Posted on 09/07/2005 10:04:20 AM PDT by SmithL
The nation's energy industry is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Gas prices are soaring as a result of the catastrophic storm. America's reliance on overseas oil increases every year.
And from his office in the North Bay city of Sebastopol, Mark Goldes envisions a day -- perhaps not so far off -- when none of this will be a problem.
Goldes, 73, is chief executive of a small company called Magnetic Power Inc., which has spent years researching ways to, yes, generate power using magnets.
Within a few months, he says, he might just have a breakthrough to report that could revolutionize where people get fuel.
"We're not yet ready to talk about what's happening in our lab because, honestly, we don't know what's happening," Goldes told me. "All we know is that we're seeing more energy output than input.
"We're still having trouble making it repeatable, but we think that's more an engineering problem than a scientific problem," he said.
Does Goldes realize what's he's saying -- that he's perhaps discovered a clean, inexhaustible energy source?
"That's exactly what it appears to be," he answered.
What Goldes believes he's done is produce power from what physicists call zero-point energy. In simple terms, zero-point energy results from the infinitesimal motion of molecules even when seemingly at rest.
OK, let's throw a whole bunch of caveats at this. First of all, I've spoken with physicists at some of the country's most prestigious institutions, and not one said that what Goldes claims to have accomplished is doable.
Theoretically possible, they acknowledged. But not doable.
"Zero-point energy is so tiny that nobody can feel it," said Hossein Sadeghpour, a physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "But when you get to the realm of quantum mechanics, it exists.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Oh geez. Another wacko who is sure he's proving the second law of thermodynamics is wrong.
I thought getting a critical mass of gullible people was a marketing problem.
All you need, is somebody on a bicycle hooked-up to that, and voila, free power!!
"Oh geez. Another wacko who is sure he's proving the second law of thermodynamics is wrong."
The second law IS wrong, wacko.
Actually, that the guy is talking about 'repeatability' of the phenomenon speaks well for his sincerity. Zero point energy is probably nothing more than hopeful illusions in his mirror. But as long as he requires repeatability for his gear, he is likely not to be making any bogus announcements.
That reminds me of some office humor I sent along:
The 3 laws of robotics:
1) a robot should not be able to harm or kill a human
2) a robot should obey a human command unless it contradicts rule 1
3) she should have nice skin, smell good, and serve a good martini
Source, please?
Sounds like a personal problem.
If it breaks the laws the physics, it ain't gonna work. Period.
It would be a violation of the first law. Getting more energy out than was put in.
Well, good thing I'm not trying to do it, I can't even keep my laws straight!
Sebastopol is one of the centers of New Age foolishness in Nor. Cal.
Heck, the Ancients powered the City of Atlantis with ZPMs for centuries.
Flux Capacitor?
The nation that controls magnetism controls the universe.
-- Chester Gould/Dick Tracy
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