All the modern patent has to do is look plausible. It doesn't has to have been reduced to practice, or be practical, or work, or even obey the laws of physics.

All the modern patent has to do is look plausible. It doesn't has to have been reduced to practice, or be practical, or work, or even obey the laws of physics. (Though they will catch baldly impossible things like perpetual motion.) It just has to be novel, and have the right paperwork.