http://videosift.com/video/Perpetual-Motion-Machine-1

Like a lot of these types of videos, I want them to be true.
However, my brain immediately starts screaming the there is something wrong here. And yes, the first thought I had was how precise those pieces of cardboard needed to be, mainly because of weight. also how hitting the center for the axle had to be absolutely precise to guarantee balance. (Precision I don't think you can get from cardboard.)

As far as the wight of lifting each of those flaps back up, I wouldn't think that the swinging flap would have enough energy to keep it going. Visually I see it happening in the video but I immediately question it. Again I want it to be true - think of the possibilities - but the skeptic in me tells me something else is at play here, even if I can't see it.

In reply to this comment by dannym3141:
Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need :
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

if it was a perpetual motion machine it would keep a constant speed. this thing speeds up and down. obviously another force is at work here.

Like a lot of these types of videos, I want them to be true.
However, my brain immediately starts screaming the there is something wrong here. And yes, the first thought I had was how precise those pieces of cardboard needed to be, mainly because of weight. also how hitting the center for the axle had to be absolutely precise to guarantee balance. (Precision I don't think you can get from cardboard.)

As far as the wight of lifting each of those flaps back up, I wouldn't think that the swinging flap would have enough energy to keep it going. Visually I see it happening in the video but I immediately question it. Again I want it to be true - think of the possibilities - but the skeptic in me tells me something else is at play here, even if I can't see it.

In reply to this comment by dannym3141:
Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need :
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

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Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

Put this contraption in a Lucite box where no direct heat or wind can affect it. Then disconnect or remove the hidden motor or magnets.

Then maybe you've got something.

>> ^Sagemind:

Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.
I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..
Any takers...?

>> ^rychan:

You guys are seriously debating this rubbish? Of course it's fraudulent, geesh.


I am fine with more people endlessly debating principles of physics and engineering than politics.

>> ^FishBulb:

Even if it can spin under it's own power (without fans or string, etc) try hooking it up to something else to extract work out of it. I think you'll find it slowing to a halt fairly quickly.


If it can work under it's own power then it's perpetual motion. You don't need to be able to extract power from it (although in a system like this power is being extracted all the time, heat from the axle, sound energy from the whole thing).

As for where the cheat is, if there's a ceiling fan in the room that would keep it going. To everyone trying to work out if it's fake, it is. There's no debate there. There's a hundred different ways this could be faked.

ETA: Just watch the lower hanging card strips when it's getting started.

Perpetual motion due to gravity isnt possible like this, because it pulls the wheel down on the upwards moving side.

I'm guessing a small fan under the table (between the table and the bed) to counter the effect of gravity on that side

Anybody that says they've built a perpetual motion machine should be viewed with the same skepticism as somebody who claims they've built a time machine.

Saying that, Calvin (and Hobbes) built some very interesting machines out of cardboard ;3

Fan. Gravity is a harsh, and cheap, mistress. Though the time to make it is worthy of my consideration. The only perpetual motion machine I know of is income in = taxes out.

mass leverage device but using cardboard instead of metal balls. There is probably some fan up top, it wouldn't take much.

.. so not a perpetual motion machine. Fake.

here you go;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Perpetual_Motion_by_Norman_Rockwell.jpg

>> ^Sagemind:

So..., The best I could find was that it wouldn't be considered perpetual motion because it uses an outside force - in this case gravity.


Gravity is being used to pull the peices down, but you also have to life the peices up on the other side, this isn't an outside force on the entire object because the entire reference of the object is in gravity. My guess is a fan or an occational flick of which we see something like that at 22s. Even a string could do it, though be a bit more obvious