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[[image:DennisLeeMachine.jpg|Dennis Lee, Inventor and Free-Energy-machines merchant with an alleged generator|thumb]]
[[image:DennisLeeMachine.jpg|Dennis Lee, Inventor and Free-Energy-machines merchant with an alleged generator|thumb]]
The term '''free energy''' is used in several ways. It is a well defined concept in thermodynamics, which will only be short explained below. Of more interest here is the ''theft'' of this term by charlatans to obscure their unfounded claims about what amounts to a perpetuum mobile (PM).
The idea of a PM is a very old concept and is one of the oldest and most persistent scams in history. Web wisdom has it, that science rejects this concept stating in the 13th century. Paris University seems to have decided in 1775 to no longer investigate such claims. In most countries, a PM can only be patented upon presentation of a functioning prototype, which is not possible. Claims by alleged inventors their PM cannot be patanted as an excuse to the secrecy they employ are thus unfounded. Several museums worldwide sport fake PMs, eg the ''Deutsche Museum'' Munich. So, even upon presentation of a prototype, a thorough investigation would be neccessary.
Nevertheless, several inventors managed to make a decent living from such machines. An early example is the american inventor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ernst_Worrell_Keely John Keely], who started collecting substantial amounts of money in the 1870s. Until his death 1898, he lived from investments in his inventions, which he demonstrated, but never had independently examined and he never produced a prototype- a striking parallel to all modern PM inventors.
==Free Energy in scientific physics==
==Free Energy in scientific physics==
==Business models and fraud==
==Business models and fraud==
In the past, several attempts to market free energy investment methods mostly with fraudulent intent were promoted in German-speaking countries alone. An overview can be found here: [[Free-Energy-Business-models]].
In the past, several attempts to market free energy investment methods with fraudulent intent were promoted. An overview can be found here: [[Free-Energy-Business-models]]. Whereas not all these frauds refer to the term ''free energy'', they share the unfounded claims and the ultimate failure.
{{OtherLang|ge=Freie Energie|en=Free Energy}}
{{OtherLang|ge=Freie Energie|en=Free Energy}}