PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINES 265
tablished not just via experimentation, but from first principles, that is,
the Newtonian motion of atoms.
But in the nineteenth century the existence of atoms was still hotly
debated and often ridiculed by prominent scientists, such as philosopher Ernst Mach. A sensitive and often depressed man, Boltzmann uncomfortably found himself the lightning rod, the focus of the often
vicious attacks by the anti-atomists. To the anti-atomists, anything that
could not be measured did not exist, including atoms. To add to Boltzmann's humiliation, many of his papers were rejected by the editor of
a prominent German physics journal because the editor insisted that
atoms and molecules were strictly convenient theoretical tools, rather
than objects that really existed in nature.
Exhausted and embittered from all the personal attacks, Boltzmann hung himself in 1906 while his wife and child were at the beach.
Sadly he did not realize that just a year before, a brash young physicist
by the name of Albert Einstein had done the impossible: he had written the first paper demonstrating the existence of atoms.
TOTAL ENTROPY ALWAYS INCREASES
The work of Boltzmann and other physicists helped to clarify the nature of perpetual motion machines, sorting them into two types. Perpetual motion machines of the first type are those that violate the First
Law of Thermodynamics; that is, they actually produce more energy
than they consume. In every case physicists found that this type of perpetual motion machine relied on hidden, outside sources of energy, either through fraud, or because the inventor did not realize the source
of the outside energy.
Perpetual motion machines of the second type are more subtle.
They obey the First Law of Thermodynamics-conserving energy-but
violate the Second Law. In theory, a perpetual motion machine of the
second type produces no waste heat, so it is 100 percent efficient. Yet
the Second Law says that such a machine is impossible-that waste
heat must always be produced-and hence disorder or chaos in the uni-
tablished not just via experimentation, but from first principles, that is,
the Newtonian motion of atoms.
But in the nineteenth century the existence of atoms was still hotly
debated and often ridiculed by prominent scientists, such as philosopher Ernst Mach. A sensitive and often depressed man, Boltzmann uncomfortably found himself the lightning rod, the focus of the often
vicious attacks by the anti-atomists. To the anti-atomists, anything that
could not be measured did not exist, including atoms. To add to Boltzmann's humiliation, many of his papers were rejected by the editor of
a prominent German physics journal because the editor insisted that
atoms and molecules were strictly convenient theoretical tools, rather
than objects that really existed in nature.
Exhausted and embittered from all the personal attacks, Boltzmann hung himself in 1906 while his wife and child were at the beach.
Sadly he did not realize that just a year before, a brash young physicist
by the name of Albert Einstein had done the impossible: he had written the first paper demonstrating the existence of atoms.
TOTAL ENTROPY ALWAYS INCREASES
The work of Boltzmann and other physicists helped to clarify the nature of perpetual motion machines, sorting them into two types. Perpetual motion machines of the first type are those that violate the First
Law of Thermodynamics; that is, they actually produce more energy
than they consume. In every case physicists found that this type of perpetual motion machine relied on hidden, outside sources of energy, either through fraud, or because the inventor did not realize the source
of the outside energy.
Perpetual motion machines of the second type are more subtle.
They obey the First Law of Thermodynamics-conserving energy-but
violate the Second Law. In theory, a perpetual motion machine of the
second type produces no waste heat, so it is 100 percent efficient. Yet
the Second Law says that such a machine is impossible-that waste
heat must always be produced-and hence disorder or chaos in the uni-