Is perpetual movement possible? In theory … I have no idea…. In practice, so far, the answer has been a non -perpetual. As Nicholas Barrial writes to Made“To succeed”, a perpetual movement machine “should be free from friction, run in an empty room and be completely silent” because “the sound is equivalent to loss of energy”. Trying to satisfy these conditions in a noisy and entropic physical world may seem like a fool of a fool, similar to basic gold metals. However, the hundreds of scientists and engineers who tried were anything but fools.
The long list of contenders includes the famous 12th century Indian mathematician BHāskara IIalso adapted to the Irish scientist of the 17th century Robert BoyleAnd a certain Italian artist and inventor who does not need an introduction. It is not surprising to learn that Leonardo da Vinci Turned his hand to solve the puzzle of the perpetual movement. But he seems, in doing so, he “may have been a dirty and rotten hypocrite”, jokes Ross Pomery to Real clear science. By examining the numerous unsuccessful attempts to make a machine that ran forever, he exclaimed publicly: “Oh, you researchers after a perpetual movement, how many vain chimeras have you continued? Go take your place with the alchemists. “
In private, however, as Michio Kaku writes In Impossible physics,, Leonardo “made ingenious sketches in his self -operating perpetual motion machines, including a centrifugal pump and a chimney jack used to turn a roasting skewer on a fire.” He also developed plans for a wheel that would take place theoretically forever. (Leonardo said he had only tried to prove that this could not be done.) Inspired by a device invented by a contemporary Italian polymathe named Mariano di JacopoKnown as Taccola (“The Jackdaw”), the artist-engineer refined this previous attempt in his own elegant conception.
Leonardo drew several variants of the wheel in his notebooks. Despite the fact that the wheel did not work – and that it apparently never thought of it – the design became, Barrial notes: “The most popular perpetual movement machine on DIY and 3D printing sites”. (A manufacturer comments charming, with frustration, “perpetual movement does not seem to work, what am I doing bad?”) GIF at the top, from the British libraryAnimates one of the many versions of unbalanced Wheels of Leonardo. This detailed study can be found in the 44V folio of the Codex ArundelOne of the many collections of Leonardo notebooks that have been scanned and previously available online.
In his book Innovators behind LeonardoPlinio innocenzi describes these devices, composed of “12 adjacent half-moon-shaped channels which allow the free movement of 12 small balls as a function of the rotation of the wheel…. At a time of rotation, an imbalance will be created where more bullets will be found on one side than the other ”, creating a force which continues to offer the final front wheel. “Leonardo reprimanded that despite the fact that everything may seem to work,” you will find the impossibility of movement above believed. “”
Leonardo also sketched and described a perpetual movement device using fluid mechanisms, inventing the “self-filling ball” more than two hundred years before Robert Boyle tried to make a perpetual movement with this method. This design did not work either. In reality, there are too many physical forces working against the dream of a perpetual movement. However, few attempts appeared in a form as elegant as Leonardo's.
Note: a previous version of this article appeared on our site in 2019.
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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him to @jdmagness
At Learnopoly, Finn has championed a mission to deliver unbiased, in-depth reviews of online courses that empower learners to make well-informed decisions. With over a decade of experience in financial services, he has honed his expertise in strategic partnerships and business development, cultivating both a sharp analytical perspective and a collaborative spirit. A lifelong learner, Finn’s commitment to creating a trusted guide for online education was ignited by a frustrating encounter with biased course reviews.