Perpetual Motion Impossible

 

***Update -7/27/09 - I've confirmed with my own eyes that Magniwork is a SCAM! One of the readers was kind enough to share the Magniwork plans with me and they are laughable.  The whole "document" is 57 pages long and looks like something a kid in high school put together.  The final "generator" is basically a magnet that is 2" high sitting on a turntable that is 4" high!  They claim that its output is 24.5 Watts!  That is 1/100th of what my house uses when the AC is on.  That is nothing!  Basically the plans tell you how to make a mini-electrical generator, but they dont even tell you how you are supposed to turn the thing to produce energy!  The thing is about the size of your palm, so even if you did find  a "free" way to rotate the shaft, it wouldnt put out enough power to light up  a standard light bulb.  It's completely ridiculous.  Please don't even attpempt to build this thing, just look at the plans if you want a good laugh.  Here is some text in regards to how the Magniwork is supposed to be powered:

This power source is not predicated on a continuous flow of energy but predicated on the consistency of the transmutation process of the magnetic molecular structures within the Earth's pressure flow.

What does that even mean?  By reading the text it doesn't look like it was a native English speaker who wrote the thing.  I bet the author has some money they need to wire to you from a Nigerian bank account.

Whatever you do, don't waste your money on this!

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Thanks for reading and learning the truth on this energy scam.  Subscribe to Mapawatt RSS Feed or subscribe to MapAWatt by emailto get updated by email when new blogs are posted (about every other day).

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***Update #2 - 7/30/09 - See the Magniwork plans online for free at this site: Magniwork stole the plans from here.  Thanks to Ajax Chen for finding the link.  While the site is not the exact version of the plans, it looks like the Magniwork authors just copy and pasted (without even bothering to change the images at all) from the site.  From now on, don't even bother to ask for a copy of the plans in the comment section, just see the above link!

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***Update #3 - 8/5/09

Since I'm still getting comments from people saying that they will try to build the generator if they see the plans, I realize I just have to post some pictures of the plans.  Once you see the ridiculousness of the "machine" there is no way anyone would try and build it.  It's like if I told you I knew of a ground breaking way to cool your home for free, then gave you plans to build a standard refrigerator.  Would you still try and build a standard fridge? Pictures coming tonight!

Well, here's the picture I promised.  The picture below is taken from this site, which Magniwork stole the plans from.

The amazing Magniwork Generator!

 

I don't know if you can see, but the device will put out an amazing 24.5 Watts.  Maybe enough to charge your phone!  All you need is a few thousand of these and maybe you can power your house.  But wait, what's going to spin them?  Who knows.

Also, the only equipment they talk about is a Multimeter and a Soldering Iron.  Ha!  The only reason I'm not posting the plans is because I'm sure these scam artists would threaten me with a lawsuit and waste my time.

I am really bothered at how many sites there are when you Google "magniwork" claiming it is for real.  This just means that these are also scam sites that get a commission for selling the fake plans.  Don't trust these sites!

***Update #4 - 8/7/09

It's amazing (and infuriating) how many scam sites come up when you Google "magniwork".  They have been able to weasel their way into a high google ranking.  The one site with a high ranking that is not a scam is this great article on PESWiki regarding Magniwork.  If you don't take my word for it, read their review.

***Update #5 - 8/18/09

Magniwork has been my most popular post by far.  There were 210 people who found this post through Google just yesterday, so these scam artists have made their mark on the web.  Based on a recent comment, I want to make one thing clear:  I am not calling out this scam because it violates laws of physics (which it does).  I am calling out this scam because I have  seen where they stole the information  and read through their laughable instructions that look like they were written by a 10 year old.  Even if the generator actually worked, they completely fail to show how it can power anything bigger than a light bulb, much less your home!  This was put together by someone who wanted to take advantage of people trying to save energy.  I'm sorry if you've been suckered into this.  If you really want to save energy at home, spend $15 and buy The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series). It is the most comprehensive analysis of conserving home energy, and it is not a scam! All I can say is follow Mapawatt Blog and hopefully you'll prevent yourself from falling into these scams in the future!

***Update #6 - 8/22/09

I've dedicated a whole post to Magniwork and other Renewable Energy scams .  One thing it points out is that Magniwork and Ambigrid are the same thing.  It also raises the question, Are Magniwork and Earth4Energy related?

***Update #7 - 9/13/09

Thanks to everyone's help, it looks like our exposure of Magniwork has got them squirming.  Seems like they've changed their tune a little bit and are hawking Magniwork with a new name called Magnets4Energy.  No, I am not going to link to them, but you can do a Google search for yourself to see how these scammers operate.

***Update #8 - 10/20/09

The guys at off-grid.net have done a great story on the scammers behind Magniwork and a great review of the Magniwork Scam and how it works.

***Update #9 - 01/24/10

I found this great history of perpetual motion machines.  Guess what, none of them worked.  Reminded me of Magniwork.

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Original Post

I recently added some Google Ads to the site (yes, I am a capitalist) and I ran across this add for a company called Magniwork showing up on my sidebar.  They were advertising "free energy" so of course it caught my eye.  On their site they say, "How would you like to create a generator which creates free electric energy?"  They then show some diagram that is completely useless (and actually includes an diesel generator?) and finally go on to say:

A Zero point magnetic power generator is basically a Free Energy Generator. It uses magnets, and magnetic force to induce perpetual motion. It runs by itself, indefinitely without stopping, thus creating completely free electrical energy, which can fully power your home for free. A Perpetual motion device refers to a machine that runs perpetually i.e. indefinitely, and produces a larger amount of energy than it consumes. Thus, it produces free energy indefinitely, runs by itself, without having to need a third-party device or resource to power it.

Perpetual motion!  Woo Hoo!  Sounds like a great deal huh?  Unfortunately it violates that First Law of Thermodynamics.  Physicists and Engineers don't call it the LAW of conservation of energy just to have a clever marketing name.

Why can you never have a perpetual motion machine?  Because you will always have friction!  Whether it is air friction or friction of a rotating shaft on a bearing, you will always have it!  Friction causes things to slow down, so no matter how much energy you start with, friction will slowly eat away at that energy.  And this is just a machine that moves forever, not even a machine that has to create electricity with its movement.  If you have to create electricity, it requires much more work , so how are you going to overcome natural friction AND create electricity without any losses?

You can have machines that take advantage of wind, solar power, batteries, temperature gradients, etc., but these are not perpetual motion machines.  They are just taking energy from one form and converting it to another.  You can't create anything from nothing!

The website isn't even selling a machine, but just plans for a machine.  Obviously that is a smart idea for an energy scam artist.  They can always claim that you just hooked it up wrong.   And they claim that the reason you haven't heard of this wonderful device yet is because corporations are suppressing the information.  Let me promise you this:  If a perpetual motion machine existed that created electricity, it would make a corporation the richest corporation in the world.  That's a fact.  Corporations would love to sell a machine that created free electricity!

They also have several customer testimonials on the site.  As I covered in my article on the Power Factor scam device, never trust customer testimonials on a website.  Do you know how easy it is to make one up.  Here, let me show you:

John McGillicutty from Kalamazoo, Michigan says, "MapAWatt Blog is the greatest blog in the whole entire world.  If you aren't reading this blog you are crazy.  Mapawatt has saved me millions in energy bills.  Millions I tell you!"

See, I just made that up, but I bet you thought it was real because there was a name and a city attached to the quote.  Don't believe customer testimonials on websites that sound like a scam!  The website states, "Hundreds of successful magniwork generators have been built around the world, which is a proof that this technology really works!".  This means there are many fools that took the bait, not that it works (Thanks Randy for providing this last insight.)

If you are some sucker that got pulled in to trying to sell one of these devices or if you actually bought this, I'm sorry.  If you are going to try to argue that it really does work, show me this device hooked up to an energy meter like the TED or any other energy meter.  Then prove to me it isn't hooked up to  any external power/battery sources. If you can prove that it works, congratulations, you just won the Nobel Prize......

Until then, I'm calling B.S.!

Click here to learn why perpetual motion free energy machines don't work.  Make any comments regarding perpetual motion on the post in the link.  You can make Magniwork scam comments below.

***Update - 11/03/09 - One of the Mapawatt team members sent me the Mythbuster's Free Energy segment.  Guess what? They busted the Free Energy myth!

If you're really interested in creating energy in your home, the best way to do that is install a solar pv system.  Click here if you want to get a free quote on a Solar PV system.