Talk-Polywell.org

http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/08/rowan- ... rther.html

Discuss...

WTF?????????????????????????????????????

If we next heard from Martin, then we'd have a Laugh-In.

In another case, like EEStor, where the performance seems to outstrip what is possible from conventional theory, Rowan University says they have independently verified the claims of excess heat made by BlackLight Power. They say any university could duplicate the results from what has been published. Could it be that there are still things left to be discovered?

http://www.blacklightpower.com/Press%20 ... 081209.htm

Edit added.
I’ve wondered why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the sun (possibly Alfvén waves explain some of it.) I wouldn’t miss the spooky actions at a distance from quantum theory.

I'm no chemist, but it looks like there is a complete recipe in here

http://www.blacklightpower.com/pdf/Rowa ... rt2009.pdf

and here

http://www.blacklightpower.com/pdf/Rowa ... Report.pdf

to replicate the Rowan validation of BLP claims. They even include sourcing for all the chemicals and process maps for the "fuel" preparation.

Since the BLP topic is largely toxic at major research universities, I would expect that replication attemps will start elsewhere in academia and (if successful) be undertaken only gradually at the more prestigious schools. Perhaps a few may undertake this to discredit BLP.

Fun to watch...

Anyone know anything about the credibility of Rowan University?

cybrbeast wrote:Anyone know anything about the credibility of Rowan University?

Universities don't review the scientific work of their employees (except when they hire them I guess). The University of Utah is a good enough school, but that's where the Cold Fusion guys came from.

This needs peer review and further attempts at replication by others.

I note the game has changed. It used to be that critics said. “Give us one independent experiment to validate BLP’s claim.” Now that the excess energy of >30 kWhrs found is really beyond experimental error, the question has turned to the theory.

While the consensus crowd loudly ridicules BLP’s theories, I haven’t seen one alternative theory proposed yet.

kmkramer wrote:

cybrbeast wrote:Anyone know anything about the credibility of Rowan University?

Universities don't review the scientific work of their employees (except when they hire them I guess). The University of Utah is a good enough school, but that's where the Cold Fusion guys came from.

This needs peer review and further attempts at replication by others.

Actually, it was the university that forced the press conference. The researchers wanted to wait and get confirmation before a public release and really didn't want a big public display. The university overrode their judgement and called the big press conference.

pfrit wrote:Actually, it was the university that forced the press conference. The researchers wanted to wait and get confirmation before a public release and really didn't want a big public display. The university overrode their judgement and called the big press conference.

I didn't realize that, but that doesn't really surprise me.

kmkramer wrote:

pfrit wrote:Actually, it was the university that forced the press conference. The researchers wanted to wait and get confirmation before a public release and really didn't want a big public display. The university overrode their judgement and called the big press conference.

I didn't realize that, but that doesn't really surprise me.

According to some generally reliable sourses (SRI International for instance) there is actually SOMETHING happening with the P&F set-up. Repeated experiments have replicated and taken the effect beyond P&F's work. But still no theory.

The problem with the press conference is that it lead to political interest which is deadly to real science. All the negative reply came from folks with political clout (governmental and scientific societal) saying things along the line of "We don't know about that so it can't happen." Argument from authority, not data; the prime characteristic of politics.

I believe Rowan has been working closely with BLP for some time.

As I've said before, I suspect they have a moderately novel chemical reaction here. I very much doubt they have created fractional electron states, as they claim.

Mills' theory is crazy, and the sensible portions of his published work were largely plagiarized. Lunacy on its own can sometimes be genius, but lunacy + dishonesty rarely bodes well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklight_Power

parallel wrote:I note the game has changed. It used to be that critics said. “Give us one independent experiment to validate BLP’s claim.” Now that the excess energy of >30 kWhrs found is really beyond experimental error, the question has turned to the theory.

While the consensus crowd loudly ridicules BLP’s theories, I haven’t seen one alternative theory proposed yet.

Just because we don't know how it works doesn't mean we can't rule out Mills' theories. I don't know how David Copperfield made that 747 disappear, but I think I can rule out a magic incantation as the cause.

I think Norman Dombey has a concise refutation:

Hydrino states would need non-relativistic counterparts to remain physical, but they don't have them.

Hydrino states would need to be incompatible with a coupling strength (fine structure constant) equal to zero to remain physical, yet "hydrino states" seem to exist in the absence of any coupling strength.

Hydrino states would need to have binding strength that falls with the coupling strength. The hydrino model predicts that binding strength for hydrino states increases as the coupling strength falls, rendering the states unphysical.

To be fair, this does not rule out BLP as a viable power source. As late as the 1990s we still didn't know how aspirin works, but it obviously had practical applications anwyay.

TallDave wrote:I believe Rowan has been working closely with BLP for some time.

As I've said before, I suspect they have a moderately novel chemical reaction here. I very much doubt they have created fractional electron states, as they claim.

Mills' theory is crazy, and the sensible portions of his published work were largely plagiarized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklight_Power

I agree. I'm no physicist. But try as I might, I can't wrap my head around fractional quantum states. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I guess I will have to see a working generator before I'm convinced. You do know that these guys claimed last year to have a working generator sometime this fall.

kurt9 wrote:I agree. I'm no physicist. But try as I might, I can't wrap my head around fractional quantum states. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I guess I will have to see a working generator before I'm convinced. You do know that these guys claimed last year to have a working generator sometime this fall.

A generator still won't prove the theory, but it would be very interesting and perhaps very useful. The theory appears to be wrong as currently formulated; if they are getting more energy out it is not for the reasons they think.

It wouldn't be the first time. Phlogiston theory was useful for a while too, even though it turned out to be wrong.