College of Engineering Unit:
Team 613A is tasked with creating a perpetual motion machine. The project was assigned to the team via Oregon State University’s Capstone engineering course for Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME) students. Team 613A, called Magic Motion, is advised and sponsored by Professor Parmigiani, an expert in prototyping and engineering methodology. Creating a perpetual motion machine is a problem which has never been solved completely by historical or contemporary engineers. A perpetual motion machine is defined as a device which is powered by the energy it creates in a perfectly cyclical, reversible, and efficient process. The constraints of following this definition in the creation of a real product are thus significant and will be discussed later in this document.
The team’s product will focus on creating the illusion of a perpetual motion machine as a learning tool. This product is focused on inspiring the public, Oregon State University peers, as well as professors and experts via a technical puzzle which will educate interfacing users on fundamental scientific principles such as the laws of thermodynamics and Newton’s Laws of Motion. The more significantly the user reflects or deeply considers the physics behind the team’s perpetually moving artifact, the more successfully the team will have met their primary objective to puzzle, entertain, and inspire scientific thinking in any user of the team’s product.
Perpetual motion machines are fundamentally impossible, but this does not mean the illusion of such a device cannot be used for the benefit of all who interact with such a machine. Team 613A seeks to create a learning tool that will inspire and teach users about physics and science via a puzzle with a convoluted yet deeply rich and scientifically significant history. By incorporating three subsystems capable of energy generation, the team will distract and confuse the public to ultimately educate users on the scientific principles which govern and restrict perpetual motion.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 mime.613.1.expoposter.pdf | 912.65 KB |