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I'm sure it can spin a bit faster. Why can't it spin so fast that the final wheel visibly turns? Well the first wheels would melt from friction or be torn apart before then, and where are you going to get that much energy to turn them so fast? At some point there's the speed of light as a limit as well.


There are 10^80 electrons in the universe, Eddington thinks.

Even if you managed to make a contraption that turned one electron into one rotation of the first wheel, and you fed the entire universe to your contraption... you’re coming up a few dozens order of magnitude short to make that full turn :^)


What's 80 orders of magnitude between friends?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-electron_universe


That's what I already said

> where are you going to get that much energy to turn them so fast?


I guess you just have to make a machine that manages two turns per electron.

(I know you did - but any chance to introduce Eddington’s number is fun)


> I guess you just have to make a machine that manages two turns per electron.

But that just isn't going to be tractable.


> At some point there's the speed of light as a limit as well.

Why not put it in a dark room before starting up


The speed of light as a limit applies to matter like these cogs as well.




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