Perpetual Motion Machines

  What are Perpetual Motion Machines? A perpetual motion machine is a theoretical machine that can do work indefinitely without an energy source. So basically, it is an infinite energy source. It is impossible for these machines to operate in the real world as they would violate the first or second law of thermodynamics, but more on that later. Why do we need perpetual motion? A machine that can sustain motion without any input has been the greatest dream of engineering. Just imagine if a machine that produces more work than inputted. We could use a small one to power a bigger one and so on, and so on, and so on. We could start with a grain of sand and would be able to rotate the whole earth around. Some examples:  One such example is the Bhāskara's Wheel which was invented in 1150 by an Indian mathematician, Bhāskara II. He tried to create a hypothetical perpetual motion machine. His plan was to make an overbalanced wheel that would continuously fall over itself, causing ...