Nexus - 0601 - New Times Magazine-pages

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PERPETUAL MOTION The Story of Bessler's Wheel MOTION PERPETUAL The Bessler's Wheel Story In the early 18th century, the German inventor Orffyreus successfully demonstrated a so-called perpetual motion machine that utilised the force of gravity to do work. A perpetual motion machine is a device which, once having been started, continues to run for ever, without any additional input of energy. he theory of perpetual motion has been consigned to the dustbin of discarded myths—ahead of such pseudo-scientific suppositions as UFOs, crop circles, holistic medicine and all the paraphernalia of the paranormal. The mighty weight of established scientific opinion is against such beliefs because they can- not be explained within current scientific dogma. The dictionary definition of 'dogma' is ‘settled opinion, indisputable doctrine’. Rigid adherence to current theories becomes unstuck only when the overwhelming evidence that the known facts cannot possibly sustain establishment beliefs, forces scientists to back down and look for alternative explanations. Should the scientific establishment be accepting any of the alternative theories as areas of potential research? Not necessarily; but someone, somewhere, should be listening to such ideas; and if and when conflicting evidence arises, it should be discussed in an open and sensibly critical way rather than dismissed as so much hot air. So many examples exist of accomplished scientific researchers who have been led into areas regarded as 'taboo' by orthodox scientific opinion, that the term ‘scientific heresy’ has been coined to describe their deviant theories. A ‘heretic’ is an exponent of unortho- dox opinion, and ‘orthodox’ means ‘conforming to commonly accepted opinion’. There are many modern candidates for the application of the term 'scientific heretic’ and it has become a popular subject for discussion in the media. Some competent scientists. specialists in their own fields, became aware of conflicting evidence that certain theories relating to subjects such as homoeopathy and telepathy might, after all, have some basis in truth. This evidence became so overwhelming that these same scientists published their results in the mistaken belief that such information would be welcomed by their peers. In fact, the reaction was the opposite of what they'd hoped for: some were demoted and oth- ers had their research grants removed. By now you may suspect that I place myself among the modern heretics, and in a way you'd be right. I have discussed the subject of this book with numerous people, both pro- fessional and lay, and it is with the former that I have received a scornful dismissal of the theories advanced in it, and yet it is the very simplicity of my findings that begs for atten- tion. I intend to show that under certain circumstances, perpetual motion of a kind is cer- tainly a possibility—and a machine to utilise it is an absolute necessity in the face of the alling levels of fossil fuels and the rising levels of pollution that beset our planet Earth. From an early age we are taught that perpetual motion is impossible according to the laws of conservation of energy and of thermodynamics. We are told that we cannot get more out of a thing than we have put in—a logical statement and perfectly true! I shall show you how, although this is true, it is not actually relevant to the problem. These laws and this saying have been ingrained in us, hammered into us, and we have laughed at accounts of early experiments to find the answer to perpetual motion. We find it impossi- le to believe that there could be a way around the problem. It is the problem of the ‘closed mind’. These days, most revolutionary discoveries are thought to have come from the ranks of educated scientists—but not so. Many ideas and contrivances have been made by men who never attended university, who were gifted amateurs or became obsessed with find- ing a solution to a problem that was of particular relevance to them personally. Among by John Collins © 1997 From his book PERPETUAL MOTION: An Ancient Mystery Solved? PO Box 2001, Leamington Spa Warwickshire, CV32 6YQ, UK Tel/fax: +44 (0)1926 424264 E-mail: permo-pubs@free-energy.co.uk http://www. free-energy.co.uk From his book PERPETUAL MOTION: An Ancient Mystery Solved? NEXUS - 53 by John Collins © 1997 DECEMBER 1998 - JANUARY 1999