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Zero Point Energy Video

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:00 am
by MSimon
For your amusement.

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=34XSQYFC

About 6 minutes.

Naturally they are being suppressed. By the evil corporations.

I always liked Dr. B's approach to the idea of suppression: he said it was the way organizations operate and that there was nothing wrong with it. You just had to find a way around it.

BTW I talked some about that recently at NASA Spaceflight. How we might move forward with blue sky ideas.

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:48 pm
by Keegan
Disinformation is a powerful tool. Id really like to know how this quackery gained so much momentum. Between cold fusion and zero point i can quickly see how someone who is scientifically literate might be skeptical of the polywell solution.

Look at the number of supporters of fusion vs published scientific papers

vs

the number of supporters of zero point vs published scientific papers...... i just dont get it.

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:27 pm
by MSimon
Keegan wrote:Disinformation is a powerful tool. Id really like to know how this quackery gained so much momentum. Between cold fusion and zero point i can quickly see how someone who is scientifically literate might be skeptical of the polywell solution.

Look at the number of supporters of fusion vs published scientific papers

vs

the number of supporters of zero point vs published scientific papers...... i just dont get it.
The problem of course is that zero-point energy is a reputable concept. It is just that most people don't understand it. You can measure it. What the uninitiated don't get is that the energy involved in the measurement is multiple orders of magnitude higher than the energy produced.

Not too different from the current state of Polywell sadly. Of course one of the big differences with Polywell is that we believe energy out will increase faster than energy in as we scale up the device.

In fact if you read Richard Hull's stuff at fusor.net he does not believe it will scale. Which is probably a rational attitude.

Those of us following this and working to make it happen are on the face of the probabilities "crazy". Snake oil salesmen. If we are vindicated we will go from "crazy" to "visionaries". However, at this point there are no guarantees.

Tom's new article on Fusion in Analog is out:

http://www.fusor.net/board/view.php?bn= ... 1194495599

He says we can expect a wave of newbies.

I have been seeing a spike of traffic at my blog on fusion articles and wondered where it came from.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:03 pm
by Zixinus
Amusing side-note: the effect you can attribute zero-point energy is the Casimir (spelling?) effect. This is the effect that when you put absolute nothing between two plates, then they will attract eachother. To take advantage of the Casimir effect, you would need kilometre long plates to gain one newton of energy.

My fart has several times more energy.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:30 am
by TallDave
You know, harnessing the Casimir effect via nanotech is something I've wondered about.

Yes, you need vast surface areas to harness it, but how much volume do you need? I think I read once that dog's noses and carbon monoxide detectors both have huge (football field sized) internal surface area.

Since no one is pursuing this, though, I assume the physics are such that even with a perfect utilization of space the effect requires far too much volume to make any sense.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:40 am
by scareduck
Nobody's pursuing it because the quacks have chased out anyone with a legitimate interest. Say "ZPE" (you don't even need to spell it out!) and see how fast you get people's eyes to glaze over.

Polywell fusion isn't crackpot stuff. It at least has some theoretical foundation, although I concede a lack of publication over the last decade has made its substance much less compelling than it otherwise might have been. The ZPE crowd are all heavy on the Nostradamus and light on the physics -- to the point of nonexistence.

Work done.....

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:16 am
by Helius
Zixinus wrote:Amusing side-note: the effect you can attribute zero-point energy is the Casimir (spelling?) effect. This is the effect that when you put absolute nothing between two plates, then they will attract eachother. To take advantage of the Casimir effect, you would need kilometre long plates to gain one newton of energy.

My fart has several times more energy.
Newton is force; Work is Force * displacement; and for the Casimir effect the displacement approaches nothin'. Almost no work is done, almost no energy. Beside, what do you do then? Pull the Kilometer plates apart? How do you reset the ungainly machine that just produced almost zero energy. Zero point energy seems very aptly named.

Now Farts, OTOH are the best gases to burn; Methane produces 2 moles of H2O for every mole of C02 when combusted, making it cleaner than any other Hydrocarbon fuel. Beside, they don't stink if you burn 'em; so I'm told.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:54 am
by JohnP
If the Casimir effect is just a force, after the plates come together you have to pull them apart again. How're you going to get net energy from that?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:10 am
by MSimon
JohnP wrote:If the Casimir effect is just a force, after the plates come together you have to pull them apart again. How're you going to get net energy from that?
Questions like that have never stopped the perpetual motion machine people.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:41 am
by Zixinus
Newton is force; Work is Force * displacement; and for the Casimir effect the displacement approaches nothin'. Almost no work is done, almost no energy. Beside, what do you do then? Pull the Kilometer plates apart? How do you reset the ungainly machine that just produced almost zero energy. Zero point energy seems very aptly named.
From what I know, it takes more energy to actually induce the darn thing.
Now Farts, OTOH are the best gases to burn; Methane produces 2 moles of H2O for every mole of C02 when combusted, making it cleaner than any other Hydrocarbon fuel. Beside, they don't stink if you burn 'em; so I'm told.
My point excatly. :)
Questions like that have never stopped the perpetual motion machine people.
Common sense and proven science hasn't stopped the perpetual motion machine people.