What would happen if you put a
slinky on an
escalator? This question was asked in the
catbox one fine day and upon reflection it suddenly hit me:
Perpetual motion machine!
How would it work? Well, once started by hand, the escalator ascends causing the slinky to descend with increasing velocity. The excess energy of the slinky's acceleration is then captured and channeled into the escalator thus equalising the speed of both escalator and slinky and settling the machine in a state of perpetual motion.
However the full potential of the pertetuum slinkobile can only be acheived by building the slinky out of a strongly magnetic material which emits powerful gamma radiation. The strong radiation will ionise the air surrounding it and the magnetised coils of the slinky will propel the resulting ions into special receptacles in the escalator where it is converted into hydrogen and burned for energy. The escalator accelerates, forcing the slinky to ever greater speeds which feeds the escalator with increased energy and thus the whole device accelerates constantly into infinity.
However by keeping the perpetuum slinkobile moving at a constant rate the excess energy can be tapped and an infinite energy source is created. Eventually the energy given off will be too great to harness and will probably destroy the earth at some point.