Perhaps the most persistent nonsense in physics: the perpetual motion machine. Bad ideas come and go in physics. But there’s one bit of nonsense that is perhaps more persistent than all others: the ...

Quantum mechanics… The very name tends to give me a headache. Quantum theory is one of the best theories science has ever come up with, as seen in its uncanny ability to predict and explain a ...

This experiment puts a supposed perpetual motion device to the test. We break down how it works, what physics says should happen, and whether the motion can actually last without an external energy ...

Conservation of energy isn’t just a good idea: It is the law. In particular, it is the first law of thermodynamics. But, apparently, a lot of people don’t really get that because history is replete ...

A perpetual motion machine is (as the name implies) a machine that moves perpetually; it never stops. Ever. So if you created one today and set it going, it would keep on going until the Big Freeze.

(via PBS Space Time) Bad ideas come and go in physics. But there’s one bit of nonsense that is perhaps more persistent than all others: the perpetual motion machine. No working perpetual motion ...