A New Hope
We tripped over something interesting while browsing the web during the boring and predictable Presidential debates....
As small start up company named Blacklight Power, Inc. claims to have come up with a quantum physics busting virtually unlimited source of hydrogen based power. What's more, they are now actively moving to build a commercial 50 kilowatt power generation prototype that they hope will be operational in 2009.
Unlike fusion, which is an as yet unproven and enormously complex theoretical source of power still perhaps decades away from commercialization, Blacklight claims their break-through science will be demonstrating a greenhouse gas neutral and clean source of almost unlimited energy that can both heat your home, and provide very low cost electricity. Wow.
However, to accomplish this, Blacklight had to break the back of quantum physics, much to the dismay of the scientific community, who largely hold Blacklights' founder, Randell Mills, as a quack and a pariah. To add insult to injury, Dr. Mills isn't even a physicist! Yet he claims quantum physics is wrong about certain key aspects of hydrogen theory, and he says the proof is in his working prototype. People who have seen the prototype in the Blacklight lab located outside Princeton, NJ say 'hmmmmmm'.
In summary, Dr. Mills claims that he can move electrons in a hydrogen atom at "ground" state (or lowest energy state) to a state even lower. When moving the electron to this lower-than-low ground state, the hydrogen atom lets loose significant quantities of energy in the form of heat. Physicists around the globe scoff at this as basically voodoo science - like the famous cold fusion hoax. Dr. Mills retorts that his model is physical, while the physicists are stuck with their heads in the mathematical clouds. In order for Dr. Mills to be right, quantum physics needs to be rewritten, perhaps scrapped - this is scientific heresy, which is why we are intrigued. The argument reminds us of the treatment Newton and Galileo received from their peers at the time of their earth shaking challenges to the then scientific establishment. Is Dr. Mills such a usurper or is he a self-delusional fraud? It will certainly be fun to see which end of the spectrum he falls.
There are a few esoteric factors which hint Dr. Mills might be on to something. First, he is not touting his invention to the public to raise money - say through a penny stock offering. He is well funded by top line investors in the energy industry and hedge funds. So he is not trying to sell his version of snake oil to the public in order to pocket millions, and then live comfortably in a country lacking an extradition treaty with the US. He has attracted some big names to his Board. They will either be celebrated as visionaries, or become laughing stocks, and what's more, they are fully aware of this. No risk, no reward eh?
As early as 2009 the world may know if Dr. Mills really has proven quantum physics wrong, turned the scientific community on it's head, and solved the energy crisis all in one shot. Who knows, perhaps Dr. Mills has stumbled on to something where he thinks it's related to ground-state hydrogen physics, but turns out to be something else, yet still a break-through in energy science.
There is no harm in hoping is there?
As small start up company named Blacklight Power, Inc. claims to have come up with a quantum physics busting virtually unlimited source of hydrogen based power. What's more, they are now actively moving to build a commercial 50 kilowatt power generation prototype that they hope will be operational in 2009.
Unlike fusion, which is an as yet unproven and enormously complex theoretical source of power still perhaps decades away from commercialization, Blacklight claims their break-through science will be demonstrating a greenhouse gas neutral and clean source of almost unlimited energy that can both heat your home, and provide very low cost electricity. Wow.
However, to accomplish this, Blacklight had to break the back of quantum physics, much to the dismay of the scientific community, who largely hold Blacklights' founder, Randell Mills, as a quack and a pariah. To add insult to injury, Dr. Mills isn't even a physicist! Yet he claims quantum physics is wrong about certain key aspects of hydrogen theory, and he says the proof is in his working prototype. People who have seen the prototype in the Blacklight lab located outside Princeton, NJ say 'hmmmmmm'.
In summary, Dr. Mills claims that he can move electrons in a hydrogen atom at "ground" state (or lowest energy state) to a state even lower. When moving the electron to this lower-than-low ground state, the hydrogen atom lets loose significant quantities of energy in the form of heat. Physicists around the globe scoff at this as basically voodoo science - like the famous cold fusion hoax. Dr. Mills retorts that his model is physical, while the physicists are stuck with their heads in the mathematical clouds. In order for Dr. Mills to be right, quantum physics needs to be rewritten, perhaps scrapped - this is scientific heresy, which is why we are intrigued. The argument reminds us of the treatment Newton and Galileo received from their peers at the time of their earth shaking challenges to the then scientific establishment. Is Dr. Mills such a usurper or is he a self-delusional fraud? It will certainly be fun to see which end of the spectrum he falls.
There are a few esoteric factors which hint Dr. Mills might be on to something. First, he is not touting his invention to the public to raise money - say through a penny stock offering. He is well funded by top line investors in the energy industry and hedge funds. So he is not trying to sell his version of snake oil to the public in order to pocket millions, and then live comfortably in a country lacking an extradition treaty with the US. He has attracted some big names to his Board. They will either be celebrated as visionaries, or become laughing stocks, and what's more, they are fully aware of this. No risk, no reward eh?
As early as 2009 the world may know if Dr. Mills really has proven quantum physics wrong, turned the scientific community on it's head, and solved the energy crisis all in one shot. Who knows, perhaps Dr. Mills has stumbled on to something where he thinks it's related to ground-state hydrogen physics, but turns out to be something else, yet still a break-through in energy science.
There is no harm in hoping is there?
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