On 9/26/07, Alex Esplin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 9/26/07, Levi Pearson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > By show of hands, who believes that perpetual motion machines are not > > impossible? > > Isn't the Solar System we live in a sort of perpetual motion machine? > Now obviously something on this scale is currently impossible for us, > but I would say that at least on some level, a perpetual motion > machine exists, we just don't know how to duplicate it yet.
Nope. It's not. Bzzt. The "decay" (increase of entropy) within the solar system may be taking place at a cosmic pace, but it non-zero. Eventually -- maybe in another 2 million years, but eventually -- the order and "perpetual" motion of the solar system will have collapsed. Or maybe it will have lost cohesion, flinging planets to the stars. But it won't be perfectly preserved in the same configuration as it is now. It's motion is *not* perpetual. Jacob Fugal /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
