³³If this were not true, one could construct an over-unity (“perpetual motion”) machine by initiating an endothermic reaction and then reversing that reaction (exothermic) using a catalyst in either or both portions of the cycle to reap a net energy release from the system. So trustworthy is the Law of Energy Conservation that we may safely invoke the impossibility of over-unity energy production as a disproof of any given hypothesis permitting it. In other words, if any hypothesis allows for an over-unity process (i.e. violates the Law of Energy Conservation), we may reject that hypothesis with confidence! This form of disproof goes by the name reductio ad absurdum (Latin: “reducing to an absurdity”).