Perpetual motion – a delicious delirium
Anthony J. M. Garrett · Physics World · 1990
The promise of a perpetual motion machine, one which runs forever, is irresistible. In the nineteenth century perpetual motion was a hot topic, for the age of the engineer was at its height and the demand was great for new energy sources. It is no coincidence that the theory underlying the impossibility of perpetual motion was worked out then. Were it possible to conjure energy from nothing, all coal fired power stations, with their carbon dioxide and sulphurous emissions, could be closed; likewise nuclear fission power plants, with their radioactive waste; and the disfigurement of the landscape with arrays of solar cells, windmills, dams and pipes would vanish. The enormous sums spent on energy research could be redeployed, and cheap energy made readily available to developing countries.