Perpetual Motion

The documented search for perpetual motion begins in the 13th century. Villard de Honnescourt drew designs for such machines at that time. There may be earlier designs, but perpetual motion is closely linked to machines, especially rotating machines, and machines are neither widespread nor very sophisticated before this time. Before the invention of electric or gasoline motors there were limited ways to supply power to do work. Waterwheels, tidewheels, and windmills supplied power only in certain locations; man and animals supplied all the portable power. People who had no access to a suitable stream, estuary, or windy hill-top sought alternatives, and inventors attempted to supply them with perpetual motion machines. The search continues to the present day. More recent designs for perpetual motion appear in response to crises, like the energy crisis, or high costs of fuels, or some poorly understood technological need.



Perpetual motion refers to a condition in which an object continues to move indefinitely without being driven by an external source of energy. In effect by its very definition, Perpetual Motion is a system wherein the item in question consumes and outputs at least 100% of its energy constantly, sustaining no net loss as a result of the laws of thermodynamics. Using modern terminology, any machine that purports to produce more energy than it uses is a "perpetual motion machine", although somewhat oddly named as they may not include any moving parts.