Algodoo

This is certainly very strange, but I'm sure there has to be a logical reason why this is happening (I just can't explain it right now!).

I'm going to devote some time to figuring out this one, and unless someone else beats me to it, I'll give you an answer as soon as I do.

The power to accelerate the circles must be coming from SOMETHING!

UPDATE: Here's what I've figured out so far (no, I did not solve the puzzle, I just figured out a few things about this scene):
1. The circle's angular velocities appear to be feeding off of each other. What I mean by that is, because they are mechanically tied together, when one speeds up slightly, the velocity of another one of course also speeds up, but it's almost like it's in a feedback loop. In other words, it's operating like a perpetual motion mechanism!

2. I noticed that the axles on the ends of the three bars are attached right on the very edge of the bars at exactly the half-way point of each axle. I'm not sure if that is causing this strange behavior, but if I move the axles just a tiny amount further onto each bar, then the system no longer accelerates. Placement of the axles appears to be very critical to making this odd thing happen.

3. As an experiment, I removed the center circle. The remaining two circles still accelerate, but at a much lower rate.

4. If I turn off gravity and air friction, the acceleration occurs at a faster rate, and the circles speed up and slow down rather chaotically.

5. This part is really strange. I found that I could not only delete the center circle, but I could delete all three bars and connecting axles. I then move the edges of the remaining two circles together so that they are just slightly touching each other. I give them a spin, and they ACCELERATE! The acceleration rate is very small, but the fact remains that they do accelerate. So, with no power input to the system, and they are obviously accelerating, I've reached the conclusion that this is a BUG in Algodoo. It just should not happen. I would like to hear someone else's explanation if different from mine.

I also noticed that the axles stretch if you watch closely, and I know that axles try to return to their original position, so maybe its like some sort of "hinge constant" engine, it's just a theory.

Sorry, not been able to reply due to networking issues, should be fixed within the next 3 weeks, I hope...

But, I think the issue is caused by your rods, open the visulasation winodow (the toolbar on the right of the screen, botton icon), and select view forces, and also select to see total forces.

I believe that the hinges are somewhat out of place, causing random stress on the axels, causing weird forces as it tries to snap back into position. I think that these stresses somehow manage to cause what is shown as the total force, which as you may have noticed, manages to throw it around in a circle.

@electronicboy - That makes a lot of sence, and is probably the best answer to this weird problem!

lol

wtc c=chicken