Perpetual motion describes "Motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy; impossible in practice because of friction." It can also be described as "the motion of a hypothetical machine which, once activated, would run forever unless subject to an external force or to wear". There is a scientific consensus that perpetual motion in an isolated system would violate the first and/or the second law of thermodynamics.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perpetual_motion&oldid=492584324

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