I have investigated the claims behind "Zero Point Energy" (ZPE) extraction
and found that they can all be easily dismissed -- except (remote
possibility) one type of approach. More on that in a minute.
First, lets explore why ZPE is most likely not a usable power source:
1) The very laws and theories of physics, that predict vacuum energy
fluctuation, also tell us that the net effect is zero. The net sum of
energy and matter is conserved. These theories and laws have survived all
objective tests to date.
So, if we had a ZPE Generator (ZPEG) sucking energy out of the vacuum,
that energy would eventually have to be replaced/recharged somehow --
like rain recharging a hydroelectric dam.
There is no known or theoretical way for this recharging to take place.
Although, Asimov and others have written humorously about stealing power
from "other universes".
2) ZPEG's also appear to violate other physical laws such as the 2nd law
of thermodynamics. There's no such thing as a free lunch -- no matter how
much we might wish for it.
Let's assume that ZPEG's are possible. To work, they would appear to
create energy/matter out of nothing (or to move it around in violation of the
2nd law). Since this is not possible, they would really be moving energy
from somewhere, outside our known universe, to our ZPEG. From there it
would flow to our big screen TV and everybody's happy.
I find this ironic since ZPE is mostly hyped as a "pollution free" idea by
people who decry 10 new eco-disasters for every new technology. A ZPEG
might not put carbon into the air but it would quite possibly be strip mining
an entire universe of it's photons! (I'm sure that Douglas Adams would be
able to show that such a universe must, by necessity, be occupied by warm,
fuzzy, peaceful, dolphin- like creatures. ;-)
Now to the claims of ZPE extraction:
This is an extraordinary claim which demands extraordinary proof.
The claims I've found so far are usually short on specifics. They can be
summarized as follows:
1) "Company XYZ will have a product soon." Company XYZ cannot be found
or provides no specifics.
2) "So-and-so did it" or "Tesla did it" but the government and big
corporations kept it secret. It is convenient that "the man" actually
couldn't keep the secret (that's how we know that so-and- so did it). We
are asked to believe that some genius, who reinvented physics, revealed
his secret (presumably on pain of death) but never managed to mail plans
to anyone else?
Has any other invention, that threatened the status quo, ever had such a
fate? The printing press? Electricity? The automobile? Aviation?
Atomic weapons? The Internet?
No, some ideas cannot be stopped. The first guy to present, even
plausible plans for, a ZPEG will be a hero known to billions of people --
Not some nut job with foil on his head.
3) We are offering a "prize" -- so someone will figure it out. See
http://www.seaspower.com/zprizeannounced.htm .
4) Details are given, on a whacky approach, but enough detail is shown so
that the errors can be easily deduced. For an example, see
http://www.tewari.org/Test_Results/test_results.html .
Here a power gain of 2.58 is claimed (a power gain of 1 is a perpetual
motion machine) Tewari's own data shows that his generator has (at best)
a gain of 0.84. The Power gain for his whole SYSTEM is 0.696. For a
ZPEG to work, it's SYSTEM gain must appear to be greater than 1 (and it
had better be throttleable or things could blow up).
At this stage, somebody needs to hand a box over to an independent group of
reporters and physicist and say, "see I told you so". If the box works,
there would be no keeping it down.
Until such a thing happens, we are justified in dismissing ZPE out of hand
(The burden of proof is on the snake oil salesman. Not us.)
Now, for that approach which I have not dismissed -- mainly because it
requires more analysis than I am willing to waste at this point:
I call it the "Clapper Approach". The idea uses the Casimir Effect
something like this:
1) Two plates (not necessarily flat in practice) supported apart from
each other by an apparatus, in a vacuum.
2) The plate charges are managed for best operation but probably remain
zero.
3) The apparatus allows the plates to be slapped together by the Casimir
effect and extracts the mechanical energy as the plates come together.
4) To reset the system, we cannot just pull the plates apart. The 2nd
law would kill our ZPEG. We get around this by sliding the plates
sideways away from each other -- like dealing cards from a deck.
Hopefully this sliding uses a lot less energy than we obtained in step 3.
5) Once the plates are clear horizontally, we can reset the vertical
distance without doing work against the Casimir forces.
6) We now slide the plates back into the original position, of step 1,
and we are ready for another cycle.
This approach is, at first glance, analogous to dipping waterwheel vanes in
and out of a stream.
If anyone can show that it does not work in theory (beyond what has already
been stated!), please respond.
Regards,
-- MikeR |
