Free energy?

[Biff]

Has mankind finally managed to harness some of the universes 'free' energy sources, or even managed to prove the existence of 'zero-point' energy?

Independent scientists are currently evaluating the inventor's claims (although the inventor of the 'Orbo' the device which appears to harness the free energy admits he doesn't know how it works), as the laws of energy state that energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Religious and scientific dogma alert:

http://www.steorn.com/

Or it may all be utter bollox of course.

[Animal]

Hmmm... interesting. Some bold claims there. We'll have to wait and see if he's onto something or just full of crap.

[Steam]

Hey, I'm not making any judgements here, just saying this hoaxter loony fraudster is off his rocker. In a nice, friendly way, however.
Aside from having NEVER been shown to work in public, I note it has met some of the seven criteria for identifying voodoo science...

1) A discovery is pitched directly to the media.
The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny o f other scientists. While there is no rigid set of rules, it is generally expected that the initial exposure of new work will be at a scientific conference or in a scholarly journal. Thus, by the time the general public learns of a discovery, a limited body of expert opinion concerning its validity and importance should already exist. An attempt to bypass the scientific community by taking a new finding directly to the media, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.

2) A powerful "establishment" is said to be suppressing the discovery.
Revolutionary discoveries that might shift the balance of wealth and influence in society are said to be threatening to powerful establishment interests. The establishment will presumably stop at nothing to suppress such discoveries. The "scientific establishment" is often pictured as a part of a larger conspiracy that includes industry and government.

4) Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.
The most important discovery in modern medicine was not vaccines or antibiotics, it is the randomized double-blind-test, by means of which we know what works and what doesn't. If medical science has learned anything in the past one-hundred years, it is to distrust anecdotal evidence. Anecdotes have a very strong emotional impact. Indeed, in an age of science, it is anecdotes that keep superstitious beliefs alive.

6) An important discovery is made in isolation.
Most scientific advances draw heavily on research by a number of scientists or groups working in related areas. Successful innovators tend to be actively involved in the open exchange of scientific ideas and results, presenting their work at scientific conferences and publishing in mainstream scholarly journals. The image of a lone genius working in secrecy in an attic laboratory who makes a revolutionary breakthrough, is a staple of Hollywood horror films, but its hard to find examples in real life. There are frequent claims by lone inventors to have made such breakthroughs, but the claims rarely if ever stand up.

7) New laws of nature are proposed to explain an incredible observation.
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. They also demand some explanation of how they can be reconciled with the same natural laws that govern everyth ing else. If existing laws of nature must be changed, or new laws must be proposed, the observation is almost certainly wrong.

[Hitcher]

Smells like the "developers" are planning to separate suckers from their money. I suspect their "breakthrough" may be frighteningly effective at that.

[xwhatsit]

Oh good lord, you haven't been reading about the Orbo, have you?

The things a laughing matter amongst the Compsci lot in particular. Ever notice the fact it seems to completely disobey the first law of thermodynamics?

Here's a tip the next time something pops up calling itself `Free Energy' or `Zero Point Energy' -- those are just fancy words for Perpetual Motion. As soon as you call it perpetual motion you realise what a crackpot load of crap it is; we all know perpetual motion is something solidly debunked and is completely impossible because of thermodynamics.

[sels1]

Note ....it is an Irish company....

[SPman]

It must be good when they can't even get their demo to work......

Energy! Free! - does not compute!

[ManDownUnder]

Boad of lollox...

Coz If I was able to re-write the laws of physics I'd be a very rich boy.... stinking rich...

...but I am not rich... just in need of a shower.

[Biff]

Here's a tip the next time something pops up calling itself `Free Energy' or `Zero Point Energy' -- those are just fancy words for Perpetual Motion

??????. Perpetual motion is considered as a mechanism by which zero point energy can be 'generated' into a useful form, while zero point energy itself is the term given to the inherent energy within any system (often refereed to as the stationary state), as described by Max Planck, he of quantum physics fame. It's also a potential candidate for the enormous energy allegedly apparent in dark matter.

We humans like poo pooing ideas if they so much as belch in the face of scientific principles and 'rules', especially age old scientific principles (like your third law of thermodynamics) derived by some clever sort a few hundred years ago. I hope we will don't do this in a thousand years time, else we'll never gain a real understanding about what's really going down there, a the quantum level, and everywhere else there has ever been, or will be, or not...depending on your religion.

And I fart in the face of your thermodynamics - because either or both of the first rules of thermodynamics state it's not possible for a perpetual motion machinamathingy to work anyway. And we know for a fact that there are plenty of perpetual motion mathingie machines around today, as there has been for hundreds of years..

[Coyote]

I've been reading what their site has to say.

So far I know it produces clean, free energy and we will all hear the scientists confirming it works end of this year.... right, so what colour is it?

[ManDownUnder]

I've been reading what their site has to say.

So far I know it produces clean, free energy and we will all hear the scientists confirming it works end of this year.... right, so what colour is it?

Green (backs)... they gave themselves till the end of the year to collect cash from saps... and when it doesn't work out they disappear...

[Edbear]

And we know for a fact that there are plenty of perpetual motion mathingie machines around today, as there has been for hundreds of years..

We do?

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

.... right, so what colour is it?

and does is it come in any other colour as well.

[avgas]

A magnets energy is only as good as the movement through the flux.
no movement - equal and opposite forces.
If this is the guy who had a magnetic orb "Pulsing as water ran through it" fantastic concept - u just need alot of water to power a city.
On the flip side of the coin, if the energy is free and easily obtained what is stopping what happend when russia got a good dose of free energy.

[steved]

We do?

I look forward to buying mine too Biff.