Quote of the hour
I just read this and had to post it. Since in Chemistry we are going through some of the laws of thermodynamics, which deal with entropy and enthalpy and such. I found this while looking at an article today:
"Perpetual-motion machines have long held special appeal for inventors—particularly during the concept's heyday around the turn of the 20th century.
Patent applications on such devices became so numerous that by 1911 the patent office instituted a rule that perpetual-motion machine concepts had to be accompanied by a model that could run in the office for a period of one year."
That's pretty funny :)
posted by Shadow @ 3:40 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Good grief! Regulating how long perpetual-motion machines can go! It is funny, though. I saw a perpetual motion machine in the airport in California once. It was based on a system of levers--these little balls kept running around and around, never stopping.
Well, it wasn't so much regulating how long it would run, they just wanted to see it proven because a perpetual motion machine is impossible according to the laws of Thermodynamics. The thing you saw at the airport must have had some little solar-powered device or something to keep it going, otherwise friction from the air and the moving parts would eventually slow it down. If it didn't, then it would be creating its own energy which is impossible for everyone but
God ;) If that thing at the airport was indeed a true perpetual motion machine, then engineers all over the world would flock to it, we could use it to generate electricity for free!
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