Hydrogen -- The fuel of the future
This is a popular refrain these days. However, this time it is not just fuel cell scientists trying to convince of this but an electrical engineer with a Harvard medical degree who has stirred up a heated controversy amongst physicists (link from Soumya).
Dr. Randy Mills is claiming that he can release energy from hydrogen by moving the electron closer to the nucleus (to a more stable orbital). According to quantum mechanics, the ground state (the lowest orbital) is when "n" is equal to 1. In order to explain his theory, Mills has reverted to classical theory to explain the fractional value of "n".
To commercialize this technology, Mills has started Blacklight Power and has somehow convinced investors to put in over 25 million and has set up a 50,000 square foot R&D lab in NJ. Not very suprisingly, their main focus is power generation applications.
So, what should we make of all this? I am not sure if it is possible to have a lower ground state since quantum mechanics left me kind of fuzzy. However, after some googling, my guess is that Mills must have some compelling evidence since he has been able to convince some people. This still does not rule out the possibility that there is some sort of misunderstanding or misidentification of the phenomenon. I am ruling out a deliberate scam because if that was the case, Mills would have taken the money and ran years ago.
Frankly speaking, the propaganda on the website seems too good too be true. The process of hydrino formation is supposed to generate heat (and no other harmful radiation). This energy is supposed to be signficantly higher that the energy needed for electrolysis of water (the fuel) and maintenance of the plasma for this process, which is a tall order.
So, this is either an amazing new step forward for mankind or a great blunder. You decide . . .
Dr. Randy Mills is claiming that he can release energy from hydrogen by moving the electron closer to the nucleus (to a more stable orbital). According to quantum mechanics, the ground state (the lowest orbital) is when "n" is equal to 1. In order to explain his theory, Mills has reverted to classical theory to explain the fractional value of "n".
To commercialize this technology, Mills has started Blacklight Power and has somehow convinced investors to put in over 25 million and has set up a 50,000 square foot R&D lab in NJ. Not very suprisingly, their main focus is power generation applications.
So, what should we make of all this? I am not sure if it is possible to have a lower ground state since quantum mechanics left me kind of fuzzy. However, after some googling, my guess is that Mills must have some compelling evidence since he has been able to convince some people. This still does not rule out the possibility that there is some sort of misunderstanding or misidentification of the phenomenon. I am ruling out a deliberate scam because if that was the case, Mills would have taken the money and ran years ago.
Frankly speaking, the propaganda on the website seems too good too be true. The process of hydrino formation is supposed to generate heat (and no other harmful radiation). This energy is supposed to be signficantly higher that the energy needed for electrolysis of water (the fuel) and maintenance of the plasma for this process, which is a tall order.
So, this is either an amazing new step forward for mankind or a great blunder. You decide . . .
1 Comments:
Well at first I was like, "Yeah right, this isn't possible", and i still dont think it is exactly doing what he says it is. Most likely I agree that he potentially found another shell below the one considered ground state. Just as Dr. Janis Niedra says in that article, changing electron states causes light to be emitted. And this is most likely the explanation. I don't think it is anything else because there is so much fact in causing electrons to drop to lower states that you can measure/predict exactly what will happen. Why this wasn't found before, who the heck knows.
However, I remain skeptical. I would really want to know what the output of the system is. I would especially like to see the mass/energy balance.
However the article did have this awesome quote. "If you could fuck around with the hydrogen atom, you could fuck around with the energy process in the sun. You could fuck around with life itself," claims Dr. Phillip Anderson, a Nobel laureate in physics at Princeton University. I mean this guy was a Nobel Laureate and he sounds PISSED :).
Anyways, if it works, more power to them because it will be a great help for the future. However I wouldnt put it past all those scientists to miss the power cord that runs to the wall socket.
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