The Theory of Perpetual Motion

1. The Theory of Perpetual Motion Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) Reference: The Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher, Jafar As-Sadiq

2. Everything is in motion • Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) has said that everything in the Universe, including inanimate objects, is always in motion although we may not see it. • This theory was unacceptable in his time. • However, today this theory is a scientific fact. • Every object in the Universe is in motion. • Motion is the essence of being. If there is no motion, there is no existence.

3. Two kinds of motion • There are two kinds of motion in every object – motion inside the atoms and perpetual vibration within the molecules. • The molecules vibrate from zero to ten trillion times per second according to the degree of temperature. • In 1738, Swiss physicist and mathematician Daniel Bernoulli published Hydrodynamica, which laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases. In this work, Bernoulli argued that gases consist of great numbers of molecules moving in all directions, that their impact on a surface causes the gas pressure that we feel, and that what we experience as heat is simply the kinetic energy of their motion.

4. Matter cannot be destroyed • Imam Sadiq (as) also said that it seems to us that when a person dies, his actions and movements come to an end. However, this is not the case. • The matter will be converted into energy. • Even the smallest particles of the human body are converted from matter into energy and they will continue to move in the form of energy till the end of time. • The physicist says, that it is impossible to destroy the energy. There is no such action with which energy is lost. • Matter can be converted to energy while energy can be converted into matter. In essence there is only driving factor behind the two ‘appearances’: Motion.

5. Time is nothing but motion • Imam Sadiq also said that we feel the passing of time because of our internal movement. • Similarly our sense of space is due to this movement. Without it we cannot feel the passage of time and have a sense of space. • Scientists today realise that time is nothing but motion. All is motion, the things have a different amount of motion, so some actions are very fast and some less. • There is no absolute time. Everything is relative.

6. Einstein’s relativity theory consistent with our Imam’s theory • Everything is in motion. As you sit in the Imambargah, you are actually in motion around the center of the Earth because of the rapid rotation of the Earth on its axis. • The Earth is in motion around the Sun, the Sun is in orbit around the center of our Galaxy, the Galaxy is moving toward a large group of galaxies, etc. • When you say something has a velocity, you are measuring its change of position relative to some reference point which may itself be in motion. All motion is relative to a chosen frame of reference. That is what the word ``relativity'' means in Einstein's Relativity theories.