Perpetual Motion The Overbalanced Wheel

Southeastern University
Jeremy Hester
Perpetual Motion: The Overbalanced Wheel
November 1, 2011

14553 North Majestic Oaks pl. Baton Rouge, LA 70810 Phone: 225-247-2636 Fax: None E-Mail: Jeremy.hester@selu.edu Web: None

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ABSTRACT:

Perpetual Motion: The Overbalanced Wheel

The objective of this report is to choose and describe the make and faults of a past failed perpetual motion machine. As such, the overbalanced wheel is a classic example. Classic because this has been a repetitive design throughout history and is known for its timeless and countless failures. The original concept idea of this invention was that it would continue spinning because the metal balls on the right side would turn the wheel because of the longer lever arm. However, because the left side had more balls than the right side the torque was essentially balanced and perpetual motion could not be achieved.

DESCRIPTION:
This design, like the name suggests, is a wheel orchestrated in such a way that it remains unbalanced on one side. Equally spaced out throughout the circumference of the device are lever arms that are made to only move back and forth 90o in one direction. At the end of each lever arm there is usually some kind of weighted object or apparatus made to increase movement speed and work output. Supposedly as the wheel turns, the lever arms will continually collapse to the one designated side under the force of gravity. This would supposedly increase the amount of weight on the side of the wheel with outstretched levers as long as possible causing it to become unbalanced until the lever arm made a full 180o half cycle around the wheel from top to bottom.

SCHEMATIC:

Perpetual Motion: The Overbalanced Wheel

EXPLAINATION OF FAILURE:
There are three main reasons why it was thought that this idea might work: 1. More mass is constantly on a single side of the axle, supposedly unbalancing the wheel to sustain a rotation in one direction. 2. The masses or weights on one side of the axle continually have longer or larger lever arms, supposedly unbalancing the wheel to force rotation in one direction. 3. As each weight shifts to a larger radius, an impulse is given to the wheel, sustaining rotation.

In Summary
More mass on one side. Longer lever arms on one side. Continuous impulses influencing rotation.

However, despite these arguments, this machine has continued to fail time and again. The first extremely notable contradiction to the arguments is that the first two reasons suggest motion in the opposite direction of one another. Some of the earliest pictures of the overbalanced wheel neglect to specify which direction they were supposed to turn at all. It has been stated that all perpetual motion wheels are cyclic. To clarify: all motions of the wheel and its parts are repeated exactly during each revolution. Essentially if a weight increases its radius once per revolution, it must also be pulled back to its original radius later during that same revolution. The work done in altering the radius from large to small is equal and opposite to the work done in altering the radius by the same amount from small to large. Thus no net energy is gained throughout the whole process. This is not the only factor involved here. Gravity does not only pull at one side of the device. If gravity

Perpetual Motion: The Overbalanced Wheel

helps to pull down the side of the wheel rotating towards the ground does it not also push against the side of the wheel rotating back up? The wheels motion is cyclic and so is the motion of mass. There is once again no net gain of energy. The Overbalanced Wheel is destined to fail.

Works Cited:
Simanek, Donald. "The Shifting-Mass Overbalanced Wheel." Lock Haven University. July 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/museum/overbal.htm>. Donald E. Simanek is a retired professor at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. He has written and posted various articles and pages of science, pseudoscience, and humor in both magazines, web pages, and photographs. His personal website can be found at: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ "Perpetual Motion." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion>. Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. It contains more than 20 million articles, over 3.78 million of which are in English. The articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world and it is estimated that the website receives 2.7 billion page views monthly from the United States alone.