Free energy (and its little brother, perpetual motion), is an idea that’s been around a long time, and has persisted despite the complete and utter failure of every single invention purported to generate energy “from nothing”. Why has it lasted so long? It seems that there are two reasons for this: the first is that there is confusion over what actually constitutes “free” energy. There are two types of free energy devices; those that generate power from nothing, and those that generate power from some unknown external source. The “power-from-nothing” types often use magnets in their construction, and are usually disclaimed with a “would work if there was less friction”. Of course, the laws of thermodynamics expressly forbid such things from existing. So why do they continue to be invented?

People often find the laws of thermodynamics quoted at them without any real understanding of what they are. What is entropy, and why must it always increase? They seem to be accepted - dare I say it - on faith. But the laws can be tested and shown to be true in the real world. They originate at the very smallest of scales, of atoms and molecules and the processes that govern these things. Motion is chaotic and approximates randomness for large numbers of particles. The kinetic and vibrational energy of the particles gives rise to things such as temperature and entropy on bigger scales. Interestingly, one would find that the so-called “laws” of thermodynamics do not hold, if measuring individual atoms! This is because the laws are based in statistics (essentially, the idea that it is more likely that all particles have a similar amount of energy rather than some having much more than others). As you add particles and increase the size of the system, it adheres more and more closely to the laws of thermodynamics. Finding a system of 30 particles with its entropy decreasing is less likely than winning the lottery; finding something on a human scale that has decreasing entropy is so incredibly improbable that I can’t even begin to describe the numbers involved.

So we see why this type of “free energy” machine must fail, as for it to work would involve some new type of probability-bending physics. Certainly you can’t manipulate probabilities with magnets, though I encourage anyone to try (experiment is key to science, after all). But what about the second type; the “energy from some unknown source”? Well, in many cases, the source is not unknown, simply untapped. A gyroscope, for example, can theoretically extract energy from the Earth’s rotation. Long wires set up (they did this one on Mythbusters) to act as antennas will produce a small amount of power from radio waves in the air. However, these aren’t really “free energy” at all, and most of them are incredibly inefficient anyways (an exception is tidal power, which actually gets its energy from the Moon’s orbit).

The second reason that the idea of free energy persists is the natural human tendency to want to believe. Combine with a conspiracy theory about “big oil” and you’ll have people lining up to buy your new water-powered engine or magnetic thingamabob that “aligns the gasoline molecules” for a 10x increase in fuel efficiency. Unfortunately, when faced with things that sound scientific, many people accept them at face value without ever questioning the motives behind them (why are the people advocating homeopathy the same ones who would sell you a few milliliters of pure water for $99.95 plus shipping and handling?) or trying to find out whether the science is real or just technobabble. And in this day and age, no matter how outrageous your claims may be, you will find somebody on the internet who is willing to believe you, and more importantly, fork over their credit card number. Steorn had actual INVESTORS in their free energy machine, prior to it failing rather publicly due to “the bright lights causing expansion in the metal parts which lead to friction” (at least that’s what I remember them saying). It really is true what they say about a fool and his money.

So remember, free energy is bogus, no matter what anyone claims. You can’t generate power from magnets and you can’t burn water, any more than the classic “overbalanced wheel” (see image below) will turn on its own. Think for yourself and do your own research; do the experiments yourself if you’d like. Science will prevail!

P.S. I hadn’t addressed the thought some people have that “big science” is suppressing free energy research for their own evil ends, but I will say this: far from being distressed at a demonstration of a true free energy machine, every scientist I know would be delighted. They would be lining up to study it. There is nothing that pleases a true scientist more than finding a flaw in an accepted theory and then working to create a new one.