Video of Steorn Energy Device in operation.

Depends on how you define "free."

For example, the light from the Sun you might use to power a photovoltaic array is free, but the photovoltaic array is certainly not free. The Sun unevenly heats the Earth which is why, on the broadest scale, we have wind. The wind is free, the windmill to harness it and convery the wind energy to electricity is not free.

So what you you mean by "free?"

The question is not intended to be a smart ass question, I simply want the terms defined so as to answer it with some accuracy.

What I mean is, energy from no other source than total vacuum. Consider a radiation shielded box in zero gravity with no gas inside. Could there be a device (same temperature as the box) which, situated inside of it, could perform work in perpetuity?

Excellent find AC.

This could be a very exciting breakthrough. Hopefully 2007 will be an interesting year.

Commentator, your attitude is hostile. Read the Steorn site.

Snip.

Steorn’s technology produces free, clean and constant energy. This provides a significant range of benefits, from the convenience of never having to refuel your car or recharge your mobile phone, to a genuine solution to the need for zero emission energy production. It also provides a secure supply of energy, since the components of the technology are readily available.

The technology is in a constant state of development. The company has focused for the past three years on increasing power output and the development of test systems that allow detailed analysis to be performed.

Steorn’s technology appears to violate the ‘Principle of the Conservation of Energy’, considered by many to be the most fundamental principle in our current understanding of the universe. This principle is stated simply as ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change form’.

Steorn is making three claims for its technology:

The technology has a coefficient of performance greater than 100%.
The operation of the technology (i.e. the creation of energy) is not derived from the degradation of its component parts.
There is no identifiable environmental source of the energy (as might be witnessed by a cooling of ambient air temperature).
The sum of these claims is that our technology creates free energy.

This represents a significant challenge to our current understanding of the universe and clearly such claims require independent validation from credible third parties. During 2005 Steorn embarked on a process of independent validation and approached a wide selection of academic institutions. The vast majority of these institutions refused to even look at the technology, however several did. Those who were prepared to complete testing have all confirmed our claims; however none will publicly go on record.

In early 2006 Steorn decided to seek validation from the scientific community in a more public forum, and as a result have published the challenge in The Economist. The company is seeking a jury of twelve qualified experimental physicists to define the tests required, the test centres to be used, monitor the analysis and then publish the results.

Steorn has decided to publish its challenge in The Economist because of the breadth of its readership. "We chose it over a purely scientific magazine simply because we want to make the general public aware that this process is about to commence and to generate public support, awareness, interest etc for what we are doing."

Doubtful.

I have read it, Boomerang, and my question is one that any scientist or engineer would ask.

Note that i have never said this device won't or can't work, nor have I stated the people posting the site are in some way unethical.

IF this device works it means that it has, for the first time, exploited a previously unknown loophole in thermodynamics. This would be a staggering event for science and would surely result in a Nobel at the least, and would make its inventors wealthy beyond belief.

But no one seems able to answer my simple question with anything beyond the most superficial and useless answer.

Since when was trying to arive at the truth hostile?

Of course if someone was threatened by the simple asking of a question i could see that anyone so insecure would see hard questions as hostile, but that would not apply to anyone here would it?

Predicted in 1948, confirmed in 1997

...

The Casimir effect: a force from nothing

Feature: September 2002

The attractive force between two surfaces in a vacuum - first predicted by Hendrik Casimir over 50 years ago - could affect everything from micromachines to unified theories of nature.

What happens if you take two mirrors and arrange them so that they are facing each other in empty space? Your first reaction might be "nothing at all". In fact, both mirrors are mutually attracted to each other by the simple presence of the vacuum. This startling phenomenon was first predicted in 1948 by the Dutch theoretical physicist Hendrik Casimir while he was working at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven on - of all things - colloidal solutions (see box). The phenomenon is now dubbed the Casimir effect, while the force between the mirrors is known as the Casimir force.

[link to physicsweb.org]

Casimir effect is indeed real, however the energy is close, very very close to zero.

Sorry, you don't run a civilization on nanojoules.

This really is the crux of the matter. The systems to extract energy are definitely not free, and themselves usually require a further expandature of energy to make and use.

I wonder... just where does a magnetic field's energy come from. Just where does an electrostatic field's energy come from? Just where does a permanent magnet get its energy.
Does a permanent magnet do work? Can it?

Experiments demonstrating the Casimir Effect have so far been rather crude proofs of concept. They are not attempts to invent a practical energy-gathering device. But the concept has been proven. Free energy from the vacuum is real and measurable.

Energy levels on the order of nanojoules are measurable. You do not run a technological civilization with that energy level.

I am an engineer, not a physicist. When these kinds of questions are asked in engineering schools the answer is generally along the lines of "Why isn't our department, that would be the physics wing across the quad."

My understanding is that the field is simply there, and no, it can not, in the case of a permanant magnet, be used to perform work because the field is static.

I am sure the EE types have a better answer, but us types speciaalizing in aero/asto didn't.

I often wonder where Cosmic stuff comes from.

Maybe whim....

Commentator

The point is that you are simply asking the question that at the moment cannot be answered.

'IF' this 'setup' DOES WORK then we do not need to know why it works, simply that it does and take advantage of the earth changing discovery.

I do not know whether the claims are true, however the company appears to have spent a large amount of money to get some attention. I have found that the company does have a history going back some years in their advertised field. So......they are not a sudden appearance.

Time will tell.

Indeed Boomerang, time will tell.

If i were a betting man, and I am not, I would bet this one will fall by the wayside as well.

But the only way to know that is to do a rational and complete test program.

Just STUNNING amazing.

VIDEO of it working in November, yet less than 2 months later they ADMIT IT NEVER WORKED!


And still people will post nasty things about 'debunkers'.




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Interesting I've seen a earlier vidio ,I found this one also interesting on hydrogen. [link to www.youtube.com]

Managing the politics of free energy is the real story here.
You don't have a clue what I'm saying.

easy: it punches a hole into the membrane of the universe

Does anybody remember Dennis Lee?
He had some kind of free energy device he was promoting and would go around the country drawing large crowds to hear his talks and invest money in his schemes.
I saw one of his talks in Florida back in the 1990's... I was surprized that he was able to draw a fairly large crowd to hear him.
I have studied physics and am familiar with some electromagnetic theory, which is a lot more than most of the people attending his talks could say, and I found his talk very confusing to listen to. He would start out with true facts and then start twisting things around little by little, and talking fast without giving people any time to think, and as the hours and hours of his hypnotizing talk went by he would lead people farther and farther into woo-woo land until he could finally convice people to part with their money. He spent some time in jail, but that didn't stop him. As soon as he got out he was back at it.
I specifically remember one of the first points he made was how a magnet on your refrigerator door proved that there was infinite energy in magnetic fields, because he said the magnet was having to do all that work to hold up against the pull of gravity. His facts got worse after that (it went from bad to worse)... From a physics point of view, the problem with that fact is that, as long as there is no movement there is no energy, because the energy equations of physics define enegry as force time distance, so, since the distance the magnet stuck on the refrigerator door is just stuck to the door and doesn't move, then the distance is zero, and so the work done (the energy used) is zero....
In my opinion this guy was dangerous, he was very glib and quick witted and he could come up with all kinds of complex ideas and theories and 'facts' to support his products and practically hypnotize people into parting with their money. He was a really good bs artist.

Subjects like this are very susceptible to cons and scams. Hold tight on your wallet. Once you put your money into a scheme like these you can probably kiss it goodbye.

I think that their free energy ideas are probably scams, but their "free money" schemes work really well for them, as they can always seem to find that sucker that was just born a minute ago.

Here are a few links:
[link to www.phact.org]
[link to www.csicop.org]
[link to freeenergynews.com]

Eric's History of Perpetual Motion and Free Energy Machines
[link to www.phact.org]

A Word of Caution from Former Dennis Lee Dealer
[link to freeenergynews.com]
Don Gillette cashed in his IRA in 1993 to purchase a dealership to sell, among other things, a revolutionary free energy device, expecting a return on his investment in a few months. Thirteen years later, after a long string of excuses and changed promises, he tells his story.
Statements by Don Gillette
Four Things to Know about Dennis Lee

The following, written by Don Gillette, was originally posted at [link to groups.yahoo.com] on Sept. 18, 2006.

All you need to know about Dennis is 4 things:

1. Any money you invest with him, goes into a black hole, never, ever, ever, to be seen again.

2. After the money is gone, it is ALWAYS someone else's fault (One of his employees, a vendor, an inventor he was working with, the power company, the police, a Judge, one of his dealerships, etc.,etc.).

As a last resort, if his "blame list" gets short, he blames "Jesus", ("It was the Lord's will that all your money was lost..." "We trust in the Lord completely, we only did what HE told us to do").

3. After, the money is all gone, he asks you to trust him "one more time with some more of your money", "this time it will be different" (meaning that his "excuse" for losing it will be "more creative" next time).

4. If you complain after he loses your money a second (or 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th etc.) time, his response is: "You are a spy for the power company", or "You must be working for Eric Krieg". He does this to distance himself from his victim because he knows that either future funds are dried up, or you are "on" to him. Either way, he will turn on you as soon as his "gravy train" gets taken away from him. He will call you whatever he needs to call you to get the attention off of himself and his past actions.

Rent the classic movie (if you haven't already seen it) "Little Shop of Horrors", to get a deeper insight how Dennis behaves "before" and "after" you give him money. In the movie, the role of Dennis is played by the talking "Flower". "Meek" before you give him your money (blood in the movie), a "tyrant" after he has your money and you ask him about accountability.

I know I am preaching to the choir telling "you" (of all people) about this. You have probably heard this story a hundred times if you heard it once.

But, you caught me off guard with that "credit card" Horror story (not to mention the 20% annual interest that some poor soul has to pay).

Now I'm going to have "Dennis Lee" nightmares for the rest of the week! (Me chasing him down the street after he lifts my wallet with all my credit cards in it, and as he runs down the street, he screams "Praise Jesus!"). No true Christian would handle money entrusted to him by his supporters, in such a haphazard way. And then after losing all the money, offer no apology, but rather insist that it is the fault of his supporters for not giving him MORE money. It's an "Alice in Wonderland" nightmare that never ends. And blue skies are just around the corner if you would just Trust Jesus, and give Dennis more money...

* * * * <snip - there is a lot more on this page - this is a perpetual scam, it never dies>