Building a Perpetual Energy Machine/Abd

Zachary has left out some steps. Given his idea, what steps or necessary parts did he leave out? Is anything missing from the description of the generator? I'll leave this for others to explore.

The idea is presented that a spinning object, somehow suspended frictionlessly in a vacuum, will continue to spin indefinitely. Is that true? Under what conditions would it be true?

When it would be true

The rotation will continue indefinitely as long as there is no interaction between the object and anything not connected to it. If the vacuum is not perfect, generally, this will create a (probably small) interaction between the object, a force opposing the rotation. Other kinds of interactions can also slow the object. But if there is no interaction, no force acting on the spinning object, yes, it will continue to spin until there is a force altering the motion, or, effectively, forever.

Now, suppose the object is a magnet. Magnets interact with certain other kinds of objects, and they will do this with no physical contact, through a perfect vacuum, even. But suppose that the box is made of a material that isn't attracted to a magnet (or, same thing, that doesn't attract the magnet)? With no other consideration, the magnet would still continue to spin.

But is there something in the device described which will slow the magnet?

Abd's answer

A coil is placed in relationship to the rotating magnet so that the magnetic field lines cut across it as the magnet rotates. If the coil is open, there will be no current in it, and the coil will have no effect on the magnet. However, if a circuit is established, say by connecting a light bulb, the magnet's movement will cause a current to be induced in the coil, flowing through the whole circuit. Current flowing in a coil will produce a magnetic field, this is an electromagnet. The nature of that field will be such that it will oppose the magnetic field of the magnet, exerting a force on the magnet. This is called "back electromotive force, or "back EMF." If current flows, this will slow the magnet. The coil, when a circuit is formed, will extract energy from the rotating magnet, slowing it according to how much energy has been extracted. Now, what if we arrange set up some coils so that current flowing through them, with the right timing, will cause the magnet to speed up? Could we run the current from the first coil through another coil or coils so that the effect of slowing from the generation of the current will be cancelled out or even more than cancelled out by the effect of speeding up?