# Perpetual Motion Machine Circus **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269 "2008-06-26T02:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/1 "2008-06-26T02:38:39Z")
Ok I remember back in the summer of '99 I saw this big ad in the local paper advertising a convention where they were going to display a ‘genuine perpetual motion machine’ They were supposed to have displays showing how cars could be run on garbage, et al. Anyone remember this? They were going from city to city with this energy ‘circus’ of sorts. I was more of a kid then and wanted to see it but never did. I wonder what they had to display as their perpetual motion machine? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/2 "2008-06-26T02:48:15Z")
Wouldn’t it help a lot if you specified where “local” was? ---
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/3 "2008-06-26T03:08:57Z")
It was a tour that went across the western states, Idaho, Washington States, etc ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/4 "2008-06-26T05:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=scrambledeggs] I wonder what they had to display as their perpetual motion machine? [/QUOTE] Something that ran on hidden batteries, ambient air movement, or crude solar power. It’s probably best that you never got to see it, since it was probably always “under maintenance” or incredibly unimpressive. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/5 "2008-06-26T14:34:59Z")
[QUOTE=J Cubed] Something that ran on hidden batteries, ambient air movement, or crude solar power. [/QUOTE] You know, you should stop thinking you have all the answers and open your mind to other possibilities. I mean, it could also have run on hidden springs, stored (and slowly depleted) magnetic energy, ambient heat, chemical energy, or just bogus bookkeeping on the energy inputs and outputs. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/6 "2008-06-26T14:42:13Z")
[QUOTE=Quercus] You know, you should stop thinking you have all the answers and open your mind to other possibilities. I mean, it could also have run on hidden springs, stored (and slowly depleted) magnetic energy, ambient heat, chemical energy, or just bogus bookkeeping on the energy inputs and outputs. [/QUOTE] Or hamsters. Don’t neglect the hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/7 "2008-06-26T14:53:18Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Or hamsters. Don’t neglect the hamsters. [/QUOTE] If that were the case, the machine wouldn’t be viewable like 40 percent of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/8 "2008-06-26T17:06:44Z")
Might this have been [Joseph Newman’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Energy_Machine_of_Joseph_Newman) road show? [Bob Park](http://www.bobpark.org/), my favorite iconoclast, has written about Newman many times in his (Park’s) weekly column What’s New. See this URL for search results: [http://www.searchum.umd.edu/search?q=newman&btnG=Search&site=UMCP&client=UMCP&proxystylesheet=UMCP&output=xml\_no\_dtd&as\_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fbobpark.physics.umd.edu](http://www.searchum.umd.edu/search?q=newman&btnG=Search&site=UMCP&client=UMCP&proxystylesheet=UMCP&output=xml_no_dtd&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fbobpark.physics.umd.edu) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perpetual-motion-machine-circus/454269/9 "2008-06-27T02:48:38Z")
If somebody had a source of free, limitless, valuable energy, the last thing they’d head for is a life in the circus. You’ll sooner see billionaires hanging out in almshouses.