By 
Netta Schramm
 | 
TED-Ed Original

Why don't perpetual motion machines ever work?

Perpetual motion machines — devices that can do work indefinitely without any external energy source — have captured many inventors' imaginations because they could totally transform our relationship with energy. There's just one problem: they don't work. Why not? Netta Schramm describes the pitfalls of perpetual motion machines. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by Addison Anderson].

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