Comments on: A Perpetual Motion Machine?

By: kr

kr — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:55:17 +0000

You’ll also notice the swinging ball wraps lower on the vertical pole with each swing. It’s losing energy each time, even though it appears that there maybe be something giving it a kick as the pendulum reaches full extension after unwinding (it should slow, not accelerate). It’s a fun little pendulum though, even though it is clearly not a perpetual motion machine by any stretch of the imagination.

By: bobdobalena

bobdobalena — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:59:22 +0000

I used to have a wooden gadget exactly like this. It used a (twisted) rubber band for power but barely needed it, so ran for long time. If you notice, there is a ring at the bottom of this version that turns with the arm, almost certain thats where the rubber band is! Even with the rubber keeping pressure on the machine, it still eventually stopped.