by delta-t » Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:42 pm
I am also very intrigued by the patents and how they appear to be what Alaskastar has been trying to get everyone to "discover" on their own. I am therefore wondering why there has not been a lot more chatter on oupower about trying to duplicate some of the experiments in the patents.
Compared to the complicated electrolyser setups of plates and electronics, Linnard's methods look much easier to reproduce for private use by energy hobbyists. Is access to or creation of colloidal metals not something readily available?
In the Evworld picture of the setup, what is the purpoe of the electodes and the jumper? Is the that setup still running.
I wish Linnard the best of luck commercializing the process even though it looks like it could be "disruptive" technology if it is really generating hydrogen from ambient temperature with only water as a feedstock.
The only skepticism of the process I have found is as follows:
Okay, I read this first one. The guy is completely nuts.
Anybody with a good grasp of high school chemistry can see how he's
fooled himself. A typical experiment consists of mixing a couple of
acids (usually hydrochloric and sulfuric), adding some "colloidal"
magnesium and lead, and then tossing in a chunk of iron. Then he
measures the decrease in the mass of the iron and the volume of the gas
produced (and in some cases the amount of some metal residues)
AND THEN GOES ON TO CLAIM THAT FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL LAWS ARE BEING
BROKEN WITHOUT EVEN BOTHERING TO ANALYZE THE REACTION PRODUCTS??!
He just says what he "expects" them to be!
Doesn't anyone see something wrong with this picture??
[Of course, he doesn't actually come right out and *say* that he's
breaking any fundamental physical laws, such as the laws of
thermodynamics, because that would quickly get his patent application
tossed as a perpetual motion machine. But that's exactly what it is. On
the other hand, if he has a lazy or incompetent examiner (which is quite
likely), he'll probably get his patent anyway.]
Let's say that his generated gas is entirely hydrogen (not hydrogen +
oxygen as he claims without any proof or reasonable expectation). How do
we explain its excess volume?
Simple. Remember the "colloidal magnesium"? Magnesium is a very reactive
metal, as anyone who has burned some knows very well. It reacts with
acids to produce hydrogen. Yet he only measures the amount of iron that
was consumed in the reaction. After he adds the magnesium, he ignores
it. *Obviously* it is the source of any "excess" hydrogen!
Not only that, but he takes a solution containing hydrochloric acid and
heats it to 90C. Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in
water, and heat will drive it off. But he certainly hasn't ruled out the
possibility that some of his "hydrogen" is just hydrogen chloride gas.
I suppose this could make a good brain-teaser for high school chemistry
students, but it is hardly a demonstration of a major new discovery in
chemistry or physics. If this is all it takes to get you free-energy
believers all stirred up, well, what can I say...?
--Phil
delta-t