over-unity
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.21 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Free-energy; supposedly capable of perpetual motion
Example Sentences
- "Look for the "over-unity" ratio when calculating energy output versus input as a proof of free energy."
- "The system behaves as an over-unity device producing energy from atomic hydrogen by a repeated dissociation and recombination of hydrogen atoms. MAHG tube contains a vacuum tube filled with hydrogen at 0.1 atm and cooled by water."
- ""The Potapov device," the experimenters reported ruefully, "did not show any evidence of over-unity performance in our tests. We can find no explanation for the failure of this Potapov device to perform as reported (300% over-unity).""
Etymology
From over- + unity (“the number "1"”), referring to the fact that an over-unity device should produce more kinetic energy than whatever potential it receives as input. Coined to avoid patent rules that prevent impossible technologies such as perpetual motion machines being patented.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: over