Bhaskara's perpetual-motion wheel
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
Bhaskara II (c. 1150) described a wheel with mercury in curved spokes that would turn for ever. It is among the earliest known perpetual-motion designs, later echoed in Europe. Such machines cannot work.
India first (well documented)Physics & chemistry
Indian claim
The idea of a perpetual-motion machine came from India, through Bhaskara's wheel.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Bhaskara II's Siddhanta Shiromani (c. 1150) describes a wheel with hollow spokes partly filled with mercury that would revolve by itself.
- Historian Lynn White argued that such Indian designs passed through the Islamic world to Europe.
Commonly credited to
Perpetual-motion wheels are associated in the West with Villard de Honnecourt's 13th-century sketchbook.
Evidence for the other claim
- Villard de Honnecourt drew an overbalanced wheel with weights around the 1230s.
- The route of transmission from India to Europe is not documented step by step.
- Perpetual motion is impossible: it would break the laws of thermodynamics.
What historians and scientists say
Bhaskara's wheel is among the earliest known perpetual-motion designs, and Indian priority is generally accepted, though transmission to Europe is debated. It is a historical first, not a working machine.