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Perpetual Motion From Negative Mass? episode artwork

Oct 30, 2026 19 min

Perpetual Motion From Negative Mass?

from PBS Space Time Hosted by PBS

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE↓ More info below ↓Uploaded 30-01-19Check out the new Space Time Merch Store!https://pbsspacetime.com/Support Space Time on Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetimeEmail your answers to: [email protected] the subject heading: Negative Mass Challenge QuestionChallenge question: if 1kg of apples is $5 and 2kg is $10, how much is -1kg of apples? The answer? Priceless. Because you could use negative-mass apples to build warp drives, travel in time, and construct a perpetual motion machine. In fact that last one will be today’s actual challenge question.Tweet at us! @pbsspacetimeFacebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetimeEmail us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] comComment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetimeHelp translate our videos!https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_csPrevious Episode: Why String Theory Is Wronghttps://youtu.be/IhpGdumLRqsHosted by Matt O'DowdWritten by Matt O'DowdGraphics by Luke MaroldiDirecting by Andrew KornhaberExotic matter – matter with negative mass - has long been the pipedream of science fiction writers, futurists, and certain rather. . . optimistic researchers. It’s the key to faster than light travel because it’s the only stuff that can curve space in the right way to hold open wormholes and construct warp fields. And if you can travel faster than light you can also travel backwards in time. We’ve been over those already. And we also recently covered a very new use for negative mass: as “dark fluid”, a proposed explanation for both dark matter and dark energy. That episode really got me thinking about the subtleties of negative mass and how it should really behave gravitationally.

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Perpetual Motion From Negative Mass?

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