Posted by L. P. Marken (212.186.255.4) on February 18, 2002 at 12:19:27:
Hello all,
I found the besslerwheel site yesterday. It makes fascinating reading, but I find it a bit strange that people in our time and age are STILL trying to make a PM wheel by using weights and mechanical parts.
I firmly believe that if some bisarre twist of nature made such a design possible, someone (besides Bessler) would have figured it out hundreds of years ago. The way I understand mechanics, there is no way it could be done.
Approaches that COULD work would have to tap into the environment in one way or another, using
- the Moon's gravitational pull
- assymmetric properties of the Earth's rotation
- variations in barometric pressure
- variations in temperature
- solar energy
- cosmic radiation
... those are the ones I can think of right now.
BUT: None of the mentioned approaches could possibly give the results described in the accounts of Bessler's wheel. It did not only rotate, it was able to do considerable work. It had to be fraud, I can see no other alternative.
I think the way to approach the Bessler mystery is not "how can I make a PM wheel using 1700s parts?" but rather "How can I create an illusion of a PM wheel that would fool everyone in the 1700s, using 1700s parts?"
I leave a small opening for the possibility that a chemical reaction of some sort could do the trick. That is, not making the wheel turn forever, but for a month or two. Kind of like the "nodding birds", which keep on nodding as long as there is water in the glass.
Any thoughts?
Lars ||:-)