Science Memes

12375 readers

2091 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

406

Entropy? Never heard of it. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

157 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

It's sometimes called an overbalanced wheel, an early perpetual motion device. The idea is that there's more weights on the right side than the left side, so the wheel will turn clockwise. The weights are on rods that fall to the right as the wheel turns, so there's always going to be more weights on the right. So the wheel turns forever. Free power woohoo!

The reality is that the balls on the left are further away from the axle. Futher from the axle = greater torque. Surprise surprise it all cancels out and the wheel eventually comes to rest.