Why has a heavy-duty clockwork motor never been developed?

In theory, you could scale clockwork mechanisms up to power much larger machinery, but you'd be missing the point.


Asked by: Anthony Burns

In theory, you could scale clockwork mechanisms up to power cars or factory machinery. But in reality, it would be pointless. Clockwork is not energy for nothing: a clockwork washing machine, for instance, would need to be wound up by some kind of motor, and that would defeat the object. Small clockwork devices like watches or even radios have an easily accessible source of energy to draw on - us.

Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts.