's, and if you look closely you can see it kind of rounds a bit at the top, then there's a perfectly flat plain, almost as if someone didn't want you to see winding indents popping up in the black tape. The simplest solution is usually the answer.. But this guy was something else, so who knows what he did! All I know is that I don't want to know! This would have never captured every ones imagination if not for all the nonsense in there haha I love it! The guy was brilliant.
The giant Dreadco box is super suspicious. It's also in the center of the wheel. Likely it contains something like a motor and batteries. Notice the screws on the front, which look like they have a little wear (2:30 - 3:00). Once the wheel is spinning it wouldn't take much force to overcome friction and keep it running. The other clue is the secret is disappointing. So this rules out being driven by changes in air pressure or temperature. Solar is unlikely as well, given they keep it in the dark. It's something simple like a battery or spring. As they also noted it slows down over time.
Her joy in talking with someone who also gets how fascinating it all is, is just delightful.
And she beautiful
@@TrainerCTZ Oh, yes. So much so. Virginia radiate a gentel, beautiful feminine energy with her calm charming voice
God she loves her job. Look at her big smile as this man dashes to each side of the box looking for an explanation, I legitimately think she enjoys watching people do this and I get it
And she's also very attractive.😉
Yeah....her "big smiles..." got me....
She just knows that she’s shitting him, they re spin it every so often
paul and rev3rse here being very classy as always
@Felix thank you! I didnt wanna say it and be a buzz kill but like yeah, by smile I meant smile and by loving her job I meant loving her job.
Each of the 3 boxes on the rim contain an electromagnet, a battery and a gravity mercury switch. The gravity mercury switch will turn off the electromagnet just before reaching the permanent magnets on each side of the wheel, but inertia keeps the wheel moving at a steady pace.
The black U-shaped plastic-covered objects at the E-W points of the frame are not magnetic. People took sensitive magnetometers to the exterior of the case (per the game's rules) way back when this was introduced. They're not magnets.
These ultra low powere and ultra low friction motors are so fun to build. There is also an awesome guy that has a few of these motors build on his channel "lasersaber". He calls them EZ spin motors. With 3D printing, a little bit of wire, and a long lasting battery it is actually pretty easy to build yourself something that spins for a few years or a decade without intervention.
would be great to see Adam trying to rebuilt this machine and revealing the secrets during the built
Yeah, I thought that was what this was going to be :(
Thats what I was expecting. Disappointed to find out its just him visiting a museum and speculating
@@erict3728 Yes, but at least the curator was cute.
@@KutWrite anything specific about her that you liked?
@@TheClaw1536 Her enthusiasm.
It doesn't take much to keep a bike wheel moving, especially that slowly. I'm almost certain that the boxes mounted on the wheel are magnets, and the things the boxes move through are electromagnets. The smaller disc in the center has magnets around the edge, and the probes have a hall effect sensor for timing. When the magnet crosses the hall effect sensor, it supplies a small current to the electromagnet to pull the magnet in, then the second hall effect sensor reverses the polarity to push the magnet back out the other side. I bet a 9 volt battery could keep such a thing going for a year or more.
that's my guess too.
Probably not a Hall effect sensor. Those are pretty power hungry devices, esp. if we are talking about ones from the early 80s when this was apparently made. It is very likely there is no fancy electronics in there at all. Something like a reed relay would do the same job with no power required.
I mean, honestly, I’ve got clocks that run longer than 2 years on a AA battery…
Technically, perpetual motion exists on a geological time scale. We call it planetary motion, and it’s quite useful for sending space probes around and out of the solar system. A nice little machine that creates useful perpetual motion? You’re going to have to prove that to me.
The sensor would be the driving coil itself - as a box containing a coil ("electromagnet") passes the fixed magnets, a small voltage/current will be induced which the circuitry can detect and use to trigger a pulse in that coil to produce the kick.
Adam, it made a static interference sound when you got the mic close to it. I don't think the compression of the KZhead video would be worth looking at but if you check the sound spectrum you may see the frequency the charge and discharge. This may help with the mystery.
I completely agree, sound spectrum and frequency could be the keys. Its also very possible this machine is/was a pipe dream. A fluke perhaps, the heat exchanger could also act as a condenser or inverter. Id be interested to see whether the thing works outside of the acrylic/glass enclosure.
Whilst it's always interesting seeing Adam and watching him trying to work things out. Virginia was just mesmerising, what a truly interesting person with a lovely voice, perfect annunciation and very pretty too.
Yes I agree. Her accent is just so nice to the ears. She's so adorable!
@@kajeralocse oh for sure.
It would be interesting to film that wheel with a thermal imaging camera and see what bits get warm. It's also very funny that this "perpetual" motion machine has to be recharged
Yes, a thermal image would uncover the secrets.
@@seanworkman431 Glass is opaque to infrared- They showed that on Mythbusters, actually. So you wouldn't see anything.
@@neolexiousneolexian6079 no, that depends of what glass type do you use. There are special glasses to filter IR, there are special glasses to filter UV, both are transparent visually and "just glass". Acrylic is transparent for IR for example but could be opaque visually at the same time.
It's not a perpetual motion machine. It can't be.
@@deadlymecury We are talking about far (thermal) IR which is unable to pass through acrylic (otherwise we would have had acrylic thermal lenses, and not germanium ones).
That looks a lot like my perpetual motion machine, which also works by hiding the power supply in what looks exactly like a power supply. Had I figured out how to do it without a power supply, I wouldn't have had to hide the power supply in exactly what looks like a power supply.
Haha, this made me guff.
hmmmmmm they didn't claim it's prepetu module, it is just kind of efficient... u jump start it and it goes for awhile.. as for the boxes .... obviously half way filled up with liquid of some sort
@@hectuswectus3645 The trick is the photosensors. My guess is that it only needs a few minutues of charge every week or so to put energy back into the system. Not too unlike how Seiko eco-drive watches use a little bit of sunlight to keep operating for extremely long times. My guess is that the underground storage has some lighting in it, even at a low level. But outdoors or under normal lighting, it basically is a solar cell operating a motor.
Hahahahahhah❤
@@plektosgaming Remember though, this is using solar cell technology as it existed in the 1980's. As the Archivist said, it's kept in a room with no lighting, save for the very occasional opening of the door. Though it's _possible_ that she was being less than honest, I really don't see it - it seems like they want people to make their guesses based on accurate information (or at least on what they can see).
The three boxes are coils that build a charge when passed through the magnets. They discharge their power through the metal wheel, which sends power to a small electric motor in the hub. The small “magnets” and “anode & cathod” are red herrings, as is the copper tubing.
I think one side that the magnet passes threw collects a small charge and electrifies the other side to give opposite attraction/push on the other magnet box. The box with heatsink and copper tube is just to throw you off.
Perpetual motion machine that slows down over time. That's an interesting definition of perpetual.
It’s also the definition applied to every single perpetual motion ever called a ‘perpetual motion machine’. If one was ever created that went beyond that we would probably call it a ‘true perpetual motion machine’ in order to distinguish it as being something different. It seems convoluted, yet it remains a necessary distinction.
Yes. if that contraption indeed is perpetual, no net loss of energy and no "servicing" is needed. On top of that, no force must be enacted upon its creation to qualify it as perpetual. Smells fishy.
I think that might be why this entire video is built around explaining how perpetual motion is impossible. Just a hunch.
Let me tell you the definition of "speech mark"
@@Joel-bj8om i guess servicing the bearings would eventually be needed even in a real machine.
The hardest part of watching videos about perpetual motion machines is to not comment about how the hardest part is where to hide the batteries.
The hardest part of watching a video about perpetual motion machines is to not create a perpetual motion machine trying to disprove a perpetual motion machine by talking about where the perpetual motion machine is used to hide from the other machine.
@@orangegherkin3420you hide the real perpetual motion machine inside the fake one and use it to produce the power.
The hardest part about hiding batteries is finding a perpetual motion machine to hide them in.
CHECK OUT THE INFINITY TRAIN IN AUSTRALIA ......🚂🚂
Like we havent heard this statement before. Get original
I love the way Ms. Virginia pronounces KZhead. 😊
To make your own device similar to this think of a deconstructed electromagnet pulsing mechanical battery driven clock . Use low friction open ended bearings , The tin cans on the bicycle wheel will interact to the 2 stationary electromagnets which give very carefully timed pulses controlled by hall proximity sensor and pulsing circuit. Batteries can be stored in the jiffy box labeled "dreadco" . 3 good sized lithium batteries will make the device run a very long time. The electronic pulse circuit can be also hidden in the jiffy box if you think there is enough room. Carful tuning of the device will be necessary. Good luck.
4:24 I love how Adam is like "I wonder if this is a light meter" as he points his flashlight at it.
@@SciFiSecrets you're a tiny solar panel
Nah, they are the vents to the air batteries
@@anggrimunki is that really necessary? And solar panels are basically just LEDs... kind of.
@@SciFiSecrets I have a motion activated light in the driveway that charges via solar panels and when I shine a flashlight on them at night they turn off thinking its day...
That is a temperature meter.
Her enthusiasm is infectious, and her restraint in not opening the envelope is legendary. Very fun device.
I had to go back and get your name Virginia. Thank you.
That letter probably got x-rayed already. 🤣
Her rack is even more impressive 😎
@@jattstud I was thinking 🤔 I'd like to be perpetually motorboating them puppies
@@ericmcdonkey I don't blame you she is one of those rare women where they are not a 10 and maybe a 3-4 but still beautiful and look good at the same time she is very smart
As a kid I was at the Smithsonian Science museum. They had this small glass lightbulb looking thing a radiometer they called it. It had a small windmill , four blades arranged horizontally. One side of each blade was black , the other white. When you put it in light it spun. And would spin if forever if it had a constant light source. That's the science for dummies version as I'm a dummy for the most part.
a friend of mine works at a patent office, he receives patent applications containing perpetual motion mechanisms and/or circuits at least twice a year.
Even as a blown up motor, getting a wheel to remain spinning for 2+ years with that little space for batteries is impressive
counter weight mags seems obvious but always need a human hand to restart it
Little space? That whole frame could be filled with batteries.
It's long seemed to me that the efforts to produce ostensible "perpetual motion machines", have a potential value in highlighting efficient, quiet design with compact energy storage. Whether this machine is an example of that, or simply hides enormous batteries or capacitors in the base, I can't tell.
@@sharonheisler1557 the box is not part of the machine. That's a separate thing added for the museum.
@@bearcubdaycare what value in quiet effieciency could this have? This thing has no load on it, so it cant generate or store energy. If there was a load placed on it, then you would see it slow down, and more force needed to turn it to generate the same amount if not more power. When something has to overcome a load/stress this is where noise comes from. If there was a away to avoid loading a system a car's engine would be quiet same with electric motors they all make a whine
Here is how it works Adam. Every time one of the 3 black boxes goes through one of the 2 permanent magnets, a magnetic reed in the black box switch closes a circuit with a coil and a long life battery also contained within the black box, perhaps a silver battery, thus creating a weak magnetic field with polarity oriented such that it repels away from the permanent magnet. This happens every 60 degrees of rotation of the wheel with each pulse imparting just enough energy to keep the wheel turning. The periodic servicing is to replace the batteries.
My thoughts too. If you could accurately measure the angular velocity of the wheel during a full revolution I suspect you would see 6 small increases little 'kicks' if you like. Each one corresponding to the passage of the boxes past the two permanent magnets. The rest of the apparatus is probably just a decoy. I don't know if anyone could use a video of the wheel to do accurate enough velocity measurements to confirm? Probably not.
Great exploitation bro
@@alangreen5858 yeah with enough frames per second it would be noticable I'm sure if not by human eyes but my robotic eyes I could definitely tell you exactly the velocity gained from every kick especially if you could stop it and start it off slowly it would probably be really noticable
Plausible, but then what's the copper pipe and heatsinked silver box doing? Also, why is it that only one person has successfully guessed (supposedly) how the thing works in the 40 some odd years it has been on display?
@@sincerelyyours7538 like he said the pipe etc is a decoy to throw people off
My guess is the weights differ and the weight transfer just keeps it going for a while or just a clock motor, either way it's not perpetual.
My first thought was that the box in the bottom was a decoy. I assumed maybe the magnets are working the opposite of a coil in a car.
The big reason this is cool is that it isn’t a scam, it’s art. Dreadco wasn’t a trying to bilk people out of money by selling “products” based on a conspiracy theory. Rather, David Jones was creating a little puzzle, a visually appealing collection of bluffs and simplicity. Sure, it’s not “real” but the obfuscations are interesting.
He scammed people out of precious time and admiration. In the hours people have spent trying to solve this lie, they could have solved a myriad of real problems. this artifact and any talk of it is a waste of time and mental resources
@benjamindeh873 it's really not that deep bro.
@@benjamindeh873 Couldn't the same be said about all art? Are people scammed out of time listening to Bach? Looking at paintings by Cezane? I'd say rather that these things inspire us. Now, David Jones isn't a Bach, but is he at least on the level of a Marcel Duchamp? Maybe. Meanwhile, who was tricked? Anyone who understands physics and mechanics well enough to invent anything useful, solve a genuine problem, knows that perpetual motion isn't possible. And don't people who solve problems deserve art, too?
@@thebitterfig9903 Art is presented as art. Not as some incredible technical achievement which could have very useful applications if solved. This is a scam. The moron who made it wanted people to believe he achieved something he did not.
@@benjamindeh873 That is a very Ironic statement comming from a Fellow Gamer, because this is basically an Ancient Expensive Sci-Fi puzzle.
I love when Adam's brain get's into examination mode! It's like when a child starts opening christmas presents! 😄
Welcome to ADHD!
That’s a fantastic analogy
I'm thinking of what Adam would have been like as a child opening a xmas present. An assumption of what it maybe?? An examination of what the dimensions of the box are and what it might store? The weight of the box. If you rattle it what noise does it make? Carefully dissect the wrapping paper to see if it offers any clues of the present................My grandson at xmas, ripping the wrapping to shreds and break into the box for the present lol
The two sensors in the middle next to the hub are just triggers to fire off magnetic field being generated at the right time for a short duration to help pull the boxes up/down into the u-shaped magnets. The boxes is probably ferrous metalin origin.... Given the sealed enclosure in extremely low friction hub bearings, The relatively small battery That's housed within One of the two boxes..., This will could spend for a very long duration before needing a top up by special maintenance people. 😊 This isn't really a complicated design and easy to understand for me. I think what's tripping up most people is there's a cloud of mystery around this when it's really just a simple design that is just hidden within the architecture
Probably a key winds up spring like a watch. Minimize friction between the parts and place device in a vacuum. Otherwise I think there is alternating currents in the magnets that nudge the wheel, powered by a battery.
I have a Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos clock with "with a revolutionary perpetual calibre". Never needs winding but uses changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature to wind. Supposedly 1 degree temperature change gives it 48 hours of movement. My parents purchased it in 1959 and other than having it cleaned in 2006, it has never stopped running.
If that's the one with three metallic spheres rotating around it's base, I had no idea it was so complex.
Maybe that's what keeps this thing in the video going.
Thank goodness someone else here knows what an Atmos clock is! They are impressive and amazing in both engineering and execution.
@@burtpanzer This does not have the spheres, I think you are referring to the 400 day or 1000 day clocks that need winding. This does have a rotating weight at the bottom. Very similar to this one: kzhead.info/sun/gtCYlNiQrXZjo2g/bejne.html
That's impressive 🙂✔️
If two years is 'perpetual', then all clocks in my home are perpetual motion machines
Yes it's probably the truth no big deal.
Agreed. They are acting as if machines running self contained for 2 years is some great engineering trick. Anything with a big enough battery and a small enough motor will run for years before "servicing" is required.
Beleza Adan eu sou seu fã e sigo suas experiências desde a TV fechada
GOT IT! It's modeled on the Beverly Clock!! It is sealed in an air tight compartment. As the temperature rises & falls the air tight compartment expands & contracts thus providing low yield power.
I'd love to see a video where Adam builds this and tests his theories.
Adam would never go for a type of show where he debunks theories. They'd have to call it "Theory Debunkers" or something. No one would ever watch such a show. It'd probably ruin his career.
@@staticklingon2182 yeah that sounds crazy man, nobody would ever make a show like that. Especially one with with a cute redhead.
I think I could watch Adam going through The Royal Society's collection forever. Just the boyish joy of trying to work out how things work and how things are made. I have been meaning to go to one of their events or just visit their collection for years.
Not forever. Eventually the system will run out of “boyish joy”. This occurs when he inadvertently breaks or knocks over every last exhibit.
Is it 'The Royal Society' or 'The Royal Historical Society' just in case I ever pop over to the UK on holiday.
@@seanworkman431 It's the Royal BS Society.
@@kwimms okay, you got a good laugh for that one:)
'its a perpetual motion machine" "It has a charge, it just discharges very slowly"
I've studied and made some perpetual motion machine attempts. Seeing this video got my brain running again, and I think I have it. But I don't have the time or money to fuss with it. You have to have a second "perpetual" force and some locking mechanisms to alternate the position so the weights are off set on one side to get a perpetual motion device working.
I just cannot figure how to get the second force to fluidly apply to make it work...
The thing with this particular machine, is there are so many visible mechanisms in it, you're overwhelmed with possibilities of how it could work. Rather than limited by one or two suspicious looking parts.
@@rapidreaper could be, but it could also be a million other things, that's the whole point.
Once someone asked me if I had ever thought about perpetual motion. Honestly, I never stopped to think about it.
👍😁😂
that is a perpetual commotion!
once I learned of the concept in Jr High school (yes, I'm a slow learner) I've always thought that gravity must be a force that can somehow be used to make a perpetual motion machine. I haven't created one yet (obviously).
My theory is that each box on the inside of the rim is fitted with a series of magnets with polarity facing opposite directions. When the box passes through the U shaped magnets (also opposite polarity to the magnets in the boxes) one side pulls the box while the other pushes away once it is past midline of the U shaped magnets. Each being set to precise degrees in the circle creates a balance of push and pull from the magnets. I believe the maintenance is only to add grease to, or to replace the bearings. All of this would explain how slowly the device rotates as the magnets are all equal in strength. I believe this gives the device more of a fluidity of motion, but cannot be perfected any further than what has already been designed. I'm no physicist, and know very little to nothing about magnetism.
Each of rotor of induction motor is as perpetual machine. Only stator needs power. How much the rotor is perpetual depends how much you able cover the feed cable.
Watching Adam's mind work is just a treat. The "light bulb" moments working with the "gear-turning" moments is fun.
These kind of devices are interesting because it’s almost like watching someone solve a problem when they are giving the designer more credit than may be owed and offer solutions that are somewhat overly complicated. If you asked Adam to make this as a prop for a film I think he would have given very different solutions. This very much looks like some type of belt is running around or within the wheel through the copper tubing and is likely being driven within that box that looks like it has too much going on.
@@Prism775 I think adam is onto something with the magnets creating a split apart motor. the belt idea introduces a lot of movement and friction to the system, so much so that I wouldn't expect it to run for a couple years without needing new batteries. Adam's idea of the energy being electrical to magnetic introduces very little loss, which could explain the longevity of the spin, and is also dead silent.
He reverse engineered it quick. It's for sure 1 or 2 batteries hidden somewhere giving some sort of power for a few milliseconds to make magnets turn it.
The real trick to hiding the secret is the assistant, who subtly limits the amount of attention you can give to the device.
Sounds like a car salesman during a test drive.
Exactly. I’ve said it all along!
Lol she is a rather cheeky lass
I find her highly distracting. 😏
this chick is stacked!
بنانے والے نے کمال کیا پر آپنے بھی سمجھنے میں کمال کیا. آپ نے اس مشین کو دیکھ کر تجزیہ پیش کیا. بہترین کام ہے.
"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another". - Albert E
I think much of the equipment inside the case is purely decorative. It's just red herrings to confuse people. I have a 'perpetual motion' clock that runs for two years or so between 'services' (replacing the battery). If I fitted more or bigger batteries, I'm sure I could get it to run for decades. If there are batteries in the three boxes that rotate, that would provide plenty of energy to keep the low-friction wheel turning.
A battery would be a very disappointing solution.
@snower13 yeah, magic tricks are generally disappointing when you learn how they work
For sure. Anything inefficient enough to require that amount of heatsinking would not run for long on a battery. Thus they are merely decorative.
but as adam said, there was no way to run power from thos boxes to anywhere else on the wheel (like the hub)
@@snower13 But satisfying in the disappointment. I think I might need to build my own model but I expect that Adam will beat me to it and with better outcome than I could manage... Not that it'll dissuade me! A Lithium primary cell is very energy-dense, easily hidden among all those "components" and it wouldn't be too difficult to manufacture a device that could turn longer than I'll likely live, much less for two years.
A "perpetual motion machine" that has to periodically be manually started up. I have one of those! Most people just call it a "fidget spinner", but it's literally the same: once you start it, it goes for a while, but you'll eventually need to start it again.
Looking back at this, I think the way it works is actually VERY Simple, the same way those desktop toys work where a marble runs down a ramp and then somehow ends up back at the start. The ball is running past an electric motor that can also detect the marble, allowing it to turn on and give the marble a slight push as it is falling, giving it just enough momentum to land back at the start. The way I think this works is: I think this is working very much the same way to the desktop toy, the THREE Magnets actually make sense with my theory, they are doing a few things aswell as being pushed by an electro magnet, they are also acting as weights to keep the wheel spinning just enough to make it look constant (kinda like a fly-wheel). - I think the three blocks are just magnets, while the two things either side are electro magnets that each sense the main three magnets, giving them just enough push to spin the wheel, the next magnet does the same and so on. Notice how there are two Electro-Magnets and three normal magnets, all of this together (Going in a LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT manor) will make the wheel spin just enough that it looks constant, these also do not need that much power since they are not actually turned on that often (about 20% of one rotation). - As to what is powering it, I think it is very well hidden wiring that hides batteries somewhere, possibly in the frame itself (which is very thick so could easily hide some batteries) or even in that heatsink box. I think it is a more elaborate version of the desktop marble toy thing, it looks more insane and makes less sense, but is actually doing pretty much the same thing.
I wonder if they will let you record high speed footage of this, or a timelapse that you can speed up a tone. If my theory is correct, you should be able to see a slight slow down just before each magnet passes the electro magnet, if this is the case then I would say my theory is correct. PS: When I say "Magnet" and "Electro Magnet", these are the names I have given the objects, this may be wrong though. I will never know the true answer though, I would like to hope I am correct, or at least close though hah.
It's a clock motor(the seconds) running it. With an electromagnetic power source.
Imagine Adam holding the envelope very reverently, then just VICIOUSLY tearing into it and trying to read it while holding it above Virginia & team's heads as they fight to tackle the secret out of his hands.
Lmao I need that in my life
If I did that it would have the primary purpose of getting Virginia to jump on top of me.
@@markwaldron8954 gross
@@markwaldron8954 mark….mark. You have goals and ways to achieve them. I don’t like it. But I respect it.
I could listen to her talk about this for hours!
There was a phone sex operator that sounded a lot like this gal that I paid $2.99 a minute to hear, so I know where you're coming from 🤣🤣
@@jebidiahnewkedkracker1801 💀😂😂
There are two really great things about movies, plays, and magic shows: The suspension of disbelief. I love seeing really great live magic shows. The best ones perfect the art of distraction.
There were two great things about this video.
Its an electrostatic motor that is powered by a clever wimshurst generator which uses the inertial momentum and the imbalanced 2 vs 3 configuration to constantly produce an emf. One U-shaped device on one side is wimshurst cathode, one is anode. The 3 squares out 120 degrees apart are very carefully folded copper foil conductors in such a geometry that it has the most possible surface area. The charge is stored in very low farad rating capacitors which collect charge to produce the high voltage. A very simple machine. Can't possibly drive a load. And, as she stated, it does slow down. Which means its extreme efficiency and not even close to perpetual motion.
i like how adam was so excited he almost knocked the whole damn thing over lol
Omg I know haha.
That would be really funny- Ooops, I broke it! Sorry, I'll fix it in my home shop.
Like a kid shaking their Christmas present.
reminds me of this comedy sketch. kzhead.info/sun/lqWPma57fZeZe68/bejne.html
“Whoops sorry I knocked it over. Lemme just replace these two AA batteries and we should be good to go”
I like this approach a lot. Showing off your cool "Perpetual Motion" Machine to the public and saying: there obviously is a trick to it, but you have to figure it out yourself! Nobody is claiming the impossible here, it's just something build to amaze and challenge people.
Yup. They have a perpetual motion machine on display at the petroleum museum in Calgary, and it's a very educational display: basically, if anyone ever tells you they've got a system for free energy, you best figure out what their game is!
Yeah, it’s basically just a puzzle. Which is cool still.
I would guess that the smaller circle of the wheel has a bunch of magnets capturing a small amount of energy with the little prong things off the demco box. In turn forces some energy out to the larger magnets around the outside pushing them around to keep it going
i like how people are commenting about clocks, watches and batteries like those concepts went over Adam's head and they figured out how it works.
And by servicing they mean recharging or replacing the batteries. There's always been an industry around perpetual motion machines. Some that are basically conjurors tricks and some that used their revolutionary machine "just on the edge of manufacture" to scam investors out of money.
True
Honestly this one annoyed me more than anything. It's obviously not a real PMM, so why are they pretending that it is? It's a fraud being treated as real, which doesn't seem like the sort of thing the Royal Society would have much interest in.
What I don't understand is why he doesn't have a magnetic compass with him to inspect that with. They're perfect for finding magnets or electric current.
@@peytonmac1131 The guys at the university of nottingham are just massive nerds and probably just decided to make a fake pmm for fun, but they are otherwise very well respected scientists who are all fellows of the royal society, so I imagine this is just a group of old friends sharing a joke essentially
Aye, it's bigclive! I wonder when "Big Entropy" will stop keeping the common man down and let us have our free energy? Then they could become so common we could get bigclive videos taking apart pound shop perpetual motion machines.
The key to perpetual motion is "coincidence of opposites". Just like gravitational potential, vector potential can generate infinite amounts of energy
The wheel would spin faster if it only had two weights(masses) attached to opposite sides of the wheel such that the direction of motion (vector) of each weight at any given moment is parallel but opposite to the other (coincidence of opposites). #theDialectic #coincidenceOfOpposites #unionOfOpposites #vectorPotential #coincidenciaOppositorum #dualism #coherence #harmonyOfOpposites #eccentricity #hyperbola
As a kid I had a very small crystal radio, without any battery. All it needed to produce sound was it needed to be clamped onto a metal curtain rod. It picked up radio waves and used that energy to drive a tiny in earphone. Maybe a Faraday cage could stop it.
200 years later: "And over here we have a document written by a fellow named 'Adam Savage'. He came to inspect the machine in the early 21st century, and upon his inspection was so inclined to write back to the society soon after with his own theories as to how it worked. I cannot say how close he has come to the truth, but I will say that he his drawings are incredibly precise and specific."
It's very rare that we see Adam truly giddy at an Idea. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she said, "Send us your notes/contributions and we will add them to our archive..." (paraphrasing ofc). The idea of him being in the The Royal Society's archives in anyway lit a fire under him :D.
I just kept looking at her face the whole time as Adam is verbally deconstructing the device with such joy. "Only two people know the secret to how it works" "What you just said is a clue and I figured it out" It's like watching Penn and Teller Fool Us being challenged.
it kind of seems like a wimhurst machine also utilizing some sort of ion wind along with also using some form of ambient light cell as a backup
Did everyone back then have immaculate handwriting? Beautiful calligraphy!
My guess is the 3 boxes contain their own battery and coils. When the box gets close enough to the frame's permanent magnets , it quickly energizes the coil and keeps it spinning.
Slow the footage down and see if you can measure a kick
@@johnfritzel9833 No kick, motor is elsewhere, there are only coils and batteries in three boxes. Motor is most likely in the center of the wheel and wires could go through spokes. That being said, there is most definite loss of energy by current going through those wires. :D
@@urosmarjanovic663 what are the coils for if not to be an electromagnet? I am talking about an electromagnetic kick
@@johnfritzel9833 Doubt with that amount of inertial moment...they might be finite amounts of induction. C'mon, let's not get into this... they have to take this crap to "service" every three years. There is also heat sink at the bottom. It is bogus.
I'm guessing you've got the location of the magnets and coils backwards. The horseshoe looking things being the coils would mean that the batteries are in the box at the bottom, which would be a much better location for service than in the boxes on the rim.