Marble perpetual motion machine - GIF

Marble perpetual motion machine.

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...246#post192067
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...514#post193075
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...520#post189431
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...139#post134471
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...873#post152574

It looks like the last part is a video loop. Clearly, there is friction so is not a perpetual motion machine.

No, not a loop.
Watch the ball just as it enters the hole each time.

There must be something adding energy because the return jump is higher than the drop height.

And the energy of the ball as it rebounds off of the backside of the 'cup' is rather high.

Nicely done illusion.

Any thoughts on how it's done?

apparently there is a battery hiding in there, but I don't know how they work unless there is a magnetic ring giving the bearing a "shove" down the chute to overcome friction effects. Copies of this appear online in the chinese websites (Aliexpress) for around $15 - those listings mention the batteries, but nothing about how they work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by desbromilow

apparently there is a battery hiding in there, but I don't know how they work unless there is a magnetic ring giving the bearing a "shove" down the chute to overcome friction effects. Copies of this appear online in the chinese websites (Aliexpress) for around $15 - those listings mention the batteries, but nothing about how they work.

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thinking further about it, perhaps a small drive wheel inside the hole - similar to the mechanism you see for pitching baseballs - smaller and easily concealed inside the bottom of the cup.

With 3 wires supporting the platform, batteries and a circuit could be in the base and a coil around the hole.

Here's the 'spoiler' video
https://youtu.be/trC5Dg3Vpi0

And, it IS a spinning wheel.

Charles, thanks for finding that video!!! it's fun to try reverse engineering how things work, but another to finally know what is the correct answer eventually. - Thanks,
Des

Whew, for a minute there I thought the First Law of Thermodynamics had finally been breached!
/s

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Duke_of_URL

Whew, for a minute there I thought the First Law of Thermodynamics had finally been breached!
/s

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No over unity is still safe for now, but I'm still waiting for people to finally figure out that all this hype about being able to fully charge an EV battery in minutes instead of hours is mostly hype, and is going to eventually cause brownouts in the already over taxed grid.

So the toy in the first video looks like the top piece is a solid block of wood, you can see there's apparently no battery like in the second video and you get a good look through the hole too but the helper wheel could be just beyond view. Could be the first one has a strategically placed magnet in the base?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hoosiersmoker

So the toy in the first video looks like the top piece is a solid block of wood, you can see there's apparently no battery like in the second video and you get a good look through the hole too but the helper wheel could be just beyond view. Could be the first one has a strategically placed magnet in the base?

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If you put it on full screen and stop the action at the .02 you can see the separation line of the door to the battery compartment

HOLD THE PRESSES!
I'm not so that the solution I posted is the solution to THIS particular made-from-wood machine.
HERE is a higher quality (and longer version) of the same video.

Things to ponder:
1) What are the two holes on the underside of the base near the back end?
2) Why does the ball SLAM forward after it lands in the 'cup'? (I mean, it just WHACKS the front of the cup after it's bounce!)
3) What are the two little discolorations on the underside of the 'cup' (seen during the tilt-and-turn portion of the video)

Any smart ideas out there?

Myself, I'm leaning towards a magnetized coil in the 'funnel' of the cup. The two holes in the base are for charging a hidden battery. Maybe a momentary-on pressure switch is part of one of the feet (set it down and the coil is energized). Or, does the coil pull current if it isn't adding energy to the ball so no need for a switch?
And, how WOULD it add energy to the ball?
Hmmmm... maybe it's a magnetic ball (which can be bought) and the wire rails are non-magnetic stainless. Then you would have an 'armature' (ball) moving through a stator field. Might work!

Then again, the ball circles the cup a LOT on the first run, then it SLAMS around and jumps in the hole pretty quick thereafter.
I wonder if there is a switch that energizes the coil when the ball FIRST drops through (hence, the lazy circling motion), then the coil is continuously energized and the ball is PULLED towards the hole after hitting the back of the cup, overunns the hole to the front and then dribbles in to the hole again.

Any more ideas?

BTW: THANK YOU Altair for the original post - great fun!

I call B.S. on this one!

https://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Mar.../dp/B09VPYCQMV

Well, I had to ask my brother.
He collects even more od bits of trivia than I do.

There is a coil in the 'cup'.

As the ball drops through the hole, it becomes a conductor moving through a magnetic field, which creates force.
So it's a solenoid in essence.

The ball is shot downwrds with enough additional energy to overcome gravity and friction to be launched up into the cup.

The guy on Amzon who makes and sells them is quite a craftsman, the joinery in the wood parts is seamless so it's not easily seen and is therefore quite 'mysterious'.

I want one!