A perpetual motion generator is the idea of producing electricity from some natural source of power that never runs out. Usually, ideas of putting perpetual motion into practice involve use of magnets interacting with the magnetic field of the Earth to generate electricity.

Theory

The first thing to understand about the theory of perpetual motion is that –– well, it’s theoretically impossible.

The first two laws of thermodynamics, which are fundamental principles of physics, are that energy is conserved (the total amount of it in any closed system is always constant –– it can neither be created nor be destroyed), and that energy always moves from an area of higher to one of lower concentration. There are many illustrations of this second law. Take a piece of red-hot iron and drop it into cold water. To begin with, thermal energy (heat) is concentrated strongly in the piece of red-hot iron. Drop it in the water, though, and over a fairly short
time the iron will cool while the water heats, until both are the same temperature. The energy has moved from the area of high concentration (the iron) to an area of low concentration (the water).

Work is done when energy moves, and since it always moves from an area of high to one of low concentration, we can speak of high concentrations of any kind of energy as potential energy or potential force. The universe has many areas of energy concentration, as if it were a collection of coiled springs, and all events consist of these concentrations of energy dispersing. The universe is constantly running down. Eventually –– although this is not expected to happen for a very long time –– all energy potential will be exhausted and no events can ever happen.

Perpetual motion, strictly speaking, is impossible. That said, there are some sources of power that, while not really perpetual, will last long enough that in human terms they might as well be. The sun is an obvious example. It’s not perpetual –– it will come to an end in some 4 or
5 billion years –– but as far as we’re concerned it might as well be. So the real question is not whether perpetual motion is possible (it’s not), but whether power generation on a significant scale using magnets to interact with the Earth’s magnetic field is feasible. Is this another might-as-well-be-perpetual source of power like the sun?

Reality

The reality is that magnet power is as theoretically impossible as perpetual motion. The reason for this is that a “permanent” magnet isn’t really permanent. It’s like a storage battery in that it contains energy potential that was put there by some process or other. The process could be natural or it could be man-made, but either way, every use of the magnets decreases the strength of their magnetic field until it drops to uselessness. Once that happens, the magnets can be recharged (this happens continuously with electromagnets), but only at the expense of other energy produced elsewhere. Magnets look like a source of power only because we cannot see their force working. Hold the magnet over something made of ferrous metal, and a force is generated that pulls the two towards one another. Place two magnets with their same polls close together (north to north or south to south), and they push one another apart. Since the Earth has a magnetic field of its own, this attractive and/or repulsive force could conceptually be used to drive a generator, but the energy to do so would be stored in a permanent magnet designed to do it, and that energy would have come originally from some other power source and would have to be replaced when it was gone.

Kits, Plans, And Blueprints

It’s possible to find online (on web pages and also in the form of YouTube videos) offers of kits, plans, and blueprints for the production of magnet power. Sometimes these are advertised as “perpetual motion” generators (which they aren’t, of course), and sometimes not. The usual format is for a claim to be presented, sometimes along with an assertion that the government or the power utilities are trying to  suppress the information, and an offer of specific information on how to build your own magnet generator for a price.

As already noted, there are good reasons to believe that magnet power making use of the Earth’s magnetic field will not work as a power source. This is not to say that experiments or research into proving otherwise is wasted effort. Nothing is absolutely certain and perhaps there is some principle that has been overlooked. However, it’s unlikely that someone who has discovered how to do this would make
use of it by offering the information online for a price. Instead, he would use it to generate cheap power and take the market away from producers of more expensive energy. It is therefore unlikely that any of the offers of kits, plans, and blueprints for producing magnet power are genuine and workable.