Re: zero point energy

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Robert Cohen wrote:

> A COLD stone house on a windswept Irish hillside may seem an unlikely
> setting for the birthplace of such an epoch-making discovery, but it is here
> that an Irish inventor says he has developed a machine that could change the
> world.

This is a common event in the Fringe Science arena.  Only a few of these
types of announcements make the papers.

Their inventors get stuck in a trap:  they dare not tell anyone how it
works, otherwise their idea will be stolen.  But no sane investor would
put significant money into such a device unless solid information was
available.  But the patent office rejects these "energy machine" patents,
so the inventor cannot protect the discovery except through secrecy.  And
finally, since the inventor is keeping it secret, all its flaws are secret
as well.  Constructive criticism is impossible, so nobody will ever
puncture the inventor's delusions (or verify that they've discovered
something real.)  It's all part of the "Inventor's syndrome."  Where any
other inventions are concerned, the ability to patent the discovery can
short-circuit this catch-22.

Most such inventions are self-delusions and are not intentional scams.
One typical mistake is even mentioned in the article:  seeing the voltage
across the battery terminal rise over time, then wrongly concluding that
some unexplained energy has entered the battery.  No, it could be that the
pulses of current have dislodged H2 bubbles, or disrupted an insulating
sulfate layer, etc.  To make certain, just replace your lead/acid
batteries with some large-value capacitors.


> "I don't believe this. It goes against fundamentals which have not yet been
> disproved," said William Beattie, senior lecturer in electrical engineering
> at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

No relation to yours truely!  ;)


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