Replies

With the abundance of hydrogen in the universe, one would think we would have seen these hydrinos in the wild... but alas, we have not.

Bingo.

Article claims this "new, more stable form of Hydrogen", but fails to give us any chemical description thereof, and the universe fails to produce it despite its propensity to seek lowest-energy-levels of pretty much everything. A quick search turns up descriptions of it, claiming hydrogen atoms "shrink" when banged against other atoms and transfer energy. Between the simplicity of the alleged process vs. the universe's lack of "hydrinos" one must conclude the theory is flawed on its face. Descriptions also follow the exciting results with a series of caveats which gloss over the math not adding up; if it does happen, there's not enough to cover the energy cost of splitting water in the first place (a required first step) in hopes that a rare "hydrino" may occur.

And with that...

Let's review the Three Laws Of Thermodynamics:
1. You can't win (and this guy is claiming a "win").
2. You can't break even (perpetual motion doesn't happen).
3. You can't get out of the game (can't isolate a system 100%)

To me, there is the law of business. Something can not exist in the consumer market that does not have an application in the commercial market. Home generating units? Right.. Consumers are more gullible and likely don't have teams of very competent attorneys on call.

Order of targets:

US government: The range of applications is enormous, and it's hard to find a more ‘cash rich’ customer. Even if the maximum scale was 1.5kw - if it required minimum servicing, 20 of them in McMurdo would power the whole center there. Or even just powering our embassies around the world - dedicating the space for that goal wouldn't be that difficult, and it'd be a great showcase for American technology.

Large retailers: There are likely few retailers out there who wouldn't want to have a ‘green’ store to show off to the public. Since you'll eventually need retail channels to mass market your product, an early partnership with a retailer to power their stores would not only give a showcase for your product, but also add a valuable stream of hard cash to produce the units.

Fortune 500: Amazon, Facebook and Apple are spending massive amounts of cash to make their datacenters be ‘carbon neutral’ as possible. Easy sales for a green energy source, as many a company can already attest. Another stream of cold hard cash.

Small business: Give up half a stockroom to get rid of that monthly electric bill? Plus have something to show off to consumers about how my business cares? Sign me up.

But instead, the supposed ‘next target’ is home use.

This, from a company that initially said that the technology would deliver 750 miles of driving on a liter of water. Con men driving...

And let’s add “Law 0” of Thermo:

“The universe is a game and you have to play.”

Laws 0 and 3 are where we straight, white male engineers oppress the caring, loving, “out of the box” thinkers who are supposedly unconstrained by “classical physics” into our oppressive worldview.

Laws 1 and 2 are where we tell people that, no, unicorn farts and Smurfberries won’t make our need for coal go away tomorrow.