He started with a good laugh, followed by some explanations about “perpetual motion doesn’t exist, but it’s perpetually funny!” as well as basic knowledge of physics and thermodynamics.

Despite decades of feverish and fraudulent research, the perpetual motion machine remains elusive. By perpetual motion, gadgeteers really mean perpetual work. An object in motion, as Galileo and ...

Before we get to modern perpetual motion machines, let’s take a look at some actually interesting ideas that illustrate the limit of the second law. First up, the Brownian Ratchet.

F.L. Minnick, a resident of the Wilson Hotel in Spokane, claimed to have produced a “perpetual motion” machine. He said, in a written statement to the Spokane Daily Chronicle, that the machine ...