Drinking birdquote:
Drinking birds, also known as dippy birds and dipping birds,[1] are toy heat engines that mimic the motions of a bird drinking from a fountain or other water source. It is sometimes incorrectly considered a perpetual motion device.
How it worksquote:
The drinking bird is a heat engine that exploits a temperature differential to convert heat energy to a pressure differential within the device, and perform mechanical work. Like all heat engines, the drinking bird works through a thermodynamic cycle. The initial state of the system is a bird with a wet head oriented vertically with an initial oscillation on its pivot.
The process operates as follows[2]:
1. The water evaporates from the felt on the head.
2. Evaporation lowers the temperature of the glass head (heat of vaporization).
3. The temperature's drop causes some of the dichloromethane vapor in the head to condense.
4. The lower temperature and condensation together cause the pressure to drop in the head (ideal gas law).
5. The pressure differential between the head and base causes the liquid to be pushed up from the base.
6. As liquid flows into the head, the bird becomes top heavy and tips over during its oscillations.
7. When the bird tips over, the bottom end of the neck tube rises above the surface of the liquid.
8. A bubble of vapor rises up the tube through this gap, displacing liquid as it goes.
9. Liquid flows back to the bottom bulb (the toy is so designed that when it has tipped over the neck's tilt allows this), and vapor pressure equalizes between the top and bottom bulbs
10. The weight of the liquid in the bottom bulb restores the bird to its vertical position
11. The liquid in the bottom bulb is heated by ambient air, which is at a temperature slightly higher than the temperature of the bird's head.
If a glass of water is placed so that the beak dips into it on its descent, the bird will continue to absorb water and the cycle will continue as long as there is enough water in the glass to keep the head wet. However, the bird will continue to dip even without a source of water, as long as the head is wet, or as long as a temperature differential is maintained between the head and body. This differential can be generated without evaporative cooling in the head—for instance, a heat source directed at the bottom bulb will create a pressure differential between top and bottom that will drive the engine. The ultimate source of energy is the temperature gradient between the toy and the surrounding environment—the toy is not a perpetual motion machine.
A recent analysis [3] showed that the evaporative heat flux driving a small bird was about 0.5 W, whereas the mechanical power expressed in its motion was about 50 microwatts, or a total system efficiency of about 0.01%. More practically, about 1 microwatt can be extracted from the bird, either with a coil/magnet or a ratchet used to winch paperclips.
Zie ook:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_enginehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThermodynamicsSinds gister heb ik zelf ook een drinkvogel, precies die zoals in de OP, en ik heb hem gister laten drinken en hij is nog steeds bezig

Houd hij ooit wel op?!

Vertel hier in dit topic hoe lang jij al drinkvogels hebt, wat je aantrok om er een te nemen, wat je met ze doet en natuurlijk waarom je fan van ze bent!
Ikzelf vind dat bejaarden niet meer achter de geraniums moeten zitten, maar achter de drinkvogels want die bewegen tenminste nog! Zo gaan ze iets blijer dood uiteindelijk.