8 Sci-Fi Inventions Ruined By Science

Speaking of infinite energy. We’ve postulated three kinds of perpetual motion machines over the last 500 years. They don’t work, and won’t, not just because of force (not that force, young Skywalker), but specifically because of the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

The first is that energy, although it can be conserved, can never be destroyed, only converted. The second is that entropy, the measure of disorder within an isolated system, never decreases.

In grade school we did an experiment with a bowling ball attached to a string that hung from the center of a room. We each stood on one end of the room and pulled the ball back to our nose. When we let go, the ball would swing away but fail to strike us in the face upon its return, not unless Tommy, the secondary system standing on the other end, pushed it back with added force. Poor Brooke.

Now, think back to the hover board and watch this vid on the Lexus design:

This is an example of an open ended system (using secondary cooling systems to operate) and it is unable to operate indefinitely, in or out of its restricted environment.

We need energy to maintain energy.