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Re: Sci. Am. Frontiers



Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 21:08:28 -0800 (PST)
Reply-to: phys-l@mailer.uwf.edu
From: William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>
To: list physics teaching <PHYS-L@atlantis.uwf.edu>
Subject: Sci. Am. Frontiers

Tonight the topic of the PBS SciAm Frontiers episode was
fringe science, including dowsing, graphology, alien
autopsy, theraputic touch, and (my favorite!), zero-point
energy machines.

As a counterpoint to the researchers in the ZPE machines
segment, they had Dr. Weinberg state that the ZPE, the
vacuum's sea of virtual particles, could be of no use
because it has a very low value for energy density, similar
to the energy in a gal. of gasoline distributed across a
volume the size of planet Earth. He pointed out that if it
were large, its mass would interfere with modern
cosmological theories.

Now I'm very confused. Is this low value for ZPE part of
normal physics? I was under the impression that various
theories predict different values for the energy density of
the virtual particle sea, but all on the order of the energy
density of the nucleus (or much more.) This is old Feynman
stuff from decades ago, no? It has always been my
understanding that conventional, conservative scientists
agree that "free energy devices" are ridiculous NOT because
the ZPE density is low, but because there is no easy way to
make macroscopic use of the ZPE (other than by things like
Casmir effect on parallel conductive plates.)

Now here's the Scientific American debunking the search for
ZPE-tapping devices by implying that physicists believe the
energy contained in the vacuum to be uselessly small. If
this is not a majority opinion in physics, then it sounds to
me like SciAm is itself adopting one "crackpot" viewpoint in
order to debunk another. No fair!


......................uuuu / oo \
uuuu........,............................. William Beaty
voice:206-781-3320 bbs:206-789-0775 cserv:71241,3623
EE/Programmer/Science exhibit designer
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/ Seattle, WA 98117
billb@eskimo.com SCIENCE HOBBYIST web page


These discussions always confuse me, but I think I have a
handle on some of this. It's "zero-point" energy. The
energy to be expected when the system is in its lowest
energy state. It therefore seems unlikely that we will be
able to make this energy flow into any of our "devices"
which are certainly warmer than absolute zero!

Barlow Newbolt
Department of Physics and Engineering
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
Telephone and Phone Mail: 540-463-8881
Fax: 540-463-8884
e-mail: NewboltW@madison.acad.wlu.edu

"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."

Neils Bohr