ARENT THEY ALL JUST “PERPETUAL MOTION” MACHINES, AND IMPOSSIBLE EVEN IN PRINCIPLE?
Is a thermoelectric cell a perpetual motion machine? How about a nuclear battery? After all, both of these devices just sit there silently while continually producing energy from no obvious source. But a little investigation of either device will reveal the hidden energy source. If somebody discovers a new process which appears to emit energy continuously, then obviously that process must be extracting energy from somewhere. A true “perpetual motion machine” is impossible, but a machine which taps an unknown energy source is not. In my experience the main problem which interferes with this research is “politics.” Some scientists are greatly embarrassed by any important discoveries made by amateurs. They fervently hope that “free energy” reports indeed are always crackpottery. Also, overly-zealous skeptics may wish to ridicule all claims of successful “free energy” devices, and place them into the wastecan labeled “Perpetual Motion Crackpottery.” But both of these behaviors throw the ba
