Last week , the cyberspace was mystify by a physics problem call for a solidifying of scale , an iron chunk , and a Ping River niff ball of adequate size of it . Now that that onehas been clear up , Reddit has been meditate over a fresh problem : why wo n’t this convenience turn ?

" I do n’t know where else to ask , " Redditor ILostMyselfInTimewroteon Wednesday . " Why is this contraption not capable to grow ? ? "

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for depicted object shared from external situation .

It ’s not the clearest of diagrams , so we ’re going to have to make the August 15 that the roulette wheel are in physical contact , and have a belt attached to them to provide rubbing to make the gear wheel turn . So , now that we ’ve done that , why the snake pit wo n’t it turn ?

Let ’s assume that a peak on the smaller wheels rotates three fourth dimension for every clock time that a degree on the larger wheel go around once , for ease . Now imagine that you spread out the large wheel on the bottom row so that it completes one full routine over one minute . That would turn over the small roulette wheel above it so that it rotated three times over the same moment . As the little bike is connected by the bar to the other large wheel ( labeled " Bel " ) it will splay three times a minute too .

Here ’s where we hit a problem . The bike " b " is touching the low bike " a " below it . As such , as it turn at three times a arcminute , it should make the smaller wheel bout at three times that rate , or nine times a minute . But the smaller bicycle " a " is attached by a pole to the bombastic wheel " 2 " , which we already lay down is sour at the pace of one turn per minute . The diagram ( if it were to work ) would involve that the bike is rotating at both one turn per minuteandnine times per minute , an absurd universe - breaking result .

In reality , what happens would be dictate by how slippy the belts on the wheel are . If there is a raft of grip between the wheels , the contrivance would likely not turn at all . If , say " a " and " b " are covered in crude oil and only slimly poignant , they may be lube enough that when you move 2 , they slide over each other and the mechanism will jar its way around . But assuming that the wheels have any friction at all , if you move one of the wheels it will cause a jam elsewhere as the rod and cycle attempt to move at different f number , and what you have is a useless , disordered chemical mechanism , rather than a way of getting a muckle of innocent , thermodynamics - bring out energy .