Is this "Eric Krieg" the same one i saw on TV recently, trying to debunk
some guy's 50' prepetual-motion wheel somewhere in France? If yes, due
respect, Eric, but take a physicist with you next time, that whole show was
just embarassing for real science, the 50' wheel especially so.

Any physicist, hell, any competent Grade 11 physics student, could tell you
why that wheel was not a perpetual motion machine. Giving it the serious
attention of a trip to France just gives real skepticism a bad name. Well,
a worse name, i guess. Look, if the wheel were perfectly frictionless, the
energy obtained when the heavier side descends is exactly balanced by the
energy required to move the little weights up so the other side is lighter.
Zero net gain. Then add real-world friction, and it's just dead in the
water, or air. This is just the most elementary deduction. It is at most a
very inefficient windmill.

Tsk, tsk...

grant