Infinite supply? If scientists are able to create energy from nothing, then we wouldn't have to rely on chemical forms of energy.

Even if you didn't make it past high school physics, you are probably familiar with this basic law: "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form." But it's not everyone that believes high school textbooks. In fact, as far back as 1150, the Indian mathematician and astronomer Bhaskara was already thinking outside the box and envisioned a perpetual motion machine consisting of a wheel that could turn forever. The idea is, of course, very appealing: no more reliance on oil or batteries for power. In fact, the world would probably be a very different, and idyllic, place.

But is the notion of free energy possible?

A few weeks ago, an Irish company called Steorn took out a full-page ad in The Economist, announcing that they were looking for scientists to test a new technology they have developed that can create energy from magnetic fields. They received responses from over 3000 scientists and are soon to choose 12 of the respondents to rigorously test their creation.

Full details of the technology have not been released publicly. But the basic concept involves a combination of fixed and moving magnets. Four magnets placed on a wheel are aligned in such a way that there is maximum tension between their fields, and one magnet is fixed to a point opposite them. A motor rotates the wheel, and so the magnets exert a force on each other. When the inventors hooked their contraption up to a computer to take measurements, they found that there was much more energy coming out of the system than going in. Measurements showed varying figures, most of which showed an output of about 300%.

The breakthrough they are claiming is not the contraption itself, but the placement of the magnets. They are proposing that this very precise positioning is the solution to the world's energy problems and could provide unlimited power to mobile phones, computers, cars... even power plants and water pumping stations.