Can you spot how this "perpetual motion" machine works?

boing
21

My theory is that the piston device was added under the see-saw. At about 1:17 you can see some sort of shadow or stick near the center. This reminds me of a trick where you appear to levitate.

22

I thought his motion looked like he was operating foot pedals as well. It’s particularly conspicuous in the quicker operation at the end of the video.

2 Likes
23

And strange reflections on the tables that correspond to those locations.

24

I’m torn between the strange reflections below the board and the swaying of the guy as to whether it’s a moving-camera-and-table-and-guy trick or it’s all done by wires. There’s a scene cut between the showing of the bottom of the rocker and the start of operation as well.

So it’s not a question of how, it’s a question of which how.

25

Look at the person’s right hand. It’s flexing in rhythm to the movement of the device. Either pushing down or stabilizing some other movement.

2 Likes
26

At 0:29, how, exactly, is the apparatus staying perfectly balanced before the balls are even introduced?

Additionally, all that clattering of balls is energy which is being propagated into the room and absorbed by the carpet and other soft materials. So apparently it’s not only running forever, it’s running so efficiently it’s just SPRAYING OUT surplus energy.

5 Likes
28

You can see that the table is pulling each side down and the rolling balls are just reacting to the new slope. When he briefly shows the underside of the seesaw you can see two metallic dots. I’m guessing electromagnets under the table surface that are turned on/off at intervals.

29

This also explains why he is pressed so closely against the back wall. Either (a) he’s in a bathroom, (b) he always choses to stand on the “wrong” side of a table when it’s against a wall, or (c) the table and wall together are on a small platform.

31

A well explained answer without spoilers, which I didn’t put together when I first saw it.

32

My takeaway there was–holy crap, David Cross was on “Just Shoot Me”? :slight_smile:

2 Likes
33

34

So the longest stretch in the video of it in motion seemed to be about 25 seconds. I bet there are non perpetual motion machines that can go for that long without a visible decrease in amplitude of motion.

1 Like
35

That’s kind of my theory. Not sure why the thing balances at 0.29 without the balls, though.

36

All my perpetual motion machines are Brownian.

37

yep. saw him on a re-run of The Drew Cary Show the other day, too.

strange.

38

Right. A Newton’s Cradle isn’t perpetual, but a heavy one can go on a good while. If you made those golf balls out of lead, you’d probably have a lot of momentum to work with.

1 Like
39

True fact, but this gizmo doesn’t even make an attempt to make sense as a perpetual motion machine.

40

Looks to me like back of board overhangs back of table thereby allowing foot actuated pistons that do not penetrate table top.

1 Like
41

The person is definitely moving - it also looks like some kind of filter was used to blur this movement - but it is pretty easy to spot if you focus on the vertical line of the button down shirt.

42

That’s surprised me as well. The faker got it all wrong. The balls should have been on the opposite side for it to shift the tilt to the other side.