Sir Martyn: "Can you keep a secret?" Audience: "Yep." Sir Martyn: "So can I."

* waves fists in Anger* how can you just leave us without explaining!! (P.s. I really quite enjoy your videos!!)

Occam's razor makes believe it might just be a low power. Long lasting battery using a simple circuit and electro magnetism to rotate the wheel. With all of the whistles and bells being a distraction intended to make you think it's based on some clever use of thermodynamics

For those disappointed in the decision to keep the true mechanism a secret, I try to view it like this: Sir Martin himself said that its true explanation is rather disappointing and lackluster, implying it is something very basic. The real magic of this machine, therefore, is obviously not in the possibility of true perpetual motion, but instead of what we do with our imaginations to reach that unknown. In this way, as long as the inner workings remain a mystery, the machine can be thought of as a sort of perpetual machine. Not one that produces energy, but one that invokes a sense of wonder and curiosity, and helps us to generate any number of creative solutions. Looking at some of the other comments, I've seen many very interesting, if questionable, theories. If we knew how it works, these wonderfully imaginative ideas would've been lost, at least to me and those with a similar mindset. Wonderful video, all in all!

"The secret is safe with Neil." Of course it is. Neil just looks like a vault.

This guy... He put decoy elements of common (fake) perpetual motion machines on it to throw us off. He added weights similar to the unbalanced wheel, he added unmarked boxes in locations that could be anything from magnets to batteries to motors, he even added copper tubes running from one side to the other which would suggest a heat transfer... I hope you're starting to see my point here: we cannot get the same enjoyment and wonder of asking the now deceased man (rip) if our guessed are correct or not and since it contains elements from literally every perpetual motion machine ever made, there is no way to know if we are getting any closer to an answer... I respect your wishes to keep the inner workings a secret, but I just wanted to let you guys know that it leaves the viewer in kind of awkward position. Btw: Love your videos, have been watching and subscribed for years. I started with Brady's early stuff around 2012 until I caught up with the backlog. Keep up the good work.

Perpetual motion machine. Attach toast with jam to cats back. Lift cat, and drop. Cat always lands on it's feet. Toast always lands jam down. The result can only be a perpetually spinning cat stuck in mid air.

Speaking of magicians, Neil is truly the Teller to Poliakoff's Penn. Everyone's talking about "Occam's Razor" and batteries, motors, etc. If it was a battery or any sort of low power engine, someone in a group of engineers and physicists surely would have guessed that easily. We need to go simpler: I say *EVERY* bit and bob is a red herring. This is nothing but a greased wheel in a sealed container with the air removed. It's then spun, and the lack of significant air resistance, low friction, and minimal opposing forces allows it to continue spinning for an extremely long time. Anyone who's ever spun a freshly lubricated bicycle wheel will understand. Those things spin and maintain their initial velocity far, far longer than you ever expect them to. If you get the balance just right and remove as many outside friction/forces as possible, two years isn't so far fetched.

My theory is that it's a real perpetual motion machine with a battery powered brake release, and as the battery slowly goes flat it can't hold the brakes off as well and they start to clamp in and slow the machine down, tricking everyone into thinking it's not really perpetual motion :-)

I remember seeing mantel clocks a number of years ago that seemed to have no source of power, yet ran forever. The key was that the clock only required a microscopic amount of energy to keep running. That tiny bit of energy was provide by a piece of metal that would expand a little when heated and contract when cooled. The normal daily room temperature changes were enough for this tiny stretching & contracting to be converted into the mechanical motion of the clock.

An invisible hamster is walking on the wheel. That's why the professor felt cheated.

Always been a lousy student regarding chemistry but these videos have ignited my love for this branch of science :)

It is remarkable the way all your videos capture all my attention. I make a instant stop and run to my big screen to see it. (Mostly more than once). Really love this 5 minutes with you guys.... You took me out of a cruel reality that we are having in my country the once Great an Mighty VENEZUELA... You give me the energy... Those five minutes are one's treasure. Thanks Professor And NEAL (And the crew behind cameras).

There's something that looks like an old electrovoltaic cell on the end of the DREADCO box, the kind of textured glass surface you see on old light meters.

again i have to say i feel so happy and excited to see more frequent uploads from the channel. Thank you Prof & Brady.

My guess would be a sealed vacuum capsule from a barometer driving a self winding watch mechanism. Atmospheric pressure changes wind the escapement mechanism while the mass and momentum of the wheel sustain rotation. Gradual loss of vacuum in the capsule and wear in the components has reduced efficiency over time and hence the wheel is slowing gradually. An additional rotating weight could also contribute to winding the mechanism every time the wheel is moved. Essentially just a big version of a self winding watch. All the other bits bolted on are for misdirection, to increase mass, and provide perfect balance.

Gnomes. Gnomes pedalling on little bicycles inside the boxes. There is no such thing as physics. Its all gnomes.

My guess is it's being powered by a Zamboni pile battery cell or similar. The same sort of battery has been powering the Oxford Bell since 1840 so it helps explain the longevity of the machine while also accounting for it's gradually slowing rotation.

When the Professor pointed at Neal I waved at Neal.... and Neal waved back! He's truly scary. How did he know? What other powers does he have?

I'll go with occam's razor here: the middle box in the middle with "DREADCO" on it has a small motor with a battery that's been set to run really slowly. the pipes, heat sinks and other boxes are there just to throw people off. this was a guy who knew perpetual motion machine were fake and sold it to people who also knew it was fake. so he was just having fun with them. that's my guess anyways

I worked out how it (probably) worked and built my own version in about 1990, which was displayed in the tech workshop at school. My youngest son aged 3 saw it and I asked him how it worked. He said "It's got batteries in". For those familiar with some mystery clocks the mechanism is well known. Inside one of the tin cans mounted on the wheels is a very small geared motor simply driving a small offset weight. This shifts the C of G of the whole wheel and around it goes. At least that's how mine worked. If he has been very clever the batteries are in the other boxes and there are some thin wires hidden around the rim.

The heat sinks are probably a red herring, but if I had to guess, it's some strange configuration of stirling engine?

While some comments are lamenting the inability to ask the creator if they're right about how it works, I think the main take away from this particular video is that not knowing how something works does not mean that it works in impossible ways.

I think there’s a 10:1 ratio of misdirection within this device. My guess is that the heat sink and copper pipes are simply conduit for electrical cable.The black boxes and ‘horseshoe magnets’ are probably non-magnetic aluminium or plastic.The Dreadco sign is thick enough to house a certain something.There’s a lot going on around the axis of the wheel...hmmmmm.

Reed switch and electromagnet hidden in one or both of those black metal pieces on either side of the wheel. The heatsinks and that center wheel are red herrings, unless it's an electrostatic motor. Nothing with enough heat output to warrant those heatsinks would last 2 years running continuously

he pushed it really hard two years ago best bearings on earth

Niel frowns when he’s trying not to smile. I love it.

It might be a year ago, but I'd still like to express my condolences. Good to see he left the mystery of this machine in a fun way, that means the secret didn't immediately get lost with time, and without spoiling the fun.

I reckon there's a battery there - possibly concealed in the black boxes around the rim but just as likely in the hub (where I anticipate there to be a kind of electric motor). Battery possibly of a type where air provides the oxidising agent (similar to hearing aid cells)

Inside the boxes are bacteria and food. A small hole on one side is the only release of gasses produced by the bacteria which gently pushes the wheel round. That's right, it's powered by fart! 😂

I imagine it is very simple. The three boxes are magnets that are repelled by opposing magnets (the horse shoe shaped). The excessive insulation on both the boxes and the horse shoes is to limit the repelling force of the magnets to eliminate the 'clunk' effect. The machine slows down owing to the bearings fouling with dust and the oil depleting. The wheel itself is isolated from the frame by the glass housing of the bearings at it will also become magnetised. You can see the bearings actually spin slightly slower that the centre shaft, again, there may be resistance in those to allow for fluid movement. The rest of the items like the Dreadco box, the anode/cathode, the heat sink and copper pipes are all smoke and mirrors.

This is awesome! Thanks Sir Martyn and Brady!

One for Martyn: In the Kensington Scuence Museum, they used to display a small mechanical clock which never needs winding up. It has no external winding mechanism. It works by diurnal temperature changes acting on a metal diaphragm, which is one side of a container of air. Expansion and contraction of the air does the winding, and a 3°F temperature change (and any ambient air pressure changes) each day will keep it running. My (very likely wrong) guess for that wheel is that it contains a crystal set, tuned to a local transmitter, maybe TV or FM, and that charges supercapacitors or a cell, which keeps it rotating via magnetic fields. _Delete this comment if I'm correct!_

Its not an RTG is it?

My grandfather once had an Atmos Clock. It ran by changing air pressure in a expansion chamber. Changing temperature expanded or contracted a gas in the chamber which moved a spring counter weight. If the Professor's Wheel is stored in an air conditioned environment, it might not have enough temperature difference to keep the wheel running quickly. Or there is slight leakage with the gas. Less gas, less pressure difference and less motion.

Instead of a perpetual motion machine, let's instead call it a perpetual imagination machine. For whilst it's workings remain a mystery, it invokes a multitude of imaginative ideas as to how it works. For me that's the real gift of this machine and the man who made it.

For once Wikipedia is no help at all: David E. H. Jones "is also known for his series of fake perpetual-motion machines". Edit: My guess is a nuclear isotope thermo-electric generator... P.S. I used to love his columns as Daedalus in New Scientist...

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the equipment is there as a distraction, and otherwise has nothing to do with the movement. The product was created on the premise of being phony, so why couldn't a lot of the hardware also be non-productive?

There are several hints in the video that helps us to make a good guess: 1) The fact that the wheel has been turning for two years, but been slowing down over the time period suggests quite a clever process, but one that is probably dependent on an electrical battery. 2) The steady rate of turn of the wheel would tend to reject the use of magnets, unless there were magnets all the way around the circumference of the wheel. 3) The question remains, how does the battery tranfer its work energy into the wheel?

@Periodic Videos My best guest: This perpetual motion machine moves because the center of mass of the wheel is not at the axis, but a bit off to the left, making the wheel rotate counterclockwise. And the center of mass gets constantly shifted towards the left as it rotates, in order to keep it going. It does this by means of those three boxes that are positioned exactly one-third away from each other along the wheel, which (I think) contains some weighted objects that changes their relative position within those boxes whenever the box passes one of the two U-shaped things that are positioned at equal heights to each other, but both are slightly below the axis of the wheel (which I think there is an important reason for that to be the case). When a box passes the U-shaped thing (let’s call them key slots) on the left (going down), the weight inside it moves by some means outward. This changes the center of mass slightly towards the left, but enough such that gravity makes the wheel turn. Not soon after this, another box ahead of the wheal passes another key slot on the right (going up). This makes the weight inside it (which would at first be positioned outwards) move inwards, which again would shift the center of mass to the left. Let’s call these changes in center of mass inside the boxes a “switch”: switch+ when the weight is moved outward and switch- when the weight is moved inward. The reason why these key slots are located slightly below the center of the axis is because these changes must occur in at specific positions, at specific times in relation to each other. If the key slots were located at the same hight as the axis (or higher), the switch- would happen to late, the center of mass would move too far to the right making the wheel slow down. Likewise, if these key slots were positioned too low, the switch+ would happen too late, which has the same effect. And perhaps there is another reason why these key slots are located slightly below the axis (which I will explain below). Exactly how the weights within the boxes “switches” around like this, I am not quite sure. I am more certain that magnets at the key slot are used to move the weights inside as the boxes passes the key slots, because magnets weaken over time and it was noted that the motion of the wheel had slowed down. But in what way these weights are moved, I don’t know. There are probably thousands of different working mechanisms you could use within these boxes, so I don’t think it is important to guess what the mechanism is. Whatever it is, the mechanism ensures that the weights are fixed in one position until the box passes a key slot, which makes the switch happen. And if my suspicion that the key slots contain magnets is true, there must also magnets inside each box that are attracted (or pushed) by the magnets of each key slot. The boxes react in the exact same way to each key slot, so the mechanism inside the boxes must be exactly the same. The set-up of the key slots must be different in order for the boxes to react differently when passing the slots. So I guess that at one key slot, the magnet attracts the magnet inside the box, making the switch go one way. At the other key slot, the magnet is flipped so it repulses the magnet inside the box, making the switch go the other way. I can’t think of adding any more details based on inductive reasoning alone. One other thing I noticed is that because the key slots are located slightly below the axis, the boxes passes the key slots at an angle and this isn’t symmetrical when you compare the passes at both key slots. At switch+ (going down) the box passes bottom (the side of the box glued to the outside of the wheel) first, and at the other slot the top side goes first. Since this asymmetry is slight, perhaps this isn’t important. If it is, it could have to do with how the slots make the switch go in different ways. A different way of approaching the magnet (bottom/top first) could change the switch inside the box. As you would have noticed, I didn't mention the copper tubes with the heat sink, nor those electric wires near the axis. These are clever red herrings to send most people on the wrong track, making them think the wheel spins on electricity or even on heat transfer like stirling engines. However, both electricity and thermodynamics requires contact (well, thermodynamics can work without direct contact via air, but it is more efficient with solid objects, which is required in this case because the wheel spins too fast for it to run on heat transfer), and since the only direct contact that happens to the wheel is via the axis itself, which appears very clearly to be just a simple axis with no motor or fancy heat transferring mechanism to drive the motion of the wheel. So, did I get it right?

I have a guess. It might be wrong, but I think it's strong enough that you shouldn't read this post if you're still trying to figure it out... it's a solar-powered electric motor. The windows in the sides of the DREADCO box are solar cells: there are wires hidden in the frame that run to U-shaped electromagnets on either side. The magnets pull on the metal boxes mounted to the wheel. But timing is crucial! The metal cups mounted to a plastic disk are electrically charged, and an electronic circuit (a MOSFET-based flip-flop?) senses this charge using the round ball electrode on the left side of the DREADCO box. This turns the current to each electromagnet on as the can is approaching, and off as the can moves away. The cleverest bit is, how do the little metal cups get their electric charge? The pointy electrode on the right side provides it. The high voltage required is probably created by electromagnetic induction as the coils are switched on and off -- it's like the ignition coil in an old car, but much weaker. The copper pipes and heat sinks and such are just red herrings.

My guess would be something to do with a secret battery compartment and electromagnets. The electromagnets might turn on and off when triggered by the smaller magnets closer to the axis of the wheel. Simple but yet functional.

My take: It's a very simple motor. Inside the cans are permanent magnets that are pushed/pulled by the coils at the end of the arm. The center hub contains at least a few magnets that cause magnetic reed switches to close when the magnets pass by. When the reed switches close, they energize their respective coils which push or pull the wheel. Inside one of the boxes is a set of batteries. The reason the machine can run as long as it has is that the coils are on for a very short period of time (aka a short duty cycle) and are likely current limited by either a high-winding coil with very thin copper gauged wire, or else a resistor. The low friction of the bicycle wheel allows for the wheel to continue spinning with very little energy needed to make up for friction-heat loss. A possible variation of this (though unlikely for something made in the 1980's) is a hall effect sensor in the place of the reed switches. The cans themselves also don't necessarily need permanent magnets in them if the cans are made of/contain steel or another ferromagnetic material. Message to the keeper/s of this machine - you will want to replace the batteries every so often to prevent leaks. Otherwise, you'll end up with corroded contacts and a messy cleanup.

Hi, my theory: First law of Newton It has extremely eficient bearing, it has not air inside the box. It has not any transformation of energy inside the box, it would will generete losess.

The wheel stays still, and our hopes of free energy rotates the universe around it.

As I see there are two main possibilities. 1. The machine is getting power from outside (ie, a thermal machine, vibration collector, etc.). 2. The machine has a slowly discharging potential energy source inside of it (battery, spring, compressed air, slow chemical reaction, etc). I have no doubt that I could create something that managed to have the same effect using several different methods. Exactly which method might or might not have been used on the machine in question is fairly useless speculation, especially since there have obviously been deliberate methods of misdirection employed to prevent guessing which method was actually used. I have made similar comments about magic tricks in reference to the Penn and Teller show Fool Us. Others may disagree but a good magic trick is one in which I have no guesses as to how the trick was accomplished. If I could figure a way to replicate the effect, even if it is not the same method that was used, the trick has lost its luster.

I have a number of ideas. All of them exploit changes in atmospheric temperature or pressure (or both). It could be similar to the Beverly Clock, which operates by converting changes in air pressure and temperature on a diaphragm into mechanical motion. Other ideas I have are similar. A barometer inside full of mercury rises and falls with air pressure changes, and this drives the mechanism. Possibly a material with high thermal expansion (such as mineral oil) pushes a weight up and down with temperature changes. Or like a mercury switch thermostat - a coil of expanding metal causes a tube with mercury inside to rock back and forth, which drives the wheel.

My guesses: 1) The three boxes mounted to wheel each contain a small electromagnet, battery and simple circuity including a reed switch. As the box passes the magnet at a specific position, the reed switch closes (due to magnet force) energizing the electromagnet. A pulling/pushing force is generated between the electromagnet and permanent magnet. The trick would be ensuring the correct bias on the reed switch/timing to prevent the wheel from being stalled as the magnetic fields 'align'. 2) There is a small electric motor in the beige project box below the hub and axle. Perhaps a friction drive wheel is hidden in the horizontal square tubing.

I'd guess something with electromagnetism given the coils, and especially given the fact that they've slowed down over time as if the battery powering it is begun to run low.

Why is there a "window" on the DREADCO box.. hmm

This video is about how one scientist wrote a letter to another scientist. Bravo!

I think it moves by sending pulses through to the 2 horse-shoe shaped electromagnets (black tape covers their small coils). There are 3 iron boxes to weight and balance the wheel and get attracted towards the relevant magnet, when it's powered. The power switching circuit knows the position of the wheel through those pointed rods on the box in the middle acting as (friction free) hall effect type sensors on the brass studs on the perspex disk passing near them. There is a battery and control circuitry either in the middle box, or in the box on the bottom and wiring is all hidden in the plumbing and frame. I guess you can make a low voltage system to move the wheel slowly for a long time. The glass case is there to act against air currents and to stop people fiddling with it. That's my guess!

electrostatic from the needle. aka an ion breeze into the cups

Seeing the copper pipes and those metal fins make me think there’s a heat transfer going on

Because you noted the believing what we see bit I am inclined to think that the case itself contains bateries and possibly it's using magnets to rotate the wheel, or maybe even a little motor. Those would be my guess.

"We believe whatever we see." Here's something I've never seen: two years, uncut, footage of that machine running. I propose that there is an inductive charging system and a small battery. For displays/exhibitions lasting less than a few days, there is a small relay/switch system which allows current to flow briefly as magnets move away from coils giving them a tiny amount of propulsion. Alternatively, there is an air current in the container and PMM1 is essentially and "open-cylinder" Sterling engine. This requires a bit more dishonesty on the part of the owner, but in a closed system, you could imagine a tiny amount of fuel lasting quite a long time. If it's neither of these, then it's a cat. I don't know how it's a cat, but experience tells me that "mysterious, unseen, notice forces" are usually cats.

So easy. I mean, I've almost finished my own over-unity (by 5%) perpetual motion machine. Well, when I say "almost finished", I'm 94% of the way there but that last 6% should be easy, right?

4:16 There's something on top of the box

One has to remember the technology that existed when this was built. A lot of the guesses are based technology which did not exist when the machine was built. One clue is the professor says he knows it's been running contentiously for two years. Prof also said it's slowing down. I'm thinking batteries with a switching motor. Remember this is a nearly perfectly balanced bicycle wheel which once it starts spinning will has very little friction and will continue to spin with very little energy. Interesting that only one person has figured it out, and only one other was close.

My guess is that the two metal things coming up from the Dreadco box are plates of a capacitor. They induce a slight electrostatic charge in the ring of bolts on circular acrylic plate. I "feel" the shape of the capacitor plates are important for creating an asymmetrical charge imbalance (hence why one is pointy and the other is short and round). This may provide a very slight acceleration to the wheel. The atmosphere in the box could also be prepped to reduce capacitor leakage. I think this could produce a fairly efficient device and there is plenty of room in the device to stuff as many batteries as you would need. The boxes on the outside of the wheel may just be for decoration, or they may act as flywheels to increase the angular momentum of the device.

Clearly some sort of nuclear decay going down in there. Bicycle bearings ar not near the bests of the industry, so a lot of energy is lost at each rotation. Even if the case is holding a vacuum the energy consumed by the bearing would be too high, and it can´t also be any form of recovering this energy because I can´t think of an insulation strong enough to contain it within the case. It can´t be using battery or chemical power, because at least I don´t know of any form of chemical stored energy dense enough to keep this going for years (Tesla would be crazy to buy it in that case lol). That´s a mini thermonuclear machine, just grab a Geiger counter and test it!

Ten years working with the Prof and we’re only just finding out he owns a perpetual motion machine!

I suggest the boxes contain any kind of switch (Hg) that finds, if this box is in between 6to0 hour position when a mass is shifted closer to the axle, and between 12 and 6 hour it is moved away from the axle powered by a long lasting battery in each of these three boxes. In order to start motion from any position three boxes are required.

I found a BBC documentary on this exact machine with the same prof present and they measured an electromagnetic field near the box with the heatsink and the DREADCO box. No other magnetic field was found anywhere else.

Tell us how it works plz

The highest level of clickbait

Yes, I thought this was one of David Jones's machines. A brilliant man. He was a regular in the 1970s and 80s in the German scientific quiz show "Kopf um Kopf", where pupils from the science classes competed against non-science teachers of the same school. Experiments were shown, and the teams had to explain what happened, and why. In the end, the correct explanation was given by scientists. It was very unpretentious, without any show-off effects (although some experiments were impressive), but you could really learn a lot. Too soon it was decided that it was not "modern" enough, and it was cancelled, although it ran for 20 years, which isn't too bad, I guess.

Interesting, my Grandfather was a bit of an inventor, he had designed and built a perpetual motion machine that he was building when he suddenly died in the early 80's. I never knew if the machine worked as some of the parts were missing, but then the machine disappeared when the deceased estate was sold, I wish I could find it again...

The secret is that the three boxes contain some dark energy and dark matter in a balanced proportion where the attraction and repelling forces causes the rotational spin.

You should check out Reidar Finsrud's perpetual motion machine. It uses a series of pendulums and magnets to send a steel ball around in a circle. It's really quite clever and can stay moving for weeks. Also the guy who built it is a bit of a mad scientist/sculpter/painter, and keeps the machine locked away in his basement because he's afraid the world isn't ready for his revolutionary invention.

I think it has to do with temperature. The boxes might move due to convection currents; On the other hand what heats up the inside could've been a radioactive material that is running out of fuel with time. Or, a thermocouple converting heat into electricity getting movement onward. Or the combination of both

I believe their are 2 spirings inside the center support bar, similiar to what garage door springs look like, but much smaller. The "dreadco" box has a gear winding mechanism inside. All the rest is pure distraction. David Jones even said that most of the gadgets you see are just for distraction. It operates just like a spring wound watch, but because it has the spring wound across a 2 foot span, it can operate a much larger wheel. Spring wound clocks slow down as they wind down, which is why they have to be adjusted every month or so. This machine does the same.

1:06 The motion of the wheel and bearing are out of sync.

Temp difference

So there are several things here, a perpetual motion machine, theoretically, -which is possible; what is not possible is an over-unity device, one which appears to draw energy from nowhere. If you took a flywheel, set it in a perfect vacuum on a magnet bearing, and set it spinning, it would spin forever. It would readily spin down if you tried to take energy from it, however, and would only retain what was put in. This device resembles that, in a way, but as we saw the wooden base beneath the enclosure we can be reasonably certain that this is not under high vacuum. Now, the heat sink tells us something (if we assume that it is part of the actual working bits and not simply for decoration), heat sinks are usually used on things that consume a great deal of energy, power transformers, microprocessors of many FLOPS, microwave devices. No such apparatus could be in this device, if it were dissipating heat it would have a very powerful power source like a radiothermic generator, which I find unlikely. Instead, if we are assuming the heat sink does something, it must be there to take in energy from around, or perhaps to ever so slightly chill something inside, for purposes of exploiting temperature differentials related to air-flow and human presence/observance of the device. I posit that this device is a type of Stirling generator or similar. Of course it's entirely possible that this is an elaborate hoax and that there's an atomic battery in one of those boxes. Obviously he's acknowledged that it's "fraudulent", but it would be interesting to know what the "defeat condition" is- does it run down in a vacuum, or simply over time?

I think it works using electrostatic forces. The three boxes are batteries, the things "that look like magnets" are brushes (the batteries being subtly connected through the wheel--we don't get a solid look at it in this video), the box with the heat sinks contains some voltage multiplication network, and there is a hidden wire to the Dreadco box to apply a large voltage, negative to the pointed electrode which deposits a negative charge on the isolated metal bits embedded in the plexiglas wheel by corona discharge, and positive to the round electrode which collects the charge, so only the upper half of the metal bits are charged. The negative electrode repels the charged bits while the positive one attracts them, applying torque to the wheel. The voltage multiplier could be a simple Joule thief. Or, if the wheel is mounted at an angle, it could be a Tazer-type circuit (with ultra-low-leakage capacitors) switched at the wheel's rotational frequency. It's surprising, though, that a contraption that runs for that long would need heat sinks for cooling electronics. He should have started it turning in the other direction so the rising air from the heat sinks would accellerate the wheel, not push against it. I predict that it would work the same way if you stopped it and reversed the direction of rotation. Now to scroll down and see if anyone else had the same thought :)

My gut is saying magnets

this is not a perpetual motion machine but a flywheel of incredible efficiency

There's a motor in the wheel with it's axel fixed so that the wheel and motor are rotating instead. Energy cells (batteries) are located in the aluminium box covered in heat sinks for misdirection, and wires are concealed within the copper pipes (again, for misdirection) and within the box sections supporting the fixed motor axis. If you pause around 2:30, you can see the motor hidden inside the wheel and notice how it's screwed to the clear acrylic plate.

I'd say there's essentially a motor inside with some well hidden magnets perhaps on the wheel, and a hidden electromagnet going on and off at the right time in the frame. Those systems became very popular in the early 1980s because the field effect transistors needed for those became cheap. You could even buy an array of desk toys working that way.

its a puzzle, how fun. there are lots of tricks on it too. like taped magnets, heat sinks and boxes. a couple things come to mind, like buoyancy or mass cycling, but i doubt thats the answer, too complex. i think its using electro magnetic fielding to generate a subtle charge, and its balanced very well so it takes minute energy to keep it turning from what is generated using the black boxes. without seeing whats in the boxes, i suspect they are magnets and it generates a dc current to power an electric motor or maybe its just a battery... thats my guess. . i absolutely love this video and he sounds like one cool guy. would like to know if i am right, but it gives me a fondness i've rarely felt, and can live without knowing the answer.

Bicycle wheels are amazingly free running and small battery powered clocks seem to run for ages using only very small batteries. So my guess would be to conceal a battery and a clock mechanism style circuit inside the hub. This is essentially a tiny pulsed stepper motor and gears. The mass of the wheel would serve to smooth out the pulsed motion normally seen on the second hand of quartz clocks.

A mechanical source such as a fan to cause rotation requires too much power. Therefore, I don't assume its anything like that. Now as far electrical goes, I believe the middle of the wheel which has those little cylindrical features are ferrous material which are pulled by the circular shaped object near them. The circular object is magnetized by a batter source in the middle of the wheel. The boxes are actually weights which are needed to hide the pulling force. If the angular inertia was too low, the jerky motion would be detected. The power required to magnetize the metal rod would be enough to compensate for the losses of friction in the bearings and minor loss of the air. If I could see the thing in person, I would make a better guess at it. Thanks for posting either way, it is fun trying to guess how he did it.

My guess: I think the three can like objects contain a long-lasting set of batteries and also an electromagnet. There is a timing/control logic board in the large box in the center marked DREADCO. The small spike and ball like objects may also be sensors that either help count the number of brass-like buttons that are on the inner plastic wheel. In any case, the logic board signals the box-cans on the outer rim to very briefly charge their internal electromagnet just as it is approaching the apparent permanent magnets they go through on the X-axis. This provides just enough perfectly timed impulse to keep the wheel rotating in the counterclockwise direction. Obviously the batteries used must be very long life (possibly mercury cells) and the amount used to drive the electromagnets must be very low in order to conserve power. Basically this is not unlike low-power clocks and watches that can run for 10 years or more with the slightest power.

It seems like it is moving as if it were powered by a really small electric motor...since the tire is probably 'perfectly' balanced it would only need a super small amount of energy to run the motor. Also...based on some of the clues from the professor...like being disappointed in knowing the answer as well as it is now moving slower that it was previously I think something that we see everyday might be at play here! It would be cool to put a small light encoder to capture pulses to determine exactly how fast it is moving and if it is decelerating! :-D I would agree that all of the other 'features' inside are there to distract and hide the real 'propulsion' system. Something I noticed...at the very beginning when Neil was bringing the device into the room...looked like some kind of bump on the top left of the case...what might that be? I agree...speculating IS more fun...thank you for the videos...I love them!

Brady, the Prof and others have been making Periodic Videos for years and this is the first time we hear of this machine?! DREADCO broke the laws of thermodynamics and it is perpetual motion.

My first guess is it's a sterling engine. My second guess is there are magnets in the little cans and the magnets push them to one end of the 3 cans and back to the other end. So that as the wheel turns, they are sent to the rim side by one magnet and the other side by the other magnet. So that the weight in the cans is sent to different sides in the cans. Thus rising, the weight is more toward the center and dropping its more toward the outside. Or maybe it's two systems. The heat engine creates air flow over the wheel from the copper pipe and the weights keep it going when their's no heat differential from the top and bottom of the machine.

I have always liked the physical aesthetics of many perpetual motion machines and I'd willingly purchase them as decoration even knowing they do not work, so long as they were machined well. I've also always wondered why those aiming for perpetual motion machines don't at least manage to accomplish a machine that will run for a century. There's no rule against that. IMO that ought to be the aim of most invention, to create things which are self-contained and last for at least 100 years. That basically guarantees it will outlive whoever creates it or starts it running. So it'd be perpetual to one person at least!

Because the machine has apparently been working for decades without maintenance, we can exclude the possibility of it using (almost) any kind of electrochemical source of energy (e.g. a battery). Therefore, as it has already been stated many times in the comments, the unit is most likely powered from an old-fashioned photovoltaic cell, which the round element on the box seen at 1:56 very closely resembles. Inside the box, there may well be a motor from a cassette recorder (these are known for being able to run even at very low power) which turns the wheel via a friction drive. The dark ring painted on the wheel's acrylic inset probably serves a purpose of concealing the friction drive wheel when the machine is viewed from the other side. The friction drive theory is also confirmed by the statement that the machine used to run faster before: the small rubber wheel of a friction drive has worn out over time and the gear ratio has changed.

The axis of the wheel is not actually rotating on bearings, it's suspended by a magnetic casing that keeps a gap space( so no friction) and also same concept to prevent it from sliding to the side. And after the wheel was given its' initial spin the entire enclosure was thoroughly vacuumized. So the wheel will eventually slow down more and stop, but it will take a long time.

Thumbs up for good camerawork! Are you going to tell us how to machine functions?

Nice work.....👍👍👍👍 Really Awesome Concept..😊

June 2018 is here! This channel will be turning 10 years old later this month!

The tree boxes are batteries, transferring their energy by the little spark metal (2:30) in an ionised air surface (closed box), converting their energy to rotation by a low voltage electric motor in the middle of the wheel. _That’s how I think it works when you told that the answer disappointed you and cheated..._

Hey, from NileRed youtube proposed me this amazing channel

It looks like it is powered from the box near the axel. The electrode on the right is an electron emitter. The one on the left is a sink. A long-lasting high voltage battery is attached between them. The cups on the wheel get charged as they pass the right side electrode. The cups get discharged as they pass the left side electrode. The electric fields between the electrodes and the cups makes the wheel turn. The battery is very slowly discharged as the cups carry small bits of charge when the wheel turns. Very, very nice.

Undoubtedly it is very wise to build a machine that intrigues, keeps secret the components of the mechanism, and does not bring any gain in the evolution of humanity. That's really cool! Brilliant, or awesome,.. Mind blowing, actually!

1:09 I've seen a wheel spin by putting a negative charge on tips like the one on the right, causing electrons to be released from the tip. My guess would be there's a battery in the Dreadco box with its negative end connected to the tip on the left and its positive end connected to the ball-shaped electrode on the left. The tiny metal pieces in the wheel would catch some electrons, thus causing the wheel to rotate counterclockwise mainly due to coulombic forces and some inertia from the "electron beam". Not sure if that would count as disappointing, though. But if it was just a motor spinning the wheel, more than just 1 person would've gotten it right.

David Jones was one of my heroes during school when he apperared on german television in a scientific gameshow. Ah, memories.

I believe it's powered by static electricity and photovoltaic cells seen on the side of the dreadco box. The rest is just a distraction and you can tell by the lack of effort in the box's on the wheel or piping at the base. Also notice how the wheel is mounted on a Perspex frame, with also a Perspex wheel holding the metal cups. This is to contain the statically charged cups until the reach they ball end tip on the left of the dreadco box. The pointed tip above the right of the dreadco box repels and charges the cups, the left discharges and perhaps attracts.