Mark Gibbs on E-Cat

National Review Online ^ | October 18, 2011 2:24 P.M. | Reihan Salam

[Kevmo]

Mark Gibbs on E-Cat
October 18, 2011 2:24 P.M.
By Reihan Salam
At Network World, Mark Gibbs has a column on E-Cat, a low-energy nuclear reaction technology developed by the Italian inventor Andrea Rossi. It sounds, and most likely is, too good to be true. Gibbs projects what might unfold if E-Cat works as promised:
Let’s assume Rossi’s E-Cat works. What then?
From the demonstrated prototypes it appears that you could build E-Cats small enough to power a car or a house. Bundle a lot of them together and you could power a truck, a ship or an office block. Imagine a data center where each row of racks has its own really cheap power generator.

Now you have a world where oil only matters as a raw product for things like plastics so the oil economy as we know it could be dismantled within a few months. Production costs for anything would fall. The power grid would become obsolete. Power stations of all kinds would no longer be an environmental problem. The balance of economic power worldwide would change and, for example, OPEC would become a historical footnote.

The only risk, assuming that the E-Cat doesn’t become horribly radioactive after extended operation or produce some other kind of hazardous byproduct, could be global thermal pollution from so many power generators (if they are very cheap and not dangerous then niceties such as minimizing waste heat would be ignored).

We could see a world where ubiquitous power generation is so cheap it wouldn’t be worth metering (as a consequence, Rossi would become the wealthiest man in the world, assuming that all of the vested interests in the existing oil and power economies didn’t have him bumped off). [Emphasis added]
A public demonstration in Bologna is scheduled for the 28th of October.

As a thought experiment, it’s worth thinking through what might happen to the wold if “production costs for anything” were to markedly decrease. Might labor-intensive manufacturing in emerging economies take a hit? And if so, will this contribute to large-scale political unrest? Moreover, resource extraction is not just important to OPEC: Norway, Australia, Canada, and the United States, among many other countries, might see a pronounced internal shift of economic and political power. It’s all very intriguing.
This can’t be serious.

[Kevmo]

The pictures at your link make it look like the Oct. 6th test took place inside a house, not a university lab.
***That’s all you can come up with? Have you ever even stepped foot in a university lab?

Thanks for mooning the thread.

[Kevmo]

Magnesium coil
***Covered already in section 10.8

As usual, you have contributed nothing worthwhile, seagull.

[Kevmo]

Whatever, dude. Your last suggestion was already covered, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find that this one has already been done as well.

[Kevmo]

The thing used to fake this result may be consumed almost entirely and remain undetected after the test.

***In other words, something chemical. All known chemical reactions have been accounted for.

[Moonman62]

Labs either have raised floors or some type of sheet flooring that is easy to clean. They would not have large grout lines laid in a decorative pattern. Heating and cooling would be done via ducts. Rossi’s test looks like it was in somebody’s house.

[Kevmo]

a big giant So What on that one.

Your comments are ridiculous.

[Moonman62]

***In other words, something chemical. All known chemical reactions have been accounted for.

How so? You said the demos weren't scientific.

[dila813]

And it can be faked using this, not covered......

You are one of the old farts plying to sidewalk begging for coin talking about once upon a time a man created a machine that made gold ... he got assassinated.

Kevmo, you are going to believe this guy even when he is put in prison.

[dila813]

So you don’t think it should be checked before the experiment, if I was the customer I would demand it.

I would call BS, nothing is ruled out till it is checked.

Why only check after the experiment? What are you afraid of?

[Kevmo]

Ask a scientist, a fomer skeptic. Because you are obviously no scientist.

http://coldfusion3.com/blog/giuseppe-levi-goes-on-record-to-discuss-e-cat

Giuseppe Levi goes on Record to Discuss E-cat
August 25, 2011

A respected Italian physicist has gone on record to defend Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi’s e-cat. Giuseppe Levi, a professor at the University of Bologna and a colleague of Sergio Focardi sat down for a long video interview with Steven B Krivit of New Energy Times in June. The video was only made available at the New Energy Times website on August 14.

Levi spoke English and he is very easy to understand and entertaining. He gave some good points to Krivit who did not appear to talk much. Levi is an expert on nuclear physics, energy physics and sub nuclear physics who has worked on satellites and other projects in the past.

Levi’s main points were:

• He has worked with Focardi on other projects and respects him.

• Levi has been following Rossi and Focardi’s work for three years but only examined the e-cat itself on December 16, 2010. He did extensive testing of the e-cat and apparently believes Rossi’s claims.

• Levi is a member of the US group the Skeptic’s Society and he applied their “baloney detector kit.” (A set of parameters for the detection of fraud developed by the late Carl Sagan) to the e-cat and found it was not baloney.

• Levi said he investigated the e-cat because it is his duty as a scientist. He also wanted to protect the University of Bologna’s reputation from a possible fraud.

• Levi did admit that the e-cat was developed in what he called an “industrial” and not a research environment.

• The January e-cat news conference and demonstration by Rossi and Focardi was done in order to show the scientific community the validity of the e-cat and protect Focardi’s reputation.

• Levi seems to be concerned about Focardi’s reputation and is trying to protect it.

• Levi said other scientists including chemists have examined the e-cat and verified some of the results.

Levi also gave some interesting quotes in response to Krivit’s questions.

When asked why he investigated the e-cat, Levi said: “You must go and look by yourself. It is one of my duties I am a researcher I am paid by public money. Something very important was going on with the name of the University of Bologna. It was my duty to know if it was something real. If it is something real we must make research on it.”

When asked if the e-cat represents a new physics or not, Levi said: “There is not a new quantum mechanics but some new phenomenon.”

Persons who want to make up their mind should definitely take a look at all five parts of Levi’s interview. Skeptics and those interested in the science will find it a real eye opener.

[Kevmo]

Will you please take a writing class?

[Moonman62]

Levi did admit that the e-cat was developed in what he called an “industrial” and not a research environment.

Levi's also said the test should be run for more than 24 hours. He must not be confident of his assertion based on a non-scientific test.

[Kevmo]

So you don’t think it should be checked before the experiment,
***How do you make this incredible logic jump from what I stated?

It’s one non-sequitur after another after another with you, they get worse as the night grows. You should consider checking into rehab, having your doctor review your med schedule, or maybe just go to some AA meetings.

[Kevmo]

Please show evidence of a lack of confidence. Please show Free Republic that you actually read something and understand it.

[Moonman62]

Levi wants the test to run for more than 24 hours doesn’t he?

[dila813]

You said the device should be checked after the experiment

I simply said it should be checked before as well

What is your problem with that? I hope the customer (if he exists) will demand it. It would be stupidity not to.

[Kevmo]

No, you said

So you don’t think it should be checked before the experiment,

WTF? Where did you get that from what I wrote?

Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?
Twelfth Night, 2. 3

[Lx]

1) This is good that he allowed it to be examined.

2) I'm confused, I thought this:

was the Ecat. The text says it's the heat exchanger.

In fact, in his patent application, the device above appears to be what his patent covers, See patent application:

http://ecatnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USeCatPatentApplication.pdf

This is the abstract from his patent:

A method and apparatus for carrying out highly efficient exothermal reaction between nickel and hydrogen atoms in a tube, preferably, though not necessary, a metal tube filled by a nickel powder and heated to a high temperature. preferably, though not necessary, from 150 to 5000 C are herein disclosed. In the inventive apparatus, hydrogen is injected into the metal tube containing a highly pressurized nickel powder having a pressure, preferably though not necessarily, from 2 to 20 bars.

So, what is this?

The text says: Open the lid of the box in the lead reactor module containing 3 H-Ni.

It look like the air filter for my car. Is that a giant heat sink that he uses to pre-heat the Ecat?

In a youtube video, it shows a device that looks like the device at the top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9I_CJti-RU&feature=related

At 1:40 in the video, there's a good view of the Ecat and I don't see the big box that is in the second photo above. On another web site, this is labeled as the Ecat and it looks like the first device:

Text below above photo:

Several E-Cat units in a testbed. Water, hydrogen, and heat go in, steam comes out as nickel fuses with hydrogen to make copper. Photo by Prof. Levi via nextbigfuture.com

So, the photo above shows several Ecats and they all look like the first photo above. Now, I suppose it's possible he doesn't want to reveal the whole device, but what is the purpose of the box like device. According to the description, that is where the Hydrogen and nickel react. Does anyone know? On the site you linked to where I got the first two photos, it shows the 1MW unit, when is that device going on line?

Finally, his patent application is a nightmare, not his fault, I think it's the patent process. Is it even possible to get a patent without using a patent attorney?

[Lx]

All the disinterested third parties accept many of Rossi’s restrictions just so they can get their hands close to the box to discover what is going on. Rossi is holding this close enough so that the scam can’t be revealed unless someone violates his terms of testing his device.

By disinterested, I mean someone with a great reputation in this field, not Billy bob, they guy at the counter of a wrecking yard. Were a Steven Hawking type available to test this device, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't put their reputation on the line to perpetuate a scam; people would believe whatever results this person or persons finds.

The only problem is how many fields does this device cross? Chemical, nuclear, quantum physics???

[Lx]

Wrong, prior to the test, the unit should be disassembled, samples of all powders and liquids taken, then reassembled.

Makes sense, fine by me.