Posted by Darren (208.143.232.66) on May 15, 2003 at 07:20:05:
In Reply to: For all you Pendulum enthusiasts..... posted by grim on May 14, 2003 at 15:28:51:
: http://members.aol.com/SheWise1/perpetual.html
This design has been out there on the web for a couple years now. It won't work and for one very simple reason... the weights themselves roll back and forth on a kind of rail, but each weight exhibits it's downward force on the mechanism at the attachment point of those rails, not at the position of the weight. So rolling the weight back and forth won't make one side heavier than the other.
Think of it this way, if I had an old fashioned balance scale and put precisely 10g on each side would one side be heavier than the other if I put the weights closer to the center of the plate or on the edge of the plate? No. Doesn't matter where on the plate I put the weight it still acts on the entire mechanism at the plate's single attachment point to the balance bar. Same thing with "God's perpetual motion machine." See http://www.besslerwheel.com/wwwboard/messages/952.html for more about this nifty physics tidbit.
Sites like this one *really* bother me. First, they have a picture of a PVC version they built so the *obviously* know it won't work, but they intentionally lie about it and ask people for money. That ticks me off... nuthin but a cheap thief. And second, they go on and on about how God has shown them the secret and revealed this to them, blah blah blah. I am a Christian and have strong beliefs but when people do that it's totally offensive. I can't stand people who lie and steal and do it in the name of religion. Some people need a good smack in the head.
Sorry for the rant, but I found this site a couple years ago and it bugged me then too.
Darren