Quote:
Originally Posted by MareTranquility
The Tom Bearden Website
On Tom Bearden's website you can find a lot of information about zero point energy, that is the energy extracted from vacuum. Physicists say it's possible and point to magnets as living proof that the power is there if one can find a way to extract it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildMan
I suggest you carefully check exactly what the physicists are saying. People like Tom tend to misunderstand them through wishful thinking. Look beyond Tom - there are much more qualified people able to answer your questions.
Zero point energy is the lowest energy state of a system. By definition no further energy can be extracted from the system.
The closest we come to a theoretical use of zero-point energy involves systems for opposing the Casimir force. Theoretically you might convert zero-point energy from the Casimir force acting on charged plates to mechanical, heat or electrical energy. However, this theoretical conversion process requires more input energy than you get out through the need to mechanically or electrically return the charged plates to the zero-point.
Hence it is theoretically possible to convert the zero-point energy into something usable by applying even more energy from a source that is less usable. Maybe you have a case for increasing the efficiency of some machines but it will never be to the point of over-unity.
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The proposed machine is NOT using zero point energy, it is supposed to use vacuum energy. These are not the same.
The site itself says so:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mare's link
Factoid: Energy from the Vacuum is NOT zero point energy, since the latter is an observable state and the vacuum energy is nonobservable.
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Vacuum energy is not a lowest energy state. It is the energy that manifests itself through vacuum fluctuations. And that's where Bearden's proposals lack credibility. How does one break the Planck scale symmetry to achieve a macroscopic difference in potential with current technology ? Can't be done as far as I'm concerned.
The fact sheet (
http://www.cheniere.org/techpapers/F...0Problem10.doc)
referred to on the site is simply wrong in claiming there is a violation of the 2nd law because since the energy source is the vacuum energy, the devices are not isolated systems and as such there can be no violation of the 2nd law.
Bearden has to make up his mind. Either it's based on zero-point energy and there may be a violation or it's based on vacuum energy and there can be no violation.
Such basic errors, combined with the extravagant conspiracy theories found on the site, and the non-convergence with the ideas of Tsung-Dao Lee lead me to reject all this as a load of bollocks.