Perpetual Motion Machine: The real-life version of M.C.Escher's Waterfall

Step 10 5.4 Bottom surface of the water streams

The PVC pipes were cut into suitable heights and glued on the base plate. They were used to support the bottom surface of the water stream. Since the water try to find its own level, the height of the pipes should gradually lowered down and make sure they were tilted in same direction.

The figure shows the effect after pasting all the supporting columns.

Cut the ABS plastic plate into suitable shapes and paste them between the walls of two flumes. For easy fabrication purpose, the bottom surface of the water is not as a whole. A separate ABS plate was used as the bottom of water surface for each flume. Note the seam in the middle portion of the figure; it will be blocked by the column in front if seen from the observation point. The concept of cheating in the observation point is used for the whole project.

Since the surface of the ABS plastic plate is very smooth, when the water flows over, the water surface won’t be flat, instead, it will converge into water streams. In order to achieve the original effect, polishing processing of the plate is necessary. In the left side of the figure, we can observe the polished effect of the plate.