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Self Contained Power Source?

McOSEN writes "Your Server Cabinet could have a 100% self sustained power source. It's called Parallel Path Technology and it's being coined as a revolution in the magnetic motor industry. From Segways to Vacuum cleaners to Server Cabinets. The article talks about the technology but doesn't exactly lay out specifics."

397 comments

  1. Yet Another Bogus Science Story by __aaahtg7394 · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA:

    1. It's a motor, not a generator. It sounds like it could be a neat motor, but it's still not a generator.

    2. "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier."

    That's right folks! It's perpetual motion machine!

    So, this is about a motor that makes claims that are pretty universally accepted to be impossible. The poster, of course, is affiliated with the site hosting the page, so he really should have read the article the same way I did. Even if he didn't, maybe ScuttleMonkey should have.

    I would be more annoyed, but this fits ScuttleMonkey's past science articles. Could someone send him a few pop-sci introduction texts, so we can stop having the Electric Universe, perpetual motion, and other fringe theories on the frontpage as science?

    1. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, sigh.

      I swear ScuttleMonkey wants me to hate him. I've tried fighting it, but he is so damn convincing.

    2. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The Open Source Energy Network is full of bogus stories. They should learn their thermodynamics and stop whoring for slashdot visitors.

    3. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by mad.frog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even if it didn't fit past articles, this one alone should be grounds for an indefinite suspension of story submission rights (for both submitter and editor).

      The slogan here is "news for nerds", not "news for people who have no knowledge whatsoever of the basic principles of physical science"...

    4. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by drgonzo59 · · Score: 1
      Electic motors that generate electricity and are perpetual motion machines have been appearing off and on since the electric motors have been invented. I remember reading about another such "electromagnetic generators" in a Romanian science journal back in the early 90s. There is also a web site some place (sorry no time to find the link) that documents all these perpetual motion ideas. It is quite a funny collection of ideas...

      I always thought that Slashdot editors are somewhat literate as basic science goes -- it is Slashdot after all, not Fark.com -- but I guess I was wrong...

    5. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Funny

      > I always thought that Slashdot editors are somewhat literate as
      > basic science goes...

      New here, aren't you?

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    6. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by deglr6328 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      oooh but just think, if you had a subscription you could've seen it even before the rest of us! ha. ScuttleMonkey has along with that other new editor, managed to flush any last vestiges of science story reputability this place ever had down the toilet long, long ago. This has got to be like the 50th bogus pseudoscience artice from "opensourcenergy" alone he's posted. I would be shocked to learn that /. even has a dozen subscribers left at this point. Who in thier right mind would actually pay to be insulted like this?

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    7. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yoda, is that you?

    8. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by strider44 · · Score: 4, Funny

      sheesh - you're taking this way too seriously. Don't you know that it says "It's funny, laugh!" if you put your mouse over the foot up here . . . wait a sec...

      Well I thought it was very funny anyway. Especially the bit that says "The article talks about the technology but doesn't exactly lay out specifics".

    9. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by EndingPop · · Score: 0

      I don't think it's bogus, you just don't understand it. It isn't truly a perpetual motion device. They use permanent magnets to get the extra energy. They don't count that in their input energy, however. Obviously, when these magnets die they will need to be replaced.

      It's just a poor use of the word "efficiency".

      --
      My Company - Red Cedar Technology
    10. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by pete-classic · · Score: 4, Funny
      It's a motor, not a generator. It sounds like it could be a neat motor, but it's still not a generator.


      That's the beauty of it! You connect the axes of two of these things together. Power one, and use the power exceeding 100% efficiency to power the other as a generator!

      Can anyone tell me why there's no big foot on this story?

      -Peter
    11. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      amen! McOSEN should be banned & ScuttleMonkey should be SHOT! (makes you wonder if his day job is in the patent office)

      like the signal-to-noise ratio wasn't bad enough allready...

    12. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Baddas · · Score: 1

      They use permanent magnets to get the extra energy. They don't count that in their input energy, however. Obviously, when these magnets die they will need to be replaced.
      Are you kidding me?

      The reason they're called 'permanent' magnets is that they do not wear out. You cannot get energy from magnets.

    13. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by black6host · · Score: 1

      Yeah but I'll bet the 12 that are left are in the know. Something about buttered toast and cats....

    14. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by LurkerXXX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because ScuttleMonkey thinks crystals, pyramid power, and Intelligent Design, are more valid science than the laws of thermodynamics.

    15. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Tweak232 · · Score: 1

      Who in thier right mind would actually pay to be insulted like this?

      The same people that purchase patents on things like This

    16. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Poltras · · Score: 1

      And, please, sir, who are you to contradict him? mmmmh?!? After all, it's not like Thermodynamics have been proven!
      </sarcasm> (better not forget it)

    17. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 1

      There is no bigfoot in the story because he got run over by the high performance electric car powered by one of these motors. His fault though. He wasn't paying attention because he was looking at a alien spacecraft at the time.

    18. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Chrispy1000000+the+2 · · Score: 1

      Sure you can: They're monopole! :p

      --
      Sig
    19. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by noidentity · · Score: 1

      "2. "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier."
      That's right folks! It's perpetual motion machine!"


      Why would people bother with heat pumps when an electric heater is nearly 100% efficient already? Technically I think the proper term is coefficient of performance, which is near 1.0 for an electric heater, and greater than 1.0 for a heat pump (more heat is transferred into the building than the energy put into the heat pump).

      Still, someone could easily mis-use the term "efficiency" to refer to the coefficient of performance. What bothers me more are the people like you waiting to yell "perpetual motion" at the slightest hint of bogus science, all the while trampling things that aren't bogus at all, but that you didn't look close enough to tell. As for perpetual motion, how about the way spinning objects keep spinning as long as there is no friction to slow them down?

    20. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by insane_machine · · Score: 1

      Sure you can. You have to move the magnets around, which still requires energy. But that can be used to generate electricity(overall the energy should equal out, but you convert the energy)

    21. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you took the time to find out the authors affiliations I assume you actually RTFA? It does not claim >100% efficiency or Perpetual Motion, simply a more efficient way of aligning the magnetic fields in electric motors to produce 4 times more motive force than conventional techiniques.
      DUH

    22. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh come on! This is what they're using to power the Warp Engine described in yesterday's news post!

    23. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by EndingPop · · Score: 0

      First, you can get energy from magnets. Do you think those iron filings from 5th grade science moved around without an energy input? Isn't a magnetic field nothing more than energy? Second, magnets certainly do wear out. The question is after how long. Ever had to remagnetize one? Though, as someone pointed out in a reply to your post the effect of the magnetic field may cancel out overall. So my original argument may not hold water. What I meant is that they measure the input energy as only the input electricity and the output as the work done by the shaft. If the magnets do any work they hadn't accounted for it, because the energy is free once you have them. But, like I said, if the work they do cancels then it may not matter and the article is totally full of crap.

      --
      My Company - Red Cedar Technology
    24. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could say he "Scuttled" it...like the little monkey he is...Sorry

    25. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Lije+Baley · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When are you people going to wake up? ScuttleMonkey is not an editor. It is a bot which crawls Digg, steals the very worst stories, and reposts them here.

      --
      Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
    26. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by ionizer · · Score: 1

      I remain a non-paid member mostly because I started out that way and schadenfreude the paid subscription folks. The quality of this space's science has been a joke since the turn of the century. I am guessing (since I don't care to research the matter) the editors are a variety of volunteer whose paid jobs consist mostly of saying "would you like fires with that?"

      But /. remains entertaining nonetheless. Occasionally it has pearls such as this particular thread.

    27. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Hex4def6 · · Score: 1

      First, you can get energy from magnets.
      Not for free you can't. You can use magnets to convert between different forms of energy -- kinetic to electric for instance. You are not getting anything for free though.

      Do you think those iron filings from 5th grade science moved around without an energy input?
      The energy input in this case was the action of you moving the magnet -- you would have felt resistance to moving the magnet (not much), to overcome this resistance required you had an input of work done by you (not the magnet).

      Second, magnets certainly do wear out.
      Irelevant to the discussion at hand. You imply that the wearing out of the magnet is due to it releasing energy. This is also false. The life of a magnet is due to the material its made of, and the enviroment it is in -- heat, shock, external magnetic forces all affect its life. Not how much "energy" you get from it.

    28. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Loconut1389 · · Score: 1

      as long as there is no resistance. to only say friction is a bit too narrow.

      sure, you could put an object in space and spin it and it would keep spinning forever.

      -but- to make the object do any work on another object, it would have to sacrifice some of its energy. In the best case, it would give all of its energy to the other object if it were 100% efficient.

      at least if I understood physics correctly.

      the 'perpetual motion' claims I've heard seem to always fit into two categories
      1) device on earth whose only goal is to keep moving - "perpetual motion device"
      2) device in general that puts out more energy than it requires and usually performs some work - "perpetual motion machine"

      the problems with type 1's are that on earth we have gravity and friction working against us and there's (without anti-gravity discoveries at least) always going to be some loss and at some point even if its a dozen years later, the thing will stop

      the problem with type 2's is related to conservation. Energy into the system equals energy out of the system.

      anyway, yes- an object in motion tends to stay in motion and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. If you're willing to be happy with an object that just spins and is in space, congratulations, the universe is a perpetual motion machine.

      if you'd like the more classical definition of a machine that does work, well, good luck.

      Now for the mind bender- according to the laws of conservation, all the energy in the universe - spinning planets, energy stored in elements, whatever - had to come from somewhere. You can start with our solar system and our sun and move outwards through the universe, but eventually, if you trace the energy back from every object- it has to come from somewhere. So one of three possibilities:

      1) there's a God that can create something from nothing and came into being who knows how, just believe it.
      2) we are not made of energy, and we do not exist physically- we only think we do
      3) we do not exist at all- which seems to be disproven immediately because, well, we exist. Or at least we think we do... *grin* (Cogito ergo sum)

    29. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      :) You can't get energy from magnets. No, a magnetic field is not energy.

      The iron filings move because you're moving the magnet. Don't move the magnet? No little iron filings moving.

      The exception is when you first bring the magnet close enough to the filings to make them move. They will move towards the magnet. That movement is due to their potential energy (energy of position). Now, why don't we harness that? We'll just move the filings away and drop them again... oh, wait, that will take the same amount, or more, energy as we get out. Okay, let's turn off the magnet and them move them away. Oh, wait, you can't turn off a permanent magnet. Okay, we'll use an electromagnet! Oh, wait, the electricity it takes to run the electromagnet is equal to or more than any energy we get out. Oh well.

    30. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Hex4def6 · · Score: 1

      Just like to clarify after thinking about the magnet releasing energy;
      There is an energy release due to the increase in entropy of the magnet as it weakens. However, the amount of energy it releases would be peanuts, especially considering the period of time over which the magnet would decay. If you had an electromagnet with x strength versus a permanent magnetic with strength x, theoretically you would get the same amount of energy the their fields collapsing; its just that the permanent magnet would take years to release it.
      So my third point is wrong in that respect. Again though, the amount of energy you would "gain" (which you would have put into the production of the magnet in the first place) would be miniscule compared with the output of any non-trivial generator. It would be at best like one revolutions worth, spread out over a few years :)

    31. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Keith+McClary · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We should be able to rate stories by bogosity, and it should not be limited to 5. This one should be in the thousands.

    32. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by steve_vmwx · · Score: 2

      I actually just logged on so I could be on the record. (I just don't bother anymore... ) JIC anyone actually reads this that can exert some influence.

      Yeah.

      What the parent said. /. had good stuff. /. seemed to have a large audience with informed commentry. I was once proud of a 5 score.

      These days pseudo science and a never seemingly ending stream of gaming stories has turned me off.

      Where have all the good articles and participants gone? No, really... I didn't get the memo and I want to join you!

      --
      Forget the truth. Science is fact.
    33. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by dfjunior · · Score: 1

      Perpetual until the "permanent" magnets become degaussed, no?

    34. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by andyclements · · Score: 1

      This sounds like an article that I saw on japan.com a year or so ago, but that motor was 330% effiecient (link now down). Their ambitious plans? Fans in convenience stores. I guess if you are out to break the laws of thermodynamics, then you have to hide it.

      As mentioned a bit earlier, just look to New Generation Motors for a super high efficiency motor (primarilly solar cars). They are efficient, but reach over 100dB at 550 RPM and 2500 W / 3.25 HP. And, speaking from experience, that is a loud little thing to have right behind your head.

      Maybe in the future someone at these sites will actually show some science behind the laws of physics that, apparenty, no longer apply so we can show them where they went wrong.

      --
      Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO (or Linux) is the answer.
    35. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by MadUndergrad · · Score: 1

      Eh, the anthropic principle works well too. Sum ob sum. The Latin makes it seem much more credible, wouldn't you agree?

    36. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But we need to look at what type of efficiency we're claiming here. You're talking about thermodynamics, ala the carnot engine (or carnot cycle), where the efficiency of pumping heat from a hot to cold resivoir (or vica versa) is definitly over one.

      However, in the example of the motor, claiming over 100% efficiency would be claiming that more mechancial work is done than electric power is input, a violation of conservation of energy!! We're talking about direct transfer from one type of energy to another.

      In other thermodynamic examples (such as heat pumps and carnot engines) we are talking about the energy input and work required to MOVE heat energy that already exists somewhere. Apples to oranges, you can't compare the two!

    37. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Cyberax · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No. Electrets ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electret ) never wear out because electric field is conservative ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrotational_vector_f ield ). That means if you move a charge in a closed loop than net energy gain/loss is zero (and this doesn't depend on move trajectory of the charge).

      Magnetic field, on the other hand, is rotational. So there are move trajectories which generate net gain or loss. That's why it's possible to magnetize or demagnetize magnets. And of course, law of conservation of energy and momentum holds so you can't get free energy out of magnets.

    38. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Cyberax · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We'll just move the filings away and drop them again... oh, wait, that will take the same amount, or more, energy as we get out.

      No. You can move them 'sideways', this requires _less_ energy (and demagnetises your magnet a bit). That's because magnetic field is a vortex field. If you repeat this process backwards you will lose some energy ang remagnetize your magnet a bit.

      What you say is true for electric field, however.
    39. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Irelevant to the discussion at hand. You imply that the wearing out of the magnet is due to it releasing energy. This is also false. The life of a magnet is due to the material its made of, and the enviroment it is in -- heat, shock, external magnetic forces all affect its life. Not how much "energy" you get from it.

      Well, then why do hard disk drives work?
    40. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      As somebody pointed out, the amount of energy stored in even a VERY strong permanent magnet is vanishingly small, and in permanent magnets it is released VERY slowly (thus why they're called permanent magnets). Far to slowly to have any important effects on a reasonably sized motor.

    41. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Loconut1389 · · Score: 1

      latin is supposed to be the 'intelligent language' and the foundation of most of the 'romance' languages. The fact that many a Ph.D. (also latin) use latin lends it a certain aire, no doubt.

      I personally know maybe 4 or 5 phrases and use them fairly sparingly (except Carpe Cervisi)- to be honest, I have very few uses for them. Some of those phrases I learned the other day in reply to another thread, cant remember what it was about.

      I tried to look up "sum ob sum" and couldn't find any references. The one dictionary I found rigidly translated to "to be concerning to be", which I presume is "to be or not to be"? Out of curiosity, is that an official translation, or should I be careful trying to use that one?

    42. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      But... they're open source! Open source is good!

    43. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by peterfa · · Score: 1

      It's true. I returned to the future and found that they soon will become common place in our society. You will have a sex change, btw.

    44. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Well, energy stored in rare-earth metal magnets is in range of kilojoules and it can be released quickly enough.

    45. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by jrockway · · Score: 1

      > oooh but just think, if you had a subscription you could've seen it even before the rest of us!

      I often do see problems with the stories, e-mail the editors, and watch as they do absolutely nothing. One time, they were duping a story that was already on the front page. I e-mailed them about it... and the story was posted 30 minutes later. The first 100 comments were like, "OMFG you duped the story right under this one". *sigh*

      That could have been avoided if they had just read their damn e-mail!

      (Fortunately, it looks like the /. editors are doing something. They recently added "tagging" for subscribers... so you can tag articles as "dupe" or "typo" or "slashvertisement". Some day, we'll be able to filter on these keywords. Definitely a cool idea.)

      --
      My other car is first.
    46. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 1

      So, this is about a motor that makes claims that are pretty universally accepted to be impossible. The poster, of course, is affiliated with the site hosting the page, so he really should have read the article the same way I did.

      Heheh... what should be enough to tip off those readers *without* an Electrical Engineering degree is the fact that the site is hosted on IIS. I mean, immediately when I find a site is running on IIS, its owners (and therefore content) lose all credibility.

      >100% efficiency is simply impossible. There's the resistance of the windings, there's the reluctance of the laminates, there's the air resistance to the moving armature, there's the bearing friction. If it were true, these guys would have figured out a way to break every known law of physics.

      One of the things about these sites which really irritates me is that ignorant hausfrau and hippies get it into their heads that such things are really possible, then start writing their congressmen, who in turn legislate asinine and counter-productive "energy efficiency" measures like hybrid cars (shorter lifespans due to expensive service and replacement batteries - just watch the wrecking yards in a couple of years), those silly front-load washing machines (what kind of idiot trusts a rubber seal to contain the water when there's gravity there? How long will the seal last before the machine starts leaking and gets pitched?) and low-flush toilets (flushing four times to get rid of dark matter is *not* a net water savings).

      --
      Fire and Meat. Yummy.
    47. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Fred_A · · Score: 1
      Well, then why do hard disk drives work?

      Same as you, to maximise shareholder's value.
      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    48. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by xSauronx · · Score: 1
      those silly front-load washing machines (what kind of idiot trusts a rubber seal to contain the water when there's gravity there? How long will the seal last before the machine starts leaking and gets pitched?)

      Im a drycleaner, and its normal for commercial cleaning operations to use a front-loading washer, be it for laundry or dry-cleaning. I can not, in the last 15 years, recall even *once* having to replace a door-seal, even on a dry-cleaning machine that used a rather volatile solvent; nevermind a washing machine that uses water and a carefully balanced chemical mixture.

      Certainly we changed a number of seals on other parts, but on the front-loading doors? Thats your concern? Honestly, how silly. Besides, a rubber door seal, should it ever *need* replacing, can be replaced EASILY with

      wait for it...more rubber. or, as is used on on drycleaning washer/extractor and similarly on the solvent reclaimer: a cork seal, which is going on use for 5 years this easter and isnt showing a sign of a problem.

      Nevermind the other benefits of a front-loading machine, such as less used space (imagine a washing machine large enough to do 60lbs of laundry as a top-fill machine, itd be rather large) and it would need more water to do the same job. Remember, in a top-fill you have to fill it with water completely over the level of the clothing; not so with a front-loading washer (i believe the models we use fill something like 60% or so of the drum) and you get a better cleaning, because theres more agitation, because theres more room, unless you absolutely stuff it full, for the clothes to move around. In addition, you can clean large items like blankets and comforters or long items like tablecloths and such without the risk of them tangling around the vertical agitator and causing the damned things to sieze (odd enough, my manager recently tried washing her comforter at home in a large top-loading washer and ruined it, of all the people...)

      And now you know ;)

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
    49. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Anthropic principle: It's the way it is because if it wasn't we'd wonder why it is that way.

      So he probably said (or wanted to say) I am, therefore I am.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    50. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be American. The rest of the world figured out years ago that front-loaders use less water, clean better, and DON'T leak. Well, not from the front seal, anyway!

    51. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by speculatrix · · Score: 1
      I recall a few years ago about a Japanese inventor who also claimed to get more power out than he was putting in due to some magic properties of the magnets.

      The conundrum is usually resolved by using ammeters which can cope with non unity power-factors - motors and generators and inductive loads usually give a false reading on an cheap/off the shelp multimeter.

      The difficulty of measuring inductive loads used to be exploited by large organisations who'd use capacitors to shift the phase of their fluorescent lights and thus not have to pay for their lighting!

    52. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      "Your browser does not support scripts. This page requires scripts in order to display properly.

      Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services."

      Opensourcenergy use Windows for a webserver? Very, very sad....

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    53. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Idarubicin · · Score: 1
      We should be able to rate stories by bogosity, and it should not be limited to 5. This one should be in the thousands.

      Would violate the law of Conservation of Mod Points...?

      --
      ~Idarubicin
    54. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by MadUndergrad · · Score: 1

      It means "I am because I am". (I'd have to look it up to make sure it's grammatically correct, but I think it is).

    55. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by thsths · · Score: 1

      > Even if it didn't fit past articles, this one alone should be grounds for an indefinite suspension of story submission rights (for both submitter and editor).

      Absolutely. The idea alone that you could beat the second law of thermodynamics with stronger magnets seems pretty "interesting". But the mentioning of the "over-unity machine" in the first paragraph should have proven bejond doubt that this is not a reliable article.

      Well, whatever. In the end you have to do the filtering yourself. I just wander what kind of science article are declared "uninteresting" by the editor. I guess there must be a lot of good reads in that category :-)

    56. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by OriginalArlen · · Score: 1

      Careful what you say. I got bitchslapped for questioning whether a story belonged on Slashdot. (At this point I've pretty much given up on /. too, after 8 years [my other account has a 5 figure UID] I can't say I'm happy about it but... sometimes you just have to accept that the world's moved on, there are new alternatives that don't come with Slashdot's little "quirks". Hello Digg, BoingBoing, delicio.us and google news.

      --

      Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
    57. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Syberghost · · Score: 1

      I favor the strong anthropic principle; if they didn't work, we wouldn't call them "hard drives", we'd call them "door stops".

    58. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To increase efficiency over 100% means to more than double the efficiency not make it create energy

    59. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by rjune · · Score: 1

      It's not over 100% efficient? Darn, I needed that for my FTL drive.

    60. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Helvidius · · Score: 1

      Well, I guess this could work in a server cabinet if your server was a mechanical adding machine.

      --
      "Care about people's opinions and you will be their prisoner." ~~Tao Te Ching~~
    61. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by AdolChristin · · Score: 1

      Awesome! I thought the same thing when I read this story! What the parent is a potential source of perpetual energy which relies on the following two assertions: Assertion 1: Cat's always land on their feet when dropped from above a certain height. Assertion 2: Buttered toast always lands butter side down when dropped. The idea is to strap the toast butter side up to the cat and then toss the cat out of the window. The toast will try to land butter side down while the cat tries to land on its feet. The end result is that the cat/toast device will hover a foot or so above the ground spinning in the air.

      --
      #include "forums.h"
      int main() {while (bollox) postcount++;}
    62. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Floody · · Score: 1
      Now for the mind bender- according to the laws of conservation, all the energy in the universe - spinning planets, energy stored in elements, whatever - had to come from somewhere. You can start with our solar system and our sun and move outwards through the universe, but eventually, if you trace the energy back from every object- it has to come from somewhere. So one of three possibilities:

      1) there's a God that can create something from nothing and came into being who knows how, just believe it. 2) we are not made of energy, and we do not exist physically- we only think we do 3) we do not exist at all- which seems to be disproven immediately because, well, we exist. Or at least we think we do... *grin* (Cogito ergo sum)


      4) We do exist, however, our cognitive abilities are currently too primitive to understand the scope of the universe (e.g. "everything") and the nature of causality at that level, and are thus still struggling to determine what the right (meaningful) cosmological questions are, much less make some sort of ultimate unifying revelation.
    63. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by raddan · · Score: 1

      Vote with your preferences. Remember the filter touted as a way for Jon Katz-haters to finally have some relief? Turn off ScuttleMonkey stories.

    64. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to get all grammer nazi on people, unless they are trying to sound smart and using big words incorrectly. Schadenfreude is a noun, not a verb. One can feel schadenfreude over the fact that people are paying money for Slashdot. One cannot BE schadenfreude, though.

    65. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, I think the new tagging beta might allow something similar. Looking at the article now, I see "pseudoscience, vaporware, perpetualmotion, freeenergy, badscience" listed as the tags.

    66. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by mad.frog · · Score: 1

      Didn't realize that was possible! Thanks for the tip.

    67. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by mwilliamson · · Score: 1

      Bigfoot is really just another manufactured memory planted by the same alien grays who planted the design for this over-unity device in the mind of the poster via an anal probe. (I guess that route must have provided the shortest path to his brain.)

    68. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      this one alone should be grounds for an indefinite suspension of story submission rights

      Did you mean to write "promotion" when you wrote "suspension"? Because as of this comment, the story has sold at least 700 ad impressions, wait make that 701. OK, if you're reading this, 702.

      Any story about perpetual motion machines is bound to get at least 500 comments from people complaining that it's a perpetual motion machine, with at least two ads per person. The only way to combat this is to not post on those stories.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    69. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by mad.frog · · Score: 1

      Sigh... sadly, you are probably correct.

      And we both just contributed to the problem :-/

    70. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by Grayswan · · Score: 1

      Bigfoot was busy doing a photo shoot for the National Equirer magazine and could not be available for this story. I agree with you though, his inclusion would have made a nice touch.

      --
      If you open your mind too wide, people will throw trash in it.
    71. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by swalker42 · · Score: 1

      Because Bigfoot understands the laws of thermodynamics. He wouldn't be caught dead (or terribly out of focus) near this story.

      --
      You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means
    72. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by quietkey · · Score: 1

      Good point. Now, maybe you can tell me where the initial source charge comes from, since electrical engineering models assume they are spontaneously generated from nowhere. I've been trying to find that one out for a bit, now.

    73. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by esobofh · · Score: 1

      Yeahhh... I think we've clearly missed the humour here. Did you notice how Boeing's "Phantom Works" lab appears to be a basement suite kitchen, complete with low-budget wine rack and dingy cabinetry?

      Unless Boeing is really low in the budget dept these days.. I think this is clearly BS!!

      --

      ----------------------------
      Esobofh - Currently drinking fresh mango juice.
    74. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      KJ/m^3... a m^3 is pretty big. The highest energy magnet I could find is a Nd2Fe14B magnet which top out around 400 KJ/m^3. That's 0.4J / cm^3. Their density is around 7.6 g/cc. 1 kg of them (a nice size for our perpetual motion prototype) would hold 52.4J of magnetic energy.

      I'm not sure how you'd demagnetize them quickly to get at that 52J though. You could heat them up and melt them, but that would waste a LOT more than 52J. They're fairly easy to smash, but that would break the magnet up into a bunch of still magnetized pieces.

      Note that you could store 52J of easily recoverable energy in your 1kg magnet (or any 1kg hunk of mass) by raising it 5m in the air. Or you could just slip a AA battery into your machine somewhere and get 300 times as much fake perpetual motion energy in convenient electrical form. It weighs a LOT less too.

    75. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 1

      Im a drycleaner, and its normal for commercial cleaning operations to use a front-loading washer, be it for laundry or dry-cleaning. I can not, in the last 15 years, recall even *once* having to replace a door-seal, even on a dry-cleaning machine that used a rather volatile solvent; nevermind a washing machine that uses water and a carefully balanced chemical mixture.

      I cannot, in recorded history, tell you of an incident where gravity has failed to keep a liquid in a container.

      Certainly we changed a number of seals on other parts, but on the front-loading doors? Thats your concern? Honestly, how silly. Besides, a rubber door seal, should it ever *need* replacing, can be replaced EASILY with wait for it...more rubber.

      In consumer installations, this will rarely happen. Think about it! How many of your customers will whine, "it's too complicated!" if you were to pass them a door seal and a Philips screwdriver for their front-load washing machine.

      or, as is used on on drycleaning washer/extractor and similarly on the solvent reclaimer: a cork seal, which is going on use for 5 years this easter and isnt showing a sign of a problem.

      Five years! Wow! That's almost 1/10th the age of my washing machine, a 1954 Maytag which trusts in gravity to retain the water!

      Nevermind the other benefits of a front-loading machine, such as less used space (imagine a washing machine large enough to do 60lbs of laundry as a top-fill machine, itd be rather large) and it would need more water to do the same job. Remember, in a top-fill you have to fill it with water completely over the level of the clothing; not so with a front-loading washer (i believe the models we use fill something like 60% or so of the drum) and you get a better cleaning, because theres more agitation, because theres more room, unless you absolutely stuff it full, for the clothes to move around.

      The sole and singual benefit of a front-loader is that they're stackable. That's it.

      Less water consumption = less cleanliness. Go take a university-level chemistry course or two. Make careful notes of such concepts as solubility concepts. Remember that it's not the detergent or the agitation which dissolves the dirt, it's the universal solvent which does it.

      Note also that I don't believe in waste, it's just that I'm not sufficiently ignorant to tow the party line. Want to save water? Here's how, including pictures of my own washer and installation.

      In addition, you can clean large items like blankets and comforters or long items like tablecloths and such without the risk of them tangling around the vertical agitator and causing the damned things to sieze (odd enough, my manager recently tried washing her comforter at home in a large top-loading washer and ruined it, of all the people...)

      I dunno. I'm not sufficiently ignorant to overload any washing machine, rather it be a real one or a eurotrash front-loader.

      --
      Fire and Meat. Yummy.
    76. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 1

      You must be American. The rest of the world figured out years ago that front-loaders use less water, clean better, and DON'T leak. Well, not from the front seal, anyway!

      Nope, I'm a Canadian, with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry, and who paid at least part of his way through university by repairing major appliances.

      So, thrall me with your acumen.

      --
      Fire and Meat. Yummy.
    77. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by walstib · · Score: 1

      I for one welcome our new perpetual motion... aw screw it!

      --
      The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps. - Benjamin Disraeli
    78. Re:Yet Another Bogus Science Story by tinkertim · · Score: 1

      Why would it be bogus? I'm a nerd, and I understood the article. I also found it interesting and worthy of mentioning.

      I'm a little miffed that they leaked the advancement and no real supporting documentation, but folks have a look at the picture on the right of the article.

      I'm looking at what appears to be #3 or #4 AWG feedrs (one red, one black) yet look at the size of the solder connections / lug on the motor. I can't say for sure that's also not #12 high voltage (like you'd use for a neon sign) but it looks like THHN .. strange.

      While they did not give tourque specifications, payback, heat or (really) anything else I can say it looks a little odd and kind of interesting. I'd also be very curious to see what that motor pulled with a locked rotor.

      I'm also kinda miffed that "Perpetual motion" snuck in there. Sure in theory if the thing spun with no load iand nothing ever touched it.

      Then in came "renewable energy source" umm , no ... how'd you figure on renewable energy? If it was renewable you'd be able to have what was conserved and produced do other things than spin the motor.

      Over hyped yeah. Bogus, nah. But just my opinion :)

  2. Developed for the phantom by gentimjs · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear this was developed specifically for the new Phantom gameconsole and online service. I cant wait to get duke nukem whenever going on that baby!

  3. Not perpetual motion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Although the summary seems to brand it as such. RTFA submitter, all they claim it to be is a higher efficiency electric motor. No self contained power source....

    1. Re:Not perpetual motion by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      Yes, its just where they say it could go over 100% efficiency is where we all gag.

    2. Re:Not perpetual motion by blincoln · · Score: 2, Informative

      RTFA submitter, all they claim it to be is a higher efficiency electric motor. No self contained power source....

      From TFA:

      The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier.

      It may be described primarily as a motor, but if it could generate excess power then it would also be a "self contained power source." Of course, it can't, but TFA does imply that it is one.

      If I'm reading the text of their patent correctly, it's not for the motor, but for the magnet assembly used in the motor. Maybe I'm missing something, but even with that limitation the patent looks pretty weak. Doesn't it cover just about any use of permanent magnets in a variable configuration to modify a magnetic field?

      Anyway, this looks like another in a long line of "use permanent magnets to make a perpetual motion device" concepts.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    3. Re:Not perpetual motion by adnoid · · Score: 1

      all they claim it to be is a higher efficiency electric motor. No self contained power source

      From TFA: "over unity". They claim perpetual motion. That'd be a "no", there.

      --
      No sig
    4. Re: Not perpetual motion by gwernol · · Score: 2, Informative

      If I'm reading the text of their patent correctly, it's not for the motor, but for the magnet assembly used in the motor. Maybe I'm missing something, but even with that limitation the patent looks pretty weak. Doesn't it cover just about any use of permanent magnets in a variable configuration to modify a magnetic field?

      Yeah, their pseudo-science is laid on thick, but it looks to me like a variant on the Lutec scam which is, funnily, always going to be ready "at the end of the year X" where X is whatever calendar year you are currently in. Check out their site. They even quote an anonymous but "notable" physicist, color me impressed:

      http://www.lutec.com.au/

      Anyway, this looks like another in a long line of "use permanent magnets to make a perpetual motion device" concepts.

      Yup, no doubt.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
    5. Re:Not perpetual motion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm usually a polite person, but stupidity irks me. The article is complete bullshit. The device is a perpetual motion machine. You are fucking retarded, and the submitter owns the goddamn site the story is on.

  4. Wow.. by fred911 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought they were called squirrel cages. And they're not perpetual, someones gotta feed the squirrels!

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    1. Re:Wow.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you don't have to feed the squirrels. Just put more in whenever it slows down, and have a mesh bottom so that the detritus doesn't build up too much.

  5. Obligatory Simpson's quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

  6. 2nd law of thermodynamics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  7. Bah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yet another 'Coming Soon' thing that will always be 'Coming Soon'
    Did someone forget entropy?

  8. obligatory comment about how in soviet russia... by bennomatic · · Score: 0, Troll
    the power source contains you!

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  9. Anyone want to buy a bridge by rahmrh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Electric motors are already 80-90% efficient, while this might make it closer to 100% it won't go over, unless someone discovered some new laws of physics. Given that they attempt to make the claim of greater than 100% I suspect the entire thing is full of crap.

    1. Re:Anyone want to buy a bridge by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Electric motors are already 80-90% efficient, while this might make
      > it closer to 100% it won't go over, unless someone discovered some
      > new laws of physics.

      The only natural law involved here is "There's a sucker born every minute".

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    2. Re:Anyone want to buy a bridge by chuckw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And if you'd looked into it a *BIT* more, you'd know that this technology (PPMT) has nothing to do with free energy or perpetual motion. Flynn has been done a profound disservice by the cited website. Check out his website for the real scoop. Nowhere in there does it say anything about free energy. What he has is simply a very efficient motor that can act as a generator when an *EXTERNAL FORCE* is applied to the shaft.

      --
      *Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
    3. Re:Anyone want to buy a bridge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That website sure looks credible.

  10. Ahh Physics by TheUnknownOne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the first lines of the article basicly claim it's a perpetual motion machine, and than later in the article it says this is impossible. Wonderful when even the articles contridict themselves. I really enjoy the part where they state that they recieved a patent, like it actually means something.

    1. Re:Ahh Physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe TFA was submitted as part of a deliberate effort to undermine the credibility of Slashdot?

      Now, if \. were to uncover any real story about SCO, RIAA, MPAA, MSFT, or the NSA.... who's gonna believe them? eh?

    2. Re:Ahh Physics by forgotten_my_nick · · Score: 1

      I wonder how they managed to submit a patent? Don't the patent office have rules that all perpetual motion machines need to be supplied as working models before the patent would be accepted?

    3. Re:Ahh Physics by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      It doens't really matter that they managed to get it through. I can't imagine someone else making a perpetual motion machine, trying to sell it, and then these guys going to court to get an injunction or seek royalties. And if it did happen, it would be great fodder for the comics.

  11. Re:first by pryoplasm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine a beowulf cluster made out of vaporware

    --
    Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who live by the gun...
  12. Perpetual motion machines by isomeme · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it that every new PMM for the last two decades has involved permanent magnets? Is there some kind of mad-scientist cabal that decrees these things? Will the fashion turn to something else soon, like, I don't know, materials so bouncy that they rebound with more energy than they hit the surface with? (Name that classic SF story.)

    Seriously: Editors, please shitcan perpetual motion machines before we have to waste precious seconds on them. When a real PMM is possible, you'll know it's happened because suddenly the universe will have stopped working properly, and you'll be instantaneously and very thoroughly dead.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    1. Re:Perpetual motion machines by rahmrh · · Score: 1

      If a perpetual motion machine were actually possible: We won't know about it until the guy who invented it quietly competes with and puts out of business the oil and power companies. If one were to actually work there would be way too much money in it to even think about letting someone else have a piece of your billions. If it actually worked it would easy to go into the power generation business, since no one yet has then none work. And the arguements about supression don't hold water, which ever oil/power company that bought it would use it to eliminate their competition.

    2. Re:Perpetual motion machines by gwernol · · Score: 3, Informative

      Why is it that every new PMM for the last two decades has involved permanent magnets? Is there some kind of mad-scientist cabal that decrees these things?

      Wikipedia's entry on Perpetual Motion Machines has a good explanation of the obsession with permanent magnets:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion

      Take a look at the "techniques" section. The core mistake in these theories is that work done by permanent magnets doesn't weaken the magnet.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
    3. Re:Perpetual motion machines by isomeme · · Score: 1

      I should have known Wikipedia would have the answer; it always does. Thanks for the pointer.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    4. Re:Perpetual motion machines by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You hardly need a perpetual motion machine for that. Just some 98% efficient solar panels or a form of nuclear power that uses unregulated minerals would do it. It's funny, when I first learned how nuclear reactors worked as a kid I was shocked at how rediculously primitive they are. I remember asking my school teacher why they had to heat water and couldn't just generate electricity directly. Later in life I learned even moreso how primitive nuclear technology is.. we don't even control the emission of nuetrons, they just pop out randomly and we try to soak them up so the reaction doesn't get too hot or run out.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    5. Re:Perpetual motion machines by drgonzo59 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      People who do not have a particularly good relationship with math and real science are fascinated with the "crazy" and "wonderful" action at a distance. Much like my cat is fascinated at the strange red dot that is there moving but then disappears all of the sudden, when I turn the laser point off. These kind of people will say stuff like "OMG! Wow! Look Ma! Two pieces of metal attract each other and they are not even touching!" Then of course they make the obvious step from there and say "Aha! I know, I bet I could build a perpetual motion machine, I'll be famous and solve the world's energy problems..." As they get older they don't necessarily get smarter, they just make their designs more complicated and use a lot of buzzwords, then they apply for patents, and people just like them from the patent office grant them those patents, then they create websites, attract investors and become famous.

      What is most sad about the story is that it appeared on the front page of Slashdot. "News for nerds" turned into "News for idiots". This leads me to believe that if even the supposedly scientifically minded Slashdot editors and submitters are willing to believe such crap, the general public will probably be even easier convinces.

      Sad, sad, sad... I blame the primary education in this country.

    6. Re:Perpetual motion machines by DerGeist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reason for all the commotion about permanent magnets is their seemingly unending supply of energy. From a simplistic point of view, this could mean an easy path to a PMM. Example: you can envision putting a magnet on your fridge. It sticks until you take it off. Put a piece of paper on your fridge, it just slides to the ground. The magnet has to exert force all the time to keep itself from falling, right? What if we could harness this incessant force somehow? Great Scott, we'd have a perpetual motion machine! Of course, in real life this doesn't work because a constant magnetic field doesn't actually do any work -- a changing magnetic field does, but you need to sustain this change somehow, which does take work. So to sum it up, it's highly unlikely that permanent magnets are secretly PMMs just waiting to be discovered.

    7. Re:Perpetual motion machines by rahmrh · · Score: 1

      That would do it too, so would someone figuring out to cheaply and easily convert 90-100% of the energy in any fuel to electricity, that to would kill everyone getting the normal 30-50%. Fuel cells meet all of the above except for the "cheaply and easily" part.

    8. Re:Perpetual motion machines by MrNougat · · Score: 1

      Name that classic SF story.

      Flubber?

      --
      Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
    9. Re:Perpetual motion machines by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      Actually a permanent magnet does have chemical energy, and is releasing its energy through magnetic fields but at a very slow rate (ie wasted energy from the electrical resistance of air). Extracting this energy would require something vastly different that just altering the flux flow. Probably would require chemical extraction.

    10. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i know how to make a perpetual motion machine, one that can not only sustain its own power, but generates excess power. I can do this WHILE following all the laws of physics, seriously. It also scales.

      Would I win the nobel peace prize if I invented it? How can I guard myself to ensure it is not stolen, and i receive the credit? What would you do if you figured out a PPM?

    11. Re:Perpetual motion machines by __aajfby9338 · · Score: 1
      Actually a permanent magnet does have chemical energy [...] Extracting this energy would require something vastly different that just altering the flux flow. Probably would require chemical extraction.

      There is a well-known method for extracting that chemical energy. We call it "burning".

    12. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm even more shocked that someone who mocks nuclear technology can't spell "ridiculous". You should have asked your school teacher for help with that...

    13. Re:Perpetual motion machines by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      That's how it's spelt in the dialect of english I speak. And according to Google, there's about 1,540,000 of us who spell it that way.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    14. Re:Perpetual motion machines by dbIII · · Score: 1
      Why is it that every new PMM for the last two decades has involved permanent magnets?
      Because mesmerism is back.

      If people believe in their magnetic water and magnetic blankets and other things of that ilk that are surprisingly similar to what Ben Frankin debunked all those years age, they'll believe in a magical magenetic machine that can run forever.

    15. Re:Perpetual motion machines by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      Ok chemical energy is probably the wrong word for it I guess, its molecular potential energy, just there is a lot of energy in a diamond from being crushed (not just the raw carbon energy). Extracting that energy... Maybe ET will provide the answer!

    16. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Verminator · · Score: 1

      Pathetic.

      Try the original.

      The Absent-Minded Professor.

      --
      "The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus
    17. Re:Perpetual motion machines by egarland · · Score: 2, Funny

      Perpetual motion machines are impossible. The reaction is almost automatic. It's proven. It's scientific law. It's been proven unquestioningly impossible to do.

      Really!? When?

      Even if it were possible to prove something impossible, we haven't done it here. Now.. I'm not defending the article, it's certainly BS.. but the idea that the universe is not a closed loop system, the idea that once energy enters one of it's forms it cannot possibly take any other form ever under any circumstance, I would think, would meet with a little more thought, a little more scrutiny than just flat out immediate acceptance from everyone everywhere.

      Even in the world of Sci-Fi where time travel, consciousness swapping and instantaneous travel over long distances are nauseatingly regular plot elements, they never dare to imagine things not needing a centralized power source. What is so horribly wrong with assuming that heat energy, just like all other forms of energy, could be convertible into a useful form. (For those who's minds immediately jump to engines and fire and steam and "we've been doing this for years".. I'm talking about heat as a source for energy, not a heat difference which is what all currently known heat based power technologies require, totally 100% completely different things. I'm talking about pulling the heat out of something and turning that heat energy into another useful form like electricity.)

      People often point to the second law of thermodynamics as "proof" that heat is impossible to gather energy from, but this law no more proves that than the law of gravity proves that heavier than air objects can't fly. Just because things heavier than air "tend" to fall, doesn't mean we can't carefully construct things that reliably don't. I imagine that if birds didn't exist smacking the possibility in our face constantly, we'd still assume it was impossible to fly. I, for one, think it is possible to turn heat into energy.

      So. What if it were possible...

      Imagine if you will, a chip, shaped similar to a CPU. This chip had some network of atomic scale contructions that could somehow turn heat into electricity inside it. The removal of heat energy from the chip would manifest itself as cold (a lack of heat energy) and so when power was drawn from it, it would get cold. The more power was drawn from it, the colder it would get (within design limits). Play with the idea... I do. It's fun. The implications are wild.

      --
      set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
    18. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 1

      Hell, even physicists are fascinated by action at a distance. It creeps them out, so they invented particles to carry the energy and information. "graviton", "photon", "gluon", etc.

      --
      Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
      Africus aut Europaeus?
    19. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Imagine if you will, a chip, shaped similar to a CPU. This chip had some network of atomic scale contructions that could somehow turn heat into electricity inside it. The removal of heat energy from the chip would manifest itself as cold (a lack of heat energy) and so when power was drawn from it, it would get cold. The more power was drawn from it, the colder it would get (within design limits). Play with the idea... I do. It's fun. The implications are wild."

      ... for example a peltier chip?

    20. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Threni · · Score: 1

      > I should have known Wikipedia would have the answer; it always does.

      More accurately, Wikipedia always has *an* answer...

    21. Re:Perpetual motion machines by MrNougat · · Score: 1

      My opinion is that use of the original (which I am plenty aware of) would not have been as funny in this context.

      --
      Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
    22. Re:Perpetual motion machines by slashname3 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually several such devices have been developed. The oil industry however squelched them by buying them out or killing the inventors. There is to much money in oil at the moment for such devices to be allowed in the market.

      Besides, if power suddenly became free there would not be much money in that. There might be money in building such power plants and in supplying the raw materials to build those plants. But there would be very little money in the generation of the power itself. The big effect it would have would be reducing the costs of almost everything else. No power costs, other than transmission infrastructure, should in a free economy translate into cheaper prices for all other goods. Which would in turn cause economies all over the global to collapse because they are used to the higher costs. It would result in deflation of worlds money supplies. At least for the short term. Lots of unemployment, starving people, increase in homelessness.

      Its a good thing that the big businesses and governments of the world have kept such things off the market. It would be a disaster!

    23. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Rick.C · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Example: you can envision putting a magnet on your fridge. It sticks until you take it off. Put a piece of paper on your fridge, it just slides to the ground. The magnet has to exert force all the time to keep itself from falling, right? What if we could harness this incessant force somehow?

      You know, I think you may be on to something... a suction cup sticks to a window in much the same way! We all know that suction cups work on the principle of "vacuum" (and we're not talking sweepers, here). Outer space is full of this "vacuum" stuff. If we could get some investors to back us, we could build a space ship that could go out and collect all this free "vacuum" and bring it back to Earth.

      We'd solve all of our energy problems!
      --
      You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
      "Math in a song is good."-Linford
    24. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Changa_MC · · Score: 1

      Except that a peltier uses electricity to move heat where his chip uses heat to move electricity. And he's right, you know. PMMs are more feasable than time travel.

      --
      Changa hates change.
    25. Re:Perpetual motion machines by chuck · · Score: 1
      Why is it that every new PMM for the last two decades has involved permanent magnets?

      I read that as "Why is it that every new Permanant Magnet Motor for the last two decades has involved permanent magnets?" Because to me, that's what a PMM is. I was very confused for a time.
    26. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Such a device is known as Maxwell's demon. The idea has been around since the 1860s.

      It is generally thought that thermodynamics, where it applies, should in principle be derivable from fundamental laws, using a framework of statistical mechanics. Statistical mechanics is quite mature and has worked very well. It has made many correct and non-obvious predictions about how materials work. For example, the behavior of Bose-Einstein condensate was (correctly) predicted long ago based on the statistical mechanics of a particular type of quantum system.

      But in practice, how to derive the basic principles of statistical mechanics is a contentious issue among theorists. No one has done it in a really satisfactory way. People have slightly different ideas about what exactly "makes it tick."

      So no one is sure in what regimes a Maxwell's demon is necessarily impossible. But basically everyone believes that it is impossible to use one to violate the second law of thermodynamics in general.

      An analogy: general relativity predicts that time back in time may be possible given certain configurations of matter in a universe. Some papers have been written about strategies for making such a 'time machine'. But the point of these papers is not that people hope to come up with a workable time machine, but rather to explore how and to what extent physical law limits time travel. So someone may write a paper saying, 'yeah, you might be able to travel back in time by building a massive rotating rod, but you will at least need to use half the matter in the universe to do it.'

      Almost no one believes that time machines are possible in the system of general relativity -- but if they are impossible, we're not smart enough to prove it yet. It's a similar situation with Maxwell's demon.

    27. Re:Perpetual motion machines by egarland · · Score: 1

      Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment that essentially disproves the second law of thermodynamcis. The fact that people attack it from a practicality standpoint is silly. It's obviously meant to be a thought experiment not a practical design.

      Let me propose a second thought experiment... I'll call it a Garland engine (because I don't know who thought of it before me, although I'm sure someone has.) Place one molecule of an ion inside a very small container with a special design. The container has a wall down the middle and 2 one way doggy doors in it. one door will only allow travel in one direction, the other will only allow travel in the other. Rap a loop of wire around one door and wrap it backwards around the other door. Cascade that wire across millions of these devices.

      Of course.. if you could create a 1 way molecular doggy door you could use that to generate pressure differences so that concept has probably been "proven" impossible but I seriously doubt it actually is.

      --
      set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
    28. Re:Perpetual motion machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The Big Bounce" - but I can't remember who wrote it.

    29. Re:Perpetual motion machines by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      No, the reason we won't know about the guy who invented it is because the oil and power companies will quietly have him shot.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    30. Re:Perpetual motion machines by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Walter S. Tevis.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  13. Re:first by biscon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mod parent down, he is high and posting crap.

  14. PPP = Parallel Path Prius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So where can I buy a Prius equiped with Parallel Path Technology.

    Or would that be PPTP = Parallel Path Technology Prius.

    In any event, sign me up!

  15. Boeing Phantom Works is backing it up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you visit the STAIF 2006 website you will see that Boeing was presenting on this technology. I doubt that Boeing would be involved if it was complete bunk. On the same note I doubt that we will see it in our server rooms anytime soon because Boeing is involved. From what I hear they have a tendancy to take their time with things like these.
    http://www.unm.edu/~isnps/staif/2006/

  16. s/con/sus/ by bennomatic · · Score: 1
    whoops; my bad.

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  17. Clap {sarcasticly long pause} clap {SLP} clap. by rindeee · · Score: 2

    Bra-vo /. Not only is the story utter crap (greater than 100% return on input energy), but the headline has absolutely NOTHING to do with what's in TFA.

  18. Mod article down by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why are we bombarded by these nonsense articles? This sort of thing should be recognized as B.S. by even a reasonable competent High School student.

    1. Re:Mod article down by kwerle · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Pretty sure you answered your own question there...

    2. Re:Mod article down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to past articles a reasonably competent High School student wouldn't know B.S. if they stepped in it.

    3. Re:Mod article down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the h*** was this comment modded offtopic? Redundant I could understand, but offtopic? If this is offtopic so is almost every other comment... Ah, yes. I forgot where I was for a moment. Never mind, stupid question.

  19. What could it be? by OriginalArlen · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wow, intriguing! I haven't bothered to read the article because even the write-up says it's light on details. Unhampered by preconceptions, the possibilities are endless!

    • infrared solar cells lining cabinets absorb all heat passively - saving money on fans and the power to drive them - one rack per row contains a small steam (or hot water) powered generator.
    • Arrays of pigeons
    • batteries! They're self contained, after all
    • 256-port power-over-ethernet switch bonds multiple ports into one 240v supply
    • convection-powered 'wind' turbines. Ajax-heavy Web2.0 content will obviously be more eco-friendly due to the warm gusts of hype
    • Helldesk phone receivers connected to flywheel. List the phone, add some revs to the flywheel
    • ...my imagination fails. Well, it is nearly 2am... note to self: must stop posting to slashdot in bed.
    --

    Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
    1. Re:What could it be? by grqb · · Score: 1

      Heh, didn't bother to read it either.

      What gets me is that the submitter said the article is light on details, but the submitter probably wrote the article himself! At least, they're both from OSEN.

    2. Re:What could it be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And finally, once this self-contained power source is installed into ScuttleMonkey, he would never have to leave his computer and can then supply us with endless supply of revolutionary articles such as this one!

  20. Name that classic SF story by bennomatic · · Score: 1
    The Nutty Professor!

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
    1. Re:Name that classic SF story by isomeme · · Score: 1

      *laugh* I'd forgotten about that one! You score full credit, but I actually had a textual short SF story in mind.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    2. Re:Name that classic SF story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From before Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

    3. Re:Name that classic SF story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
      http://imdb.com/title/tt0054594/

    4. Re:Name that classic SF story by gibbo2 · · Score: 1

      I remember the story, I think it was just called "Bounce"? I don't know who wrote it but will look it up when I get home.

      It wasn't perpetual motion, the substance this guy invented pulled heat from the surrounding air to convert to kinetic energy. Pretty funny story.

    5. Re:Name that classic SF story by cogit0 · · Score: 1

      Wow, people have no recollection of old classic SF movies at all. The original cinematic occurence of the material known as "flubber" was in The Absent-Minded Professor, back in 1961. I think it was an old model T that they put the flubber in (among other things). Then again, it's one of those movies that just begs for MST3K...

    6. Re:Name that classic SF story by ariux · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's "The Big Bounce" by Walter S. Tevis, written in 1958. It's in the great short story collection "Where Do We Go From Here?" edited by Asimov.

      http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/books/a/as imov.htm
      http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/books/t/wl trstvs.htm

    7. Re:Name that classic SF story by isomeme · · Score: 1

      Bing! Give the man a prize, that's the very story I was thinking of -- and in fact I read it in that collection, too.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    8. Re:Name that classic SF story by bennomatic · · Score: 1
      Yeah, I corrected that in a later post. That's the problem with shooting from the hip. 3 seconds later, I realized I had confused "Nutty" with "Absent-Minded".

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    9. Re:Name that classic SF story by pintpusher · · Score: 1

      great story. I especially liked the bit where, after crashing through the house it got so cold, that the thing shattered. Did they ever find all the pieces? hmm...

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
  21. lab? by widget1985 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love how the "Lab" in the picture looks a whole lot like a kitchen.

    1. Re:lab? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...I was immediately struck by the thought that it looks like a still from an Infomercial, down to how the two guys are posed behind the "workbench".

    2. Re:lab? by Rick.C · · Score: 1
      I love how the "Lab" in the picture looks a whole lot like a kitchen.

      Hmmm... and did you ever notice how pictures of the Betty Crocker Kitchens look suspiciously like labs? Now, I'm not normally drawn to conspiracy theories, but...

      --
      You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
      "Math in a song is good."-Linford
  22. Naming that SF story... by bennomatic · · Score: 2, Funny
    It is, of course, Flubber!

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  23. Re:"LISA!!" by DesireCampbell · · Score: 5, Funny

    "... in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

    --
    Whoo, signature!
    DesireCampbell.com
  24. Okay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've heard too many "above 100% efficiency!" claims to get excited about anything like this.

    I'll believe that when I see this motor powering itself indefinitely in a closed loop without another power source.

  25. Correct!!! by BarnabyWilde · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "The article talks about the technology but doesn't exactly lay out specifics"

    The one true statement in the post!

    What's it got to do with "Server Cabinets"? Absolooly... nuthin'.

  26. sad really that OSE appears to be the crank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok, so this is on the open source energy network (WhateverTF that is)... I didn't see where the inventor ever claimed in excess of 100% efficiency, The person summarizing the device did. The sad part is that the inventor may be on to a way to improve or focus the induced magnetic field which effectively boosts the torque. You can get more torque without getting more power. Also, the inventor may have gotten more than 100% in some quantity that doesn't directly equate to power or energy and when turned into a power or energy metric actually obeys macroscopic conservation laws. So the guy may have had a good and useful invention but the OSE idjits have just turned him into a kook. Sometimes you should shoot the messanger for munging up the content.

    1. Re:sad really that OSE appears to be the crank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Article blurb:

      Joe Flynn from Flynn Research is working on a new technology called "Parallel Path" with Boeing Phantom Works. The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier. They have received a US Patent.

      Well. Something's claiming it.

  27. Mod parent up by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Yeah, it's bogus.

    If you like exotic motor designs, check out these "thin gap" motors. These brushless permanent magnet motors can reach 90% efficiency, which is very impressive. The windings are made from thin copper plates rather than round wires. These are real. You can order them.

    There's some interesting work going on in motor electromagnetics, but the "greater than 100%" motor probably isn't it.

    1. Re:Mod parent up by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 2, Informative

      90% isn't that good for a motor, most run between 92 and 98% efficient.

      But definitely aren't going to go over 100%

      I really wish perpetual motion, free energy .... nut jobs would go back into the woodwork. They make the life of engineers frustrating.

    2. Re:Mod parent up by mikael · · Score: 1

      Interesting ... but just wondering, whatever happened to the idea of backup power being stored in giant underground flywheels; the energy would be stored by bringing these up to speed, and released by slowing them down.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:Mod parent up by dbIII · · Score: 1
      whatever happened to the idea of backup power being stored in giant underground flywheels
      The load factor (phase) of power is corrected in some places by running unused generators as motors - I've seen a little 60MW unit in a coal fired power station used that way.

      The real answer is don't generate the stuff when nobody needs it since there are big losses involved. Pump storage exists for when you need to cover requirements at peak usage and you can use some off peak power for that - but places with a lot of water can just do the same thing with hydro.

    4. Re:Mod parent up by ParisTG · · Score: 1

      Or better yet, check out in-hub motors made by New Generation Motors, or by CSIRO designed for solar cars. They get upto about 98% efficiency, although they'll cost you plenty.

    5. Re:Mod parent up by cranq · · Score: 1

      You mean like these guys?

      --
      Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
    6. Re:Mod parent up by DarkHand · · Score: 4, Funny

      Interesting ... but just wondering, whatever happened to the idea of backup power being stored in giant underground flywheels; the energy would be stored by bringing these up to speed, and released by slowing them down.

      This idea is already in use: Even as we speak, dead physicists the world over are spinning in their graves from the posting of this Slashdot article. We simply need to harness this energy to solve the worlds energy problems!

    7. Re:Mod parent up by Dun+Malg · · Score: 3, Interesting
      whatever happened to the idea of backup power being stored in giant underground flywheels

      Nothing happened to the idea. It's been used for decades. My father worked for a defense contractor in the late 60's who had their computer rooms powered via a motor-driven generators with a 6-foot diameter reinforced concrete disks affixed to the shafts between the motors and generators. The inertia of the spinning disks easily kept the big iron powered up during brownouts, and during blackouts they provided enough interim power for the generators to come online.

      If you specifically mean those super high-speed flywheels we hear about from time to time, well, those require such exacting construction that they're still too expensive to replace batteries or generators. Someday maybe, but not yet.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    8. Re:Mod parent up by jd3nn1s · · Score: 1

      They exist but not on the giant underground scale. I've seen them in data centres as an alternative source of power to batteries to cover generator start up time. The fly wheel is kept spinning via grid power until grid fails. The fly wheel is used to generate power to the data centre until the diesel generators start up.

    9. Re:Mod parent up by hotdiggitydawg · · Score: 1

      (not my blog) Prior art from Dilbert - it is my coffee mug at the moment! I'd link to the cartoon itself but it has expired from the archive.

    10. Re:Mod parent up by Hasmanean · · Score: 1

      We are already digging up the graves of dead dinosaurs to harness their bodies for the worlds energy problems.

      --
      Hasan
    11. Re:Mod parent up by DShard · · Score: 1

      And the jibberish just keeps on coming.

    12. Re:Mod parent up by Khyron42 · · Score: 1

      When working at a power company, we got a great complaint letter. Among other misguided ideas, he told us to put solar cells under all the street lights so that we would never need to build additional power plants.

      Perhaps he now works for these gentlemen.

      --
      Pavlov's Dog ate the bell, and now he's barking at Schroedinger's cat all the time... -Me
    13. Re:Mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nuclear power plants also use fly wheels, to keep pumps and generators running a little while after their power source is disconnected.

    14. Re:Mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that its spelled "gibberish".

      Thanks for contributing, though.

    15. Re:Mod parent up by LaCosaNostradamus · · Score: 1

      Even as we speak, dead physicists the world over are spinning in their graves from the posting of this Slashdot article. We simply need to harness this energy to solve the worlds energy problems!

      Nah. The oil companies will just buy them up like all the other secret energy technologies and ... bury 'em. {chirp chirp} Hey, is this mike on? {pap pap}

      --
      [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
    16. Re:Mod parent up by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Yes, and even the live ones are shaking their heads in disgust. You know, we should harness that reciprocating motion and convert it into useful motion. Perhaps by using some kind of crank ... you know, like the one that posted the article in the first place.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  28. Warning, warning! by mentaldrano · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bullshit detector overload!

    This is Slashdot, for crying out loud. We're nerds, we don't fall for this idiotic screed even a high school freshman could debunk.

    Ooooh, big words are scary! Stator, rotor, magnetic flux. Dammit, both the editor and article submitter should hand in their geek cards.

    This guy does have a real patent, though. I don't know which is worse, the ignoramus patent examiner who allowed this one through or the baboon who posted it to Slashdot. Check the USPTO link here.
    1. Re:Warning, warning! by lorenc · · Score: 1

      (Ahem). I would hold back on the whole "ignoramus" bit. If you bothered to read the patent, there is nothing wrong with it. It does not claim any "over-unity" crap. All it claims are some methods for controlling a flux path. And in fact, if you bothered to read the patent, look at the drawings, oh - and had the background to understand it - perhaps you might have realized this. I think you owe the patent examiner an apology. His name is Fritz Fleming.

    2. Re:Warning, warning! by pogson · · Score: 1

      Granted, the thing can do what the patent says, but there is no invention. Even high school students have done experiments with permanent magnets and observed that there are vector fields involved. Combined with saturation and hysteresis, what is there to learn from the patent? There is no innovation and no particular advantage to the method. If you want a high torque motor, you can use DC and a commutator, for pity's sake, or polyphase.

      --
      A problem is an opportunity http://mrpogson.com
    3. Re:Warning, warning! by lorenc · · Score: 1

      Don't misunderstand me - I am not saying that the patent has any commercial value. However, to say there is no invention is incorrect. The specific invention has to do with how the flux is controlled, and not whether there is any other use. The criteria as to whether it is patentable does not have anything to do with a specific usefulness at the next level of abstraction. So, it doesn't really matter as to whether there are other ways to accomplish a similar end-result. If this is a new way to do it (novelty), is unique (non-obviousness), and actually works (reduced to practice) - then it probably has some chance of being a patentable invention. In any case - my point was that it was very poor form to insult the patent examiner by calling him names without any real understanding of the patent, or what the patent process really is and does.

      Just because the invention does not seem to be useful, does not mean its not an invention. Indeed, sometimes the value of an invention is only seen much latter in light of some other new technology in a totally unexpected way. So - you are totally off base saying there is no invention.

    4. Re:Warning, warning! by Bloater · · Score: 1

      The inventor's web site (amateurish though it is) makes no claim of over-unity. It is just the dumbarses at OSEN who said "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier."

      Notice who they said *made* that claim... The motors themselves. That's right, OSEN thinks magnets have acheived sentience - perhaps they have harnessed the untapped self-awareness in the cosmic microwave background...

      As far as I can see, the inventor merely claims that the new motor design is much more efficient than old motors. From a cursory and naive appraisal, I think the inventor is suggesting that you could take an electric motor from about 88% efficient to about 97%, theoretically, of course.

  29. I can't wait until Taco's subscription to... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2, Funny

    Infinite Energy magazine runs out. Sure, I'm all for the occassional "Crystal Chakras Power Generates Excess Neutrons" story, but after awhile, it gets ridiculous.

  30. Don't get too excited yet... by retro128 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Like many here, I read the article and got the idea that they were talking about a perpetual motion machine (could be the "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier." at the beginning of the article that gave everyone that impression...), but the only place that I can find such a claim is from the author of the article...From the way it's written, it just doesn't appear that he knows what he is talking about.

    I glanced through the patent at USPTO and it appears to me that what this is is a more efficient electric motor, not something that outputs more energy than is put into it.

    --
    -R
  31. I believe they're called "Spindizzy's" by MichaelKaiserProScri · · Score: 1

    N/T

  32. WOW If we build a really big one of these by algerath · · Score: 1

    and hook it up to a generator maybe we can finally open up that wormhole to Atlantis. I bet they will build me a car that produces gasoline in the tank next! hoo hoo I can't wait. Algerath

  33. Re:first by Firehed · · Score: 1

    We'll call it Slashdot!

    --
    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  34. This looks like a job for! by NIK282000 · · Score: 1
    --
    Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  35. Maybe you don't want the specifics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    "The article talks about the technology but doesn't exactly lay out specifics."

    Their marketing department is probably busy figuring out how to tell the public that plugging something up their ass is a good thing.

    Just maybe.

  36. BS Alert!!! BS Alert!!! by Wellerite · · Score: 1

    As soon as I read "magnetic flux" and "exponentially greater motive force than conventional motors" BS alerts went off all over the place. Every once in a while the editors like to throw a Perpetual Motion article into the Slashdot omelet to see who's awake....

    1. Re:BS Alert!!! BS Alert!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Go buy yourself a physics text book:

      Magnetic Flux

    2. Re:BS Alert!!! BS Alert!!! by spectre_240sx · · Score: 1

      Well, BS or not, it's nice to dream sometimes. Otherwise things just get boring.

  37. Sadly Misunderstood by goodie3shoes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's clear that the writer of TFA didn't understand much about what (s)he heard/read about this. I'm sure that the developers of the technology make no silly claims about greater than 100% efficiency. More likely, this is just an improvement on existing technology that gives, perhaps, somewhat better efficiency, or higher power in a smaller size, less weight for a given power, etc. Any of these would be good, but violate no physical laws.

    --
    BSA: "Would you like a free Software Audit"? me: "No, thanks. My software is all Free".
  38. Open Ended Stories by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    Just when the new Slashcode revison seems to have reduced dup' posts, publishing stories submitted by their author sends a perpetual motion advertisement to the front page. Just because the ad is published in "Open Source" Energy

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  39. It's real... by chuckw · · Score: 4, Informative

    I really wish these kooks could separate the perpetual motion crap from reality here. They are not "over-unity", perpetual motion, or what have you. The do in fact obey all laws of thermodynamics. These motors are real and can deliver as much as 98% efficiency. We've seen them, they work. I was at the presentation recently by Boeing Phanton Works that featured these things. ..Chuck..

    --
    *Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
    1. Re:It's real... by Phil+Karn · · Score: 1

      Please read the cited web page, in particular the "over the 100% barrier" remark.

    2. Re:It's real... by chuckw · · Score: 4, Informative

      The cited web page is wrong, and if I were Flynn, I would be emailing them to explain that their title description is blatantly incorrect and is making him look bad. If anyone bothered to go to his website, they'd quickly be able to see that PPMT is grounded in basic magnetic physics. PPMT is not free energy or crap like that. It is workable technology that produces a very efficient motor.

      --
      *Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
    3. Re:It's real... by Phil+Karn · · Score: 2, Informative
      How is Flynn's stuff "real"? I looked at his pages and it was immediately obvious that he has made the same mistake that so many permanent magnet fetishists have made: he has confused force and energy.

      Any motor that's not 100% efficient will dissipate the remainder of its input power in losses such as friction, windage, Joule heating, and the like. If you are going to improve the efficiency of a motor, you must reduce one or more of these losses; there is no other way. How, exactly, does Flynn reduce these losses? His diagrams shed absolutely no light on that. In fact, he doesn't talk about energy or dissipative mechanisms at all, only about force -- which isn't the same thing.

  40. BS-o-meter pegged by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1
    The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier.

    I don't need to read any more. Oh:

    They have received a US Patent.

    BS-o-meter just went up in smoke :(

  41. How will I know when I'm dead? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe I already am, how can I really be sure?

  42. Didn't they make the Flux Capacitor? by Belseth · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey at least they didn't claim it ran on Zero Point energy. My favorite current flavor of snake oil.

    1. Re:Didn't they make the Flux Capacitor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snake oil... I need some of that my Boa has a squek in it.

  43. Does my mind look like a punching bag? by JeffAMcGee · · Score: 2, Funny

    Obligatory UserFriendly strip:

    http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030922

    --
    This sig cannot be proven true.
  44. You emphasized wrong words by ingo23 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier."

    How to make a small fortune in the stock market? Start with a big one.

    Want to increase efficiency over 100%? Start with a motor that has 40%, make one that is 80% efficient - you got 100% increase!

    1. Re:You emphasized wrong words by MindStalker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Read it again. The adverb is substantially. So the question is "How much are they increasing efficiency?" The answer is "Substatially." The then elaborate that total effiency is over 100%. Technically I'd agree with you though, if the word Barrier wasn't there, it implies and increase over a specific known barrier, thus is the 100% efficiency barrier.

      Let say I was to say

      "This will increase your runnning speed substatially, over 4 minutes in a mile"

      You could assume to you would be cutting 4 minutes from your mile.

      If I were to say

      "This will increase your runnning speed substatially, over the 4 minute mile barrier"

      The assumption would be vastly different.

    2. Re:You emphasized wrong words by __aaahtg7394 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Good point, there is an ambiguity there. However, I stand by my reading of it.

      100% isn't a barrier if it's a relative increase, as you correctly point out. It is a barrier if you're talking about absolute efficiency. By talking about it as a barrier, the author almost certainly intends for us to read it as "100+% absolute efficiency."

      I'd be happy to be corrected by anyone affiliated with the posted site, but until then, I strongly believe that they're talking about a motor that's more than 100% efficient. Which, given a few caveats as discussed in this thread, is accepted as impossible by mainstream science.

    3. Re:You emphasized wrong words by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      Sorry about the horribly grammer in my grammer correcting post, sleep depervation is scary! :)

    4. Re:You emphasized wrong words by NicolaiBSD · · Score: 1
      "This will increase your runnning speed substatially, over 4 minutes in a mile" "This will increase your runnning speed substatially, over the 4 minute mile barrier"

      Neither sentence makes any sense so they seem quite similar to me.

  45. Not necessarily bogus by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know if this is exactly the same concept I read about some time ago, but I heard about a patent using similar terminology. And while the claim is over unity power output (the patent I read involved no moving parts) the fundamental idea was to harness the degradation of flux in permanent magnets.

    In other words, they are using a permanent magnet as a type of high-density chemical-free battery, releasing the energy that was required to magnetize the material in the first place. The magnets would eventually need to be replaced, and this was mentioned in the patent I read.

    While I have doubts regarding the energy density of magnets compared to chemical means, and wince when beyond-unity is mentioned without special attention to the fuel source, I think that certain aspects deserve a little consideration, at least until we determine that it's infeasible to harness the demagnetization of a permanent magnet as an energy storage material.

    1. Re:Not necessarily bogus by RelaxedTension · · Score: 1

      That's what I was thinking. They mean more power out than actual electrical current in, but that just means the magnets are supplying the extra power.

      I'd hate to think what replacing the magnets every few years in a car's motors would cost, which is one of their examples of potential usage.

    2. Re:Not necessarily bogus by __aaahtg7394 · · Score: 1

      I was actually rolling that very process over in my mind as I wrote my original comment. Since my post was mostly pointing at the slashdot editorship, I decided not to run with it. I'm glad someone brought it up, though, since it could be a good discussion. I'm ignorant here, so I'd love to see some decent old-fashioned slashdot discussion*.

      It's a neat idea, but I too have doubts about how much energy you can shove into a magnet and get back out. It does raise a pretty fun question: how efficient is the process of creating a given magnet, and how efficient can you make it? Just think of the ramifications research here could have for the fridge magnet industry and their power bills!

      * No, I'm not new here. This is actually my really high-numbered account, since I lost my 5-digit account's password. Back in my day, hot grits was new and funny!

  46. More accurate...and appropriate for this article by scooter.higher · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Marge: I'm worried about the kids, Homey. Lisa's becoming very obsessive.

    Homer: I know. And this perpetual-motion machine she made today is a joke! It just keeps going faster and faster. Lisa! Get in here. [Lisa walks in] In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

    --
    Ramen
  47. this must be... by invader_allan · · Score: 0

    Finally, I can read about the mysterious "breakthroughs" that will "shock the general population" that Bush is ranting about in his energy plan. I hope we have billions of dollars backing this up to go along with our war to get oil that makes us unsafe, as he also rants. This is better than solar or wind, thats for sure!

  48. Re:We slashdotted slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    www.slashdot.org died, but slashdot.org didn't. DNS issue?

  49. Bogus by viking2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Current electrical motors/generators are up to 99% efficient, and the loss is mostly in resistive loss in wire.

    There is no room for any meaningful improvement unless you claim to have more than 100% efficiency, and they do. Lunatic bin right here!

    Current electrical motors/generators are up to 99% efficient, and the loss is mostly in resistive loss in wire.

    There is no room for any meaningful improvement unless you claim to have more than 100% efficiency, and they do. Lunatic bin right here.!

    I was curious as to what they based their claim on?

    First, go to http://www.flynnresearch.net/ to se some details on this.

    The answer is:
    Just doctor up formulaes: Force is proportional to magnetic flux. Se http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/ Look up 'amperes law', 'magnetic force' and 'Lorentz force'. As you can see they are all _linear_. I.e. F=B*k. (Force = Field times some constant. Flynn makes the relationship quadratic: F=B^2*A/2u.

    To translate for /. readers: You have one C++ programmer, and you need more work done. Just hire one more programmer, and to your surprise, you get 4 times as much done.

    1. Re:Bogus by linzeal · · Score: 1
      Um, what force are you talking about? There are 2 forces in an electromagnetic field. Magnetic and electric, which are united in a tensor. Lorentz forces are linear, that is why they call a rail gun a linear accerelator. However that is not the only type of force a charged particle in a magnetic field can impart, if the field is fluctuating fast enough non-linear quantum effects like the Pondoromotive force, the stuff that makes table top accelerators. Neutron source on the desktop, what will they think of next?

      I am doing research into the pondoromotive force at the moment work goes slow because my Uni has nothing that can produce the effect. Hell, we can't even make our damn buckyballs.

    2. Re:Bogus by Technician · · Score: 1

      Current electrical motors/generators are up to 99% efficient, and the loss is mostly in resistive loss in wire.

      There is no room for any meaningful improvement unless you claim to have more than 100% efficiency, and they do. Lunatic bin right here!



      A common thread I see in many rebuttals is the conception that an increase in torque is an increase in effeciency. Not so.

      Anybody besides me remember some of the motor generator theory regarding the cutting of lines of flux? EMF?

      If a magnet is used in conjuction with a winding to get more flux, fine. Now reverse the field in the winding. Does anybody reverse the magnet? If the winding has to provide enough flux to buck the series magnet, won't a higher applied voltage be required?

      Traction motors have for a long time used a series starting resistance to limit starting current and torque. When they reach their balance speed (full voltage operating speed) speed can be increased by reducing the field current. This reduces the EMF causing the armature current to increase. The free running speed of the motor is now higher. Effeciency is lower and the magnetic flux is lower.

      It sounds like they are attempting to increase flux. The result may increase the torque, but at a lower running speed. To maintain speed at the higher torque, a higher voltage is required to counter the higher EMF. This may improve torque at the same current as before. The voltage would have to be higher resulting in more power in and more torque out at the same original current. This makes a higher power motor with the same loss as a lower power motor. So they are claiming more torque in the same package as a smaller motor. The torque is generated using the same current (not power, current in amps). Therefore it's a higher power motor with the same power loss of a lower power motor. Current squared times Resistance loss is the same. Higher voltage and higher power does not increase the I squared R loss. This may increase torque by a large ammount. This does not mean effeciency can be improved to over unity. Torque increase does not mean a direct increase in effeciency in the same ammount. Pay attention. Either the applied voltage must be greater to maintain speed, or the higher torque happens at lower speed. Please do not confuse a force measurement with a power measurement.

      If needed please refresh on force units.. Grams, Lbs, Volts, Ft/lbs
      and displacement units... Inches, feet, meters,
      Units of time.. Minutes, Seconds, Hours,
      Velocity units.. MPH, Meters/Sec, Feet/Minute
      and power units... Brake Hoursepower, Watt,
      and energy units... Watthours, BTUhours, Calories,

      An increase in torque with no regard to other values is not an increase in power.
      Time needs to be defined to figure power. A force times a displacement is energy. Lifting a pound a foot off the ground requires energy. It does not matter if it takes 5 seconds or 5 hours.

      To lift a pound one foot in one second requires power. Power is the rate of energy flow.

      If the article was a true scientific paper, the force, energy, power, and effeciency would have been listed. A torque, speed, mechanical power graph would be displayed overlayed on the the current, voltage, watts graph.

      The power in to power out graph is the one to watch.

      A simple same current higher = torque graph is meaningless.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
    3. Re:Bogus by viking2000 · · Score: 1

      To clarify: 'Linear' was meant in the sense that the system can be modelled with a linear function. Wether this is a vector, matrix or tensor is irrelevant in this context. 'Linear' in the word 'linear accelerator' is entirely different, and refers to the geometry of the particle trajectory.

      The Pondoromotive force is not a 'non-linear quantum effect', and have nothing to do with electromotors. It can be deduced using Maxwell's classical equations, and applies to free particles in THz fields such as a plasma in a laser.

    4. Re:Bogus by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 1

      Disclaimer: I don't care to venture a guess at this point whether the design in question is actually an improvement over existing motor designs (though I am sure that it isn't more than 100% efficient like the article claimed).

      However, I am curious as to where you observed them using a quadratic relationship between magnetic field strength and applied force. Is it the diagrams on Page 2 of their description? If so, the relationship they are using there is actually linear. The reason that four "units of force" are applied (as opposed to the two units without using the coils) is that the field strength from the coils matches the field strength of the permanent magnets, and thus doubles the overall field strength in the "circuit". Up to this point, I think their theory is reasonable (though I'm hardly expert in this topic).

      The claimed advantage of their design is based on the concept (true or false I cannot say) that a coil in the "circuit" can act as a switch, redirecting the magnetic flux from the farther permanent magnet through the opposite armature, and thus complementing the combined field strength of the coils with the combined field strength of the permanent magnets (which must be equal for optimal efficiency). This seems simple enough, but it would be nice if some neutral expert observer could confirm whether or not it conflicts with any known physical laws. Of course, even if all of the theory checks out, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will be able to construct more efficient rotary electric motors with it. It might have other applications, though, particularly in the area of linear actuators (which are closer to their test apparatus in the first place).

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
    5. Re:Bogus by TooFarGone · · Score: 1

      "To translate for /. readers: You have one C++ programmer, and you need more work done. Just hire one more programmer, and to your surprise, you get 4 times as much done." Sound like that first guy was a real slacker... and I know, we can smell our own =p

    6. Re:Bogus by viking2000 · · Score: 1

      However, I am curious as to where you observed them using a quadratic relationship between magnetic field strength and applied force.

      The formula is on page 1: "This is defined by the formula for the magnetic force of attraction. The formula is:F=B^2*A/2u"

      The reason that four "units of force" are applied (as opposed to the two units without using the coils) is that the field strength from the coils matches the field strength of the permanent magnets, and thus doubles the overall field strength in the "circuit". Up to this point, I think their theory is reasonable (though I'm hardly expert in this topic).

      For simpicity, just count the number of field lines in the drawings. On page 1 first figure you see two fieldlines crossing the airgap, and a resulting 1 unit of force. OK.

      Now right below, you see a figure with four fieldlines crossing the airgap. This doubling in field strengt should double the force to 2 units of force. Flynn here indicate 4 units of force based on the above equation. Even the drawing reveals the fallacy of this.

      You certainly can redirect magnetic flux with coils. That is basically what all electromotors do. Drawings on p.2 may be correct: instead of one magnet acting, you have 4: two magnets and two matching coils. Then p.3 is wrong again.

      A long time ago at the university I worked on a team building a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imager). We used a lot of powerful magnets, and had a lot of setups testing various configurations as well as computer models for simulation.

      That was science, this is fiction.

    7. Re:Bogus by danpsmith · · Score: 1
      To translate for /. readers: You have one C++ programmer, and you need more work done. Just hire one more programmer, and to your surprise, you get 4 times as much done.

      You would if you hired me!

      --
      Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  50. Time travel? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Funny
    Combine:
    • Parallel Path Flux Core
    • Capacitor
    • 1.21 gigawatts
    • Time travel
    • Profit!
    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  51. The meaning of the word by rumblin'rabbit · · Score: 1

    Anyone that talks about increasing efficiency to over 100% doesn't know the meaning of the word "efficiency" and can safely be ignored. It's a sure sign of the incompetent.

    1. Re:The meaning of the word by Alpha+State · · Score: 1

      Not quite, a refridgerator (or heat pump) can have over 100% efficiency. It all depends what you are measuring.

  52. FWIW, the people who actually made this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
  53. Is it April 1 by idobi · · Score: 0

    already?

  54. This looks more promising by slickwillie · · Score: 1

    http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_ id=143&art_id=vn20060211110132138C184427

    SA solar research eclipses rest of the world

    n a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun.

    This means high electricity bills and frequent power failures could soon be a thing of the past.

    The unique South African-developed solar panels will make it possible for houses to become completely self-sufficient for energy supplies.

    The panels are able to generate enough energy to run stoves, geysers, lights, TVs, fridges, computers - in short all the mod-cons of the modern house.

    The new technology should be available in South Africa within a year and through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the wiring of existing houses. New powerful storage units will allow energy storage to meet demands even in winter. The panels are so efficient they can operate through a Cape Town winter. while direct sunlight is ideal for high-energy generation, other daytime light also generates energy via the panels.

    A team of scientists led by University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University) scientist Professor Vivian Alberts achieved the breakthrough after 10 years of research. The South African technology has now been patented across the world.

    One of the world leaders in solar energy, German company IFE Solar Systems, has invested more than R500-million in the South African invention and is set to manufacture 500 000 of the panels before the end of the year at a new plant in Germany.

    Production will start next month and the factory will run 24 hours a day, producing more than 1 000 panels a day to meet expected demand.

    Another large German solar company is negotiating with the South African inventors for rights to the technology, while a South African consortium of businesses are keen to build local factories.

    The new, highly efficient and cheap alloy solar panel is much more efficient than the costly old silicone solar panels.

    International experts have admitted that nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the South African invention.

    The South African solar panels consist of a thin layer of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces, which means it could in future find a host of other applications.

    Alberts said the new panels are approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) while the older silicon panels are 350 microns thick. the cost of the South African technology is a fraction of the less effective silicone solar panels.

    Alberts said in Switzerland it was already compulsory for all new houses to include solar technology to lessen energy demands on national grids.

    "And that was the older, less effective technology. With our hours of sunlight, we will on average generate twice as much energy than, for instance, European countries."

    While South African scientists developed and patented the new, super-effective alloy solar panels, other companies have developed new, super-efficient storage batteries and special converters to change the energy into the power source of a particular country (220 volts in South Africa).

    # Eskom spokesperson Carin de Villiers said any new power supply that lessened the load on Eskom was to be welcomed.

    She said Eskom was also doing its own research on solar energy.

    "In fact, we are currently investigating building what will probably be the largest solar power plant, in the Northern Cape - a 100-megawatt facility."

    She added that Eskom was also researching wind and fuel-cell technology as alternative energy sources.

    1. Re:This looks more promising by Xiroth · · Score: 1
      Extremely interesting, and it looks like the team who developed it are legit, but I don't suppose you know if they've had their research published, do you? Would feel more secure in getting excited about it if it has gone through a thorough peer review.

      Yes, it's more of an invention rather than a scientific breakthrough, but if the project leader is a physicist I'm guessing they had to make some sort of scientific achievement to achieve results like these.

    2. Re:This looks more promising by AndyKron · · Score: 1

      What does this have to do with the price of chicken on the fish market?

    3. Re:This looks more promising by duSoliel · · Score: 1

      I once knew a girl undeniable/ presenting solar panels most pliable/ with the sun shining bright/ she was busy all night/ her solar collectors were oh so reliable/ ... lets hope this new technology fares better at replacing silicon based PV cells then your gramma-spell checker did at swapping silicon for silicone. ;-) duSoliel may the force be perpetual ...

  55. 100% *increase* in efficiency? by toybuilder · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Perhaps what was originally claimed is that the power efficiency of the motor is improved by more than 100% over conventional motor designs. TFA doesn't claim that the output motor power exceeds the input electrical power - instead, it states that there is better containment of flux leading to more motive force:
    Testing and Finite Element Analysis show that the Parallel Path system indeed manages to not only increase the magnetic flux in the core by a factor of four over conventional electric motors, but manipulate the flux to act in the direction of motion, generating considerably more motive power than conventional motors.


    Is it reasonable to assume you can get more output power with better efficiency? Try this article titled
    Increase Efficiency 10 Percent and Double Output:

    Improvements in motor efficiency also mean improvements (increases) in continuous torque ratings and reduction in dissipated power. Continuous torque ratings of any electric motor are limited by the internal losses (dissipated power) in a motor which produces heat. Any electric motor's performance is limited to its ability or inability to store and dissipate heat. Face mounting precision motors on recognized aluminum heat sinks have become an important procedure for specifying performance as described in NEMA's ICS16 (step and servo motor) standard. The table below illustrates this condition.

    Power-Watts
    Efficiency In Out Dissipated
    80% 100 80 20
    90% 100 90 10
    90% 200 180 20

    By increasing power efficiency 10%, output power is more than doubled (180/80), while maintaining constant heat loss. This is a 125% improvement in output power and motor shaft speed at rated load. The power consumption does not increase because it is tied to the line-to-line input current squared and multiplied by the hot line-to-line resistance (I2R).


    I think the original poster/editor misunderstood the original claim...

    1. Re:100% *increase* in efficiency? by EightBits · · Score: 1

      I really want to believe this. Neither the article nor the patent mention anything about being more than 100% efficient except . . . the article's summary. If the word 'barrier' wasn't in the summary I would agree with you completely. But what other 100% barrier is there? Increasing power output by 100% is no barrier at all. We've been doing it for millennia in all kinds of power sources. If you can convince me that the word "barrier" means something other than the 100% efficiency barrier we all love to hate, then I agree with you 100%

      Make that: 101%

    2. Re:100% *increase* in efficiency? by BillX · · Score: 1

      Careful though; here they're talking doubling the "output power possible without frying the motor", not "output power per unit input power" (which they don't make especially clear for those not familiar with NEMA ratings).

      --
      Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
  56. Vote parent up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. If you play games with the flux you might get a much more efficient force, but in terms of power per unit weight. Of course the thing would suck more juice, but it might way a bunch less.

    And that would STILL help with that electric car claim. The lighter the better (assuming similar reliability).

    Bet it's just a game of chinese whispers by three idiots from the media.

  57. Squeeky Boa by rumblin'rabbit · · Score: 1
    Snake oil... I need some of that my Boa has a squek [sic] in it.
    Moron! It just ate a mouse. Tell it to chew it's food better.
  58. Next time, add the Monty-Python-Foot icon by davidwr · · Score: 1

    If we see the foot then we'll know you know it's garbage.

    Better yet, save up all the PPM articles for 1 April 2006 and let us all feast on the pseudoscientific hyperbole all at once.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  59. Is it me or does this article smell? by TheHawke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Had to get out my hip waders just to get past the first paragragh. Another article with lots of Bull$hit Bingo words in it. The fraudsters love to play mind games containing magnetic fields and it's quick flux fixxer-upper. Small wonder that the geomagnetic poles are trying to swap ends, the North Pole has just about had enough of hearing about it, conned the South Pole into thinking that it's place is better.

    Even the title reeks of faddish words. Remember last year's warm fusion fraudster? This year is mirroring Cell processors and the tech that it uses.

    It makes me wonder who is really submitting these articles to Slashdot.

    --
    First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
  60. This is a Stepper Motor by Cassini2 · · Score: 1
    This looks like a variable reluctance stepper motor with 20 steps per rev. The added permanent magnets will cause the variable reluctance stepper motor to behave more like a permanent magnet stepper motor.

    Variable reluctance motors have exceptionally low efficiencies. Hence, a boost in magenetic efficiency may make this motor more efficient than its variable reluctance cousins.

    Permanent magnet stepper motors place the permanent magnet on the rotor, or between layers on the stator. This motor places the permanent magents on the stator, but in a rather inconvenient place. As such, it is not obvious how this motor is better than other permanent magnet stepper motors.

    Conventional induction and brushless DC motors are much more efficient than stepper motors. As such, stepper motors tend to be used only in specialized or low power applications. This motor is probably a special purpose design, only well suited for certain specialized applications.

  61. ^ Mod Parent Up ^ by Anti-Trend · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're absolutely right. The submitter was wrong about the subject matter, and the subject matter obviously had many misonceptions about how the technology works (greater than 100% output... WTF?) But here is a look at how the technology actually works. It seems to be a motor that is simply more efficient, which is indeed a positive and achievable goal.

    --
    Working in a DevOps shop is like playing in a band made up entirely of keytarists.
  62. Slashdotted........Here's another link by zymano · · Score: 1
  63. HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by goombah99 · · Score: 3, Informative
    There's a good explanation of how it works here.

    As I understand it, the claim of above unity energy utilization in the articel summary is (of course) false and not being made for this motor.

    What they are saying is above unity torque production. And here unity simply means the ratio with respect to a particular arbiratrily chosen standard. It's not a magic number. Just a way to avoid using units in the discussion.

    Now what appears to be happeing is that if the rotor were stopped and one measured the torque on the rotor (or linear actuator) then you would find that this force was four times as high as a motor without the parallel path technology, running at the same current and the same number of windings.

    Now we can see that this is sort of misleading. If we kept the current constant and the windings constant then the force or toruqe is higher in a non-moving rotor or actuator. But in a non-moving system one can, for the same current always increase the number of windings to increase the force. The ultimate limit comes from several practical realities. 1) increasing the windings increases both the impedance and residual reactance of the motor making it lossy and limiting it's frequency response. 2) The upper limit is reached when the magnetic flux is no longer contained by the ferrite. Both motors probably have a problem with #2 but the parallel path motor has fewer windings for the same level of force as a conventional motor.

    Okay but that is still begging the question since were talking about non moving motor. adding in a permenant magent to boost the force is a lot like adding a spring to boos the force. You pay for it by the energy it took to load the spring.

    Once this motor starts moving then one has to do a dynamic anayis to the flux collapsing as the rotor or actualtor moves is drawn into the field. What does this do the current in the motor? What does this do to it's complex impedance? I don't actually know the answers to those questions. The static analysis is simply bogus for concluding that. But if one were to maintain the "spring" analogy then it seems like one could not possibly be getting any net gain.

    what this device does seem to be doing however is to make an assymetric pull on the acutator. that is it pulls on one arm of the motor with 4 times the torque and the other arm with no torque at all. That might possibly lead so some sort of alteration in the lead-lag curve of of the phase response of the motor at different speeds. If so it might somehow make a motor with a given amount of windings and ferrite optimally usitize it's material content better.

    So if there is any gain at all here I suspect it lies with this latter effect. But I cant' do the analysis to be sure.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      i am not a materials engineer, but it sounds like the forces involved will not mean good things for the longevity of motors built with this technology.

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    2. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by goombah99 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nah the force issue is irrelvant. if the only thing that mattered here were the material strenght forces then you siply make the motor smaller to cahive the same torque. So that's not the point.

      the key point it if there is any net gain at all. The static force analysis simply does not give the answer. As I said adding a spring would do exactly the same thing as adding a permenant magnet. But then it becomes obvious that there no net gain because the you had to pay the effort of loading the spring.

      Since they rely on this static argument without giving a dynamic argument it seems like bullshit to me. My bullshit detector is further raised when they present the finite element calculation to back up the static arguments. It's a huge calaculation that backs the worng argument. this is just plane weird. it looks like a delberate attempt to inject bamboozle ment into it. Do they know what the hell they are talking about? Then where's the dynamic analysis?

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    3. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by HPNpilot · · Score: 1

      Take apart a General Scanning galvanometer and you will see a very similar design, and that is at least 20 years old. The galvos are torque motors used for mirror positioning in laser systems.

      Another patent based on prior art?

    4. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by Lehk228 · · Score: 2, Funny

      they will be able to do the dynamic analysis as soon as they get some venture capital for buying yachts... i mean engineers.

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    5. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by Ruie · · Score: 1
      Besides what you pointed out, switching windings back and forth will demagnetize the magnets.

      In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that there is a similar "perpetual motion" design that actually produces more energy on output than input, with the trick that it really feeds on magnet polarization.

    6. Re:HOW IT WORKS and DOESN'T WORK by Hasmanean · · Score: 1

      >Okay but that is still begging the question since were talking
      >about non moving motor. adding in a permenant magent to boost
      >the force is a lot like adding a spring to boos the force. You
      >pay for it by the energy it took to load the spring.

      That was my first reaction, but after reading the article I think there is a more basic mistake here. They were not talking about 100% more "energy" at all. All they are saying is that the magnets

      "...manipulate the flux to act in the direction of motion, generating considerably more motive power than conventional motors."

      Weasel words to say a) you get more "force" than you would without the magnets. He said power, but meant force.

      Power is a weasel word since he knew he couldn't say more energy (that would not be true), and generating x00% more force than anything other system is a bit underwhelming (especially since Archimedes had the last word on that form of one-upmanship), so he fudged in-between and came up with "motive power."

      They didn't reinvent the wheel, but they reinvented the lever.

      --
      Hasan
  64. Where is the working model? by electronerdz · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder if the USPTO will make him create a working model.

    --
    Kernel Krunch - Part of a Complete OS
  65. Time for magnetodynamics 101 by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Informative

    The energy stored in a permanent magnet (from rotated domains held from returning to their equilibrium condition) is called magnetic energy density, and is given in SI units of KJ/m^3. A more common unit used to be the Mega Gauss-Oersted (MGOe). T [1 MGOe = 8 kJ/m^3]. For most nifty permanent magnets, the KJ/m^3 value will be in the 20's to 30's. Now consider the volume of magnets that would fit in a motor you could hold in your hand, and thence calculate the energy density. Then calculate the effect of releasing ALL this energy in one minute, say of a 100mm x 10mm x 10mm magnet, releasing its 0.3 J in 60 seconds, for a whopping 0.005 Watts of power, leaving an unmagnetized lump of metal. Impressed?

    1. Re:Time for magnetodynamics 101 by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 1

      Impressed?

      Not really, thanks. Confirming my suspicion that while energy can be stored in a magnet, it currently isn't that much.

    2. Re:Time for magnetodynamics 101 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice save.

      Now layoff the solder fumes. :p

    3. Re:Time for magnetodynamics 101 by Rick.C · · Score: 0
      "...for a whopping 0.005 Watts of power, leaving an unmagnetized lump of metal. Impressed?"

      Well, what if we got all of the people in all of the countries the whole world over to put aside their differences and join hands (while holding one of these things, uh, maybe between their knees or something) and we could power the whole world for a day!

      Wouldn't that be special?
      --
      You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
      "Math in a song is good."-Linford
  66. Patented by the same guy who brought us.... by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 1

    the warp engine patent discussed a few days ago? Hell, even the USPTO threw THAT one out. Maybe he figured he'd slip the perpetuatl motion machine in the mix now that he's got the examiners off balance. 8-) Coming to a penny stock near you!!!

  67. an _acutal_ advance in motor technology by apunahasapeemapetala · · Score: 1

    these guys are the real deal, a buncha PhD's and scads of patents. They even have a working engine that can fit in the wheelwell of a 747 and pull it around the runways. The executive summary of their technology is here, and they have a demo of their technology here.

  68. Power is not Force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "[Motors] share one characteristic--for each unit of electrical power consumed, contemporary motors generate a smaller unit of motive force. According to the laws of conservation, this makes sense."

    How can you compare those? Power is the time rate at which work is done, e.g. watts, lbft/sec. Force is a different unit, e.g. N, lbs. You can't compare them directly. Author does not understand basic physics or used a very poor choice of words.

  69. Re-invented the wheel? by guruevi · · Score: 1, Troll

    I found this article quite a while ago: http://www.keelynet.com/energy/ford.htm Model T Magnetic Engine - from TFA My contact said there were three fellows who got wind of this story several years ago. They secured a first-run Model T and found it did indeed have strange slots on the bell housing. Magnets were inserted and when they cranked it, the flywheel began to spin on its own. Based on this initial verifying experiment, they eventually produced a 40hp version which was self-running, using the same magneto system. A demonstration was scheduled in a larger city and two of the men drove the prototype to the demonstration, the third man was ill and could not attend. The demonstration went off without a hitch and was enthusiastically received. Plans and contacts were made for duplicating the prototype for further tests that would be followed by marketing. As the two men were driving home late that evening with their prototype, their vehicle was run off the road. The next day, their vehicle was found overturned, both bodies lying in a ditch with their throats slit and the prototype was gone. The third man who had been too ill to attend the demonstration packed up everything and went into hiding. Word is, this man is still alive, very paranoid, yet he has not given up on the principle and has gone even further in his development of the principle. I heard a lot of rumors about lots of prototype engines that are using alternative energy like water even small nuclear engines but either the inventors were bought out by oil company's or they were found murdered, had an accident etc.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  70. You dont understand..... by Gogogoch · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdotters should stick to commenting on computer stuff and not venture into the realm of hardware, especially the stuff that involves physics, electric current and the like. In their ignorance, Slashdotters are forgetting (if they ever knew) that an exponentially increasing magnetix flux in a perpendicular field arrangement - as the article describes - will be able to couple with the zero-point energy of the normal space.

    This is the energy associated with a prediction of quantum thoery which proposes that (and here I'm a bit fuzzy myself) at the very smallest length scales even empty space is filled with short-lived particles, constantly popping into and out of existance. The longevity of a particle (and its anti-particle) is inversly proportional to its energy - so a high energy 'creation' stays around for a very very short time, and vica versa.

    Normally the total energy of a particle and its anti-particle is a zero since they cancel out but, as the theory goes, under the right magnetic flux density and orientation conditions the particle pair could be separated and their intrinsic energies harnessed - zero-point energy. It has always been recognised that this could be a tremendous source of energy - but it was thought that only in the heart of a sun do magnetic field conditions arise that could lead to this energy release (which is now how cosmologists explain the energy gap between that generated from a sun's internal nuclear reactions and that required to: i) keep a body as large as a sun that far above the ground, and ii) overcome friction as it moves through the sky).

    What is amazing - and I must say somewhat implausible really - is that this team claim to have gathered enough magnetic flux to harness zero-point energy. But if this is true, then apparent perpetual motion is entirely possible. I say 'apparent' because zero-point energy is of course being added to the system, so it's not really perpetual since the universe will one day implode, as Galileo predicted, and the source of energy will cease.

    I think the real question is how they managed to keep the magnetic flux cool during operation. Magnetic flux will decay into 'flax', a type of polymer, if heated beyond a critical temperature. This is where the sun gets its mass, but the same process could lead to problems with their design and really gum up the works.

    Anyway, hats off to them. And to the poster for bringing this to everyone's attention - I wish I could detail and describe these technical matters with as much scientific accuracy and insight. And to the Slashdot editors for realising the important and singular value of this post, and not being too distracted by extraneous details that might - at first sight - seem nonsensical and rediculous.

    1. Re:You dont understand..... by AndyKron · · Score: 1

      "Magnetic flux will decay into 'flax', a type of polymer, if heated beyond a critical temperature. Show me a link to a peer reviewed paper on this please. Thank you

    2. Re:You dont understand..... by amliebsch · · Score: 1

      Thank you, Dr. Science. ;)

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
    3. Re:You dont understand..... by fizzyabbo · · Score: 1
      If what I just read is scarcasm, all I have to say is:

      Now THAT's scarcasm!

      However: if you actually believed a word of what you just said, I advise you to take the crack pipe out of your mouth and check into a rehab centre. Perhaps you could write a book for Oprah's book club.

    4. Re:You dont understand..... by aXis100 · · Score: 1

      Whoosh!

    5. Re:You dont understand..... by Gogogoch · · Score: 1

      Hey, I just believe that solid, factual, and accurate science posts on Slashdot deserve thoughtful and accurate responses. Otherwise we'd end up reading jibberish and science mumbo-jumbo that sounds plausible but is in fact rubbish.

  71. With all due respect to the scientific community.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm sure these words will fall on deaf ears, but the scientific community is so polarized toward rejecting perpetual motion machines that they're starting to resemble the behavior of another kind of community they claim to be fundamentally different from: religion.

    Yes, a perpetual motion machine would violate the most fundamental building blocks of our current scientific understanding. Yes, if someone announces they've found a way to build one, there's an extraordinarily high chance that they're either a crackpot, harboring a hidden agenda, or simply a bad scientist who made a mistake in their calculations somewhere.

    Yes, it's annoying and incredibly arrogant for anyone announcing the creation of a perpetual motion machine to show any kind of excitement or hubris. They should approach the community humbly and with great reservation, understanding that the community is going to be quite biased against them but in the hopes that they'll at least take a look at the data. And since most of these machines instead come with optimistic, glowing announcements, it's understandable why the scientific community so hates these things.

    However, science is, at its roots, based on observation. Science has also been wrong many times in history. Have we come so far, that we dare be so brazen as to assume our working model of physics, impressive as it is in its ability to predict future observations, is infallible? By rejecting PMMs out of hand without bothering to observe and debunk them, are not the scientists themselves exhibiting this same hubris that they so detest from the presenters of the PMMs?

    The religious world is founded on such behavior, that beliefs that come not from observation, but from other sources whose credibitility cannot be determined, regarding things that, by their very nature, cannot be verified, are upheld and accepted, and are in fact used as to debunk competing ideas, even ones which can be observed, validated, verified. Galileo's fight against the Church's view of the sun orbiting the earth is among the most obvious and oft-cited examples of such.

    My point is, it is not the way of the scientist to dismiss out of hand, to turn away new evidence without so much as observing it. If such a PPM were presented without the kind of evidence and observations that would allow a thorough analysis by other scientists, I could understand the brash dismissals. However, the science community would be better served to refrain from judging new research that they have yet to analyse, simply attaching their existing views on a subject to a new work they haven't yet reviewed. This serves no constructive purpose.

    When these PPMs are announced, typically evidence IS available to be observed, and inevitably, as more and more scientists take time to observe it, it will either work its way up the credibility food chain, until it is observed by someone with enough credibility to interest the community, or it will die a quick death under the objective scrutiny of peer review. I fail to understand why these machines must be met with such fierce and bitter words, rather than something like "until the results have been verified by some more credible scientists, I'm not going to waste my time reading these articles."

    If the prior quotation represents the majority opinion of Slashdot's readership, then yes, perhaps /. should stop posting low-credibility stories about PMMs. But otherwise, this kind of behavior simply mirrors the typical slashdot behavior of casting opinions without having "read the f******" article," with the actual data on the PMM being the article, not the article linked to here (as the blurb notes, the article is sparse on details).

    Not to start a flame war. I just dislike hearing people talk about the Law of Conservation as if it's so infallible that no no one should dare challenge it. Sorry, that's not how science works. The LoC is a theory based on observations. It's a damn good theory, but, as it is based on observation, there is only one reliable way to prove it wrong: to find a counterexample. And finding a counterexample will not be possible, if people believe so firmly in the LoC that they are unwilling to observe any evidence that may contradict it.

    Just my 2 cents.

  72. Thermodynamics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So.. heard those Laws of Thermodynamics can be a real bitch..

  73. Most electric motors are "magnetic" by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    First, most electric motors are "magnetic", except maybe ultrasonic motors. Second, if I can't view a webpage because my java scripting is turned off I assume it to be MALICIOUS. Third, this is just unfounded bull hockey apples. Sure hope no slashdotter's buy into this stuff. If you do think this is real, I hope don't you choke on your bottled water.

  74. Not a PPM by Belial6 · · Score: 1

    Listen to your own description. These people do NOT believe they are creating a PPM. They believe that they are harnessing energy that is being released by the magnets. Calling a magnet powered generator a PPM would be the same as calling a fission reactor a PPM. Just because you add your fuel to your generator once, and the fuel last for 10, 100, or 1000 years, does not in any way make a generator a PPM. Whether a magnet can be used as a fuel source is a completely different debate, but arguing that it cannot work because the 'inventor' would have created a PPM is a strawman argument at best.

    1. Re:Not a PPM by DerGeist · · Score: 1

      You are clearly confused. I was replying to the parent who was asking why permanent magnets are commonly mentioned in connection with proposed PMMs. All I was explaining is the basic idea behind the many proposed manget-powered PMMs and I said nothing about this article referring to a PMM.

    2. Re:Not a PPM by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      No, I am not confused. The parent used the strawman argument that put any device that attempted to use magnets as a power source in the category of PMM. You then ran with the strawman argument, and explained why the so called magnet powered PMMs would not work. How in the heck can you have a PMM that is powered by anything other than the power generated? You contradict yourself in your own posts.

      Whether someone else called it a PMM and you repeated it, or you called it one first, it is still spreading FUD. If you don't think a device can work, then say why. Don't just incorrectly label it a PMM and say PMMs are impossible.

    3. Re:Not a PPM by isomeme · · Score: 1

      I called it a PMM in my post because the linked article blathers on about over-unity efficiency, which is just another way to say PMM.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
  75. defending the undefendable by blackest_k · · Score: 1

    while gaining greater than 100% efficiency is probably impossible there are sometimes things which can gather free energy such as heat exchangers gathering heat energy from outside concentrating it and releasing it inside.

    solar sails, picking up energy by flying past planets.

    Does the big bang theory of the universe make any sense the universe just appeared and there was a sudden out rush of mass and energy... if the universe has a start point then the idea that energy cannot be created or destroyed needs an except when starting a universe appended to it.

    can anyone give an explanation how magnetic energy transfer works. for example you can pick up a steel ball bearing with a magnet. gravity is pulling the ball bearing downwards but the magnetic field holds the ball in place.

    Is energy being expended for this to occur, given a long enough time will the ball bearing fall from the magnet or is something renewing the energy expended by the magnet to hold the ball in place.

    Anyone care to try and explain, is a god of some sort necessary to make sense of this.

    1. Re:defending the undefendable by fizzyabbo · · Score: 1
      ...is a god of some sort necessary to make sense of this[?]
      A god is both necessary and desirable to make sense of those questions of science you ask and any other basic questions people are too lazy to answer for themselves.
  76. Self Contained Power Source? by mmell · · Score: 1
    Sure - when the government lets us start using atomic batteries.

    For the record, I'm not holding my breath on this one . . .

  77. Patent by Boeing Phantom Work? by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    It is so bogus that Boeing went to the hassle to patent a perpetual motion machine? And got it.
    I seriously doubt the 100% barrier, but approaching it is a different matter. Keep in mind that they are using permanent mags. Those had to be created.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Patent by Boeing Phantom Work? by kd5ujz · · Score: 1

      If you can get a patent for a warp drive, I am sure you can get a patent for this.

      --
      -William
      God is everything science has yet to explain.
  78. I call BS and maybe for the last time by wirehead_rick · · Score: 0, Troll

    I am sick and tired of what I used to think was a reputable geek site, Slashdot, to be front paging pseudo science BS. This is about the 5th BS article in about as many months.

    Keep it up a--holes. Time to find someplace else to get the _real_ information. A geek site this is NOT!

    Maybe the Bush admin is sticking their fingers into this place. Next we'll see ID claims every other day :(.

    --
    -- Mean People Suck
  79. MOD PARENT TROLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod parent Troll for pseudoscience. Unless the post is intended to demonstrate how bad Slashdotters are at physics (see the first sentence of the Parent), in which case it should be modded Funny.

    1. Re:MOD PARENT TROLL by Gogogoch · · Score: 1

      Oh I think your comments are unfair. Consider: if this new invention is truely tapping into zero-point energy, scientists can use the machine to make a definative measurement of the zero-point field coupling constant. With that information we can estimate the additional amount of zero-point energy gained by the Sun (less decay losses of course), and with this fuller picture of solar energy balance we can at last make a good approximation for the value of solar drag.

      And why is this important? Solar drag (and I'm talking about SDg, not Sdg) is responsible for so many critical environmental factors, and its our uncertainty around its value that creates such variability and uncertainty in environmental modelling and prediction. Put simply, until we have a better measure of how the upper atmosphere is disturbed by the sun as it passes through it we will never be able to make solid weather predictions. It is worse than that: some atmometricists are concerned that if SDg > 1 we will have increased churn leading to increasing bad weather, such as hurricanes. Other worry that if SDg 1 we will enter a period of stagnated and unchanging weather, such as the so called 'Badlands' of Arkansas, or the massive glacial icesheets of Maryland.

      It is really important to know how this situation might change. If the glaciers of Maryland, for instance, were to melt it would release so much fresh water that the salinity of the oceans would plummet and a great many islands might actually sink as a result of their reduced boyancy (the governments of Great Britain, New Zealand and Luxembourg are right to be concerned)

      Of course, SDg might just equal one, SDg = 1, in which case everything will be fine.

      Anyway, as you can see I am very enthused by this new discovery.

  80. PPT with GPP upgrade ASAP? by chinton · · Score: 1

    I wan the case to occasionally emit a self-satisfied hum, too.

  81. Not a PPM - article falsely claims that. by Entropy · · Score: 1

    After reading a bit of http://www.flynnresearch.net/magnetics.htm it seems to me TFA has it wrong; they do not seem to be claiming perpetual motion, only far greater efficiencies.(sp)

    --
    The sea changes color, but the sea does not change.
  82. Is this what President Bush is talking about by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I'll bet this is what President Bush is talking about when he says "U.S. on Verge of Energy Breakthrough" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060221/ap_on_go_pr_wh /bush_energy

  83. Parallel Path Plans posted here by sterlingda · · Score: 1

    We've got the plans for how to build the proof of concept of the Parallel Path technology here:

    http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Joseph_Flyn n's_Parallel_Path_technology

    Fresh today.

    It's not perpetual motion. It doesn't violate laws of physics. It does add a new rule to the textbook that will become a chapter in all electronics textbooks, and will be standard fare in all electric motors.

    3.5-x the output as conventional motors with the same electrical input and size.

    Build the proof of concept, you will see the phenomenon for yourself.

    We will also be posting a set of plans for building a motor using this technology.

    These are being posted by Michael Schuckel, an associate of Joseph Flynn, in the two weeks he has prior to possibly joining Joseph in working with Boeing on some proprietary applications of this technology.

    --
    Tomorrow's news yesterday -- the bleeding, visionary edge.
    1. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by AndyKron · · Score: 1

      Coming soon. How many times have I heard that one before? Post, then tell, not the other way around. It hurts your reputation in my opinion. You post the plans, I'll build it, and report my results here on Slashdot.

    2. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by thebigmacd · · Score: 1

      Electric motors are already in the 80-95% efficiency range. It is impossible to produce 3.5 times at much mechanical power with the same electrical input when you are already outputting 80% of the electrical power you put in.

    3. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by sterlingda · · Score: 1

      The plans for building the basic flux demonstration unit are complete/adequate.

      The patent is adequate for building a motor.

      Mike did it from the patent and the flynn site -- several times. And it worked as stated.

      What is pending will be a more user-friendly presention of the motor design at PESWiki.

      --
      Tomorrow's news yesterday -- the bleeding, visionary edge.
    4. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by sterlingda · · Score: 1

      100% in the old paradigm is based on a set of rules that don't include this new rule.

      The new rule does not breach physics. It is in harmony.

      By the way, SeaGate computers has licensed Flynn's technology to use in their hard drive motors.

      --
      Tomorrow's news yesterday -- the bleeding, visionary edge.
    5. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 1

      Explain how you get more than 100% efficiency from a motor without breaching the conservation of energy. Bonus points if you don't use the word "paradigm".

    6. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      o please
      Sterling D. Allan is nothing more than one HUGE EGO in one TINY MAN, A TINY BRAIN in a BIG HEAD. Check out his "Sterling D. Allan's Run for U.S. President 2004 Foretold in Alphabetics Bible Code"

      anyone that listens to his lunacy deserves exactly what they get

      Check these Sterling Allan sites I found on google.
      http://www.sterlingdallan.com/tp_sterling/ (Funny)
      http://www.greaterthings.com/SterlingDAllan/ (Funnier)
      http://www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/index.htm l#Alphabetics (Funnier Even)
      http://www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/People/SD A_President_04/ (Absolutely Hilarious)

      Whats worse is that he has about 20 of the crackpot sites.

      at least the shrinks can make a living off guys like Sterling.
      Sterling let me ask. Will you be running in 2008? (taaaheeeheeee)

    7. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no doubt Sterling is a whack. That's not news.
      not even worth reporting. A simple glance at any of his work demonstrates this clearly

    8. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can see it now. Sterling Alan on Air Force One!
      Not
      Not even in a million years.

      Apparently Sterling is such a whack job that his own churh kicked him to the curb. Now I don't know about you but...when a mormon church gives you the boot, you just gotta now thre is something seriously wrong in the head. I mean really...

      Plus he sings too. Take a listen to this Its called "Hey Val" (warning extremely pothetic)
      http://www.greaterthings.com/Music/mp3/Hey_Val.mp3

      I have a new song.
      It's called "Hey Sterling - Why don't you STFU and get a life"

    9. Re:Parallel Path Plans posted here by sterlingda · · Score: 1

      He who is one step ahead is a genius. He who is two steps ahead is a crackpot.

      --
      Tomorrow's news yesterday -- the bleeding, visionary edge.
  84. Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by Namarrgon · · Score: 1
    Ignore all the "perpetual motion - bogus!" remarks, and read the rest of the article. Misinterpreted summary aside, they don't claim it produces more energy than you give it, they specifically point out that the law of conservation prevents this. They merely claim it results in a more efficient motor.

    What's more, TFA says Boeing Phantom Works has seen it, and backs it. Who do you think is more likely to be correct, Boeing engineers who have seen it for themselves, or Slashdot Armchair Experts? Read the patent. At least read the inventor's website, it's more likely to represent the actual invention.

    Hell, even some Slashdot readers have seen it, and report that it exists, it really works, and it delivers 98% efficiency.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    1. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nonsense. The inventor clearly claims that the motor produces more energy than is supplied - see http://flynnresearch.net/tests_%26_results.htm

      Given that the same page confuses force and energy, there's no reason on earth why anyone should take this seriously.

    2. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by Namarrgon · · Score: 1
      Where does he claim that?

      ...it appears to violate conservation; this is only true when observed from a traditional view point. The system contains three flux producing sources (2 magnets and an electromagnet) which together are capable of producing a far greater force than is actually produced.

      I.e. the extra energy supply comes from the permanent magnets (which store a limited amount of energy - presumably these would run out in time).

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    3. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 1

      He admits it violates conservation of energy, but claims this is a "traditional view point". He doesn't give an alternative viewpoint, beyond a reference to force that shows he doesn't understand the difference between force and energy.

      His FAQ states explicitly that the magnets are not used up, so he clearly isn't buying your explanation. And, in any case, if you do the math (as a previous poster did) you see that magnets hold a very small amount of energy, far too little to be of practical use.

      Either this is another free energy con, or the "inventor" is so clueless about basic principles of physics that he's deceiving himself.

    4. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by Namarrgon · · Score: 1
      The "alternative viewpoint" he gives is that the extra force is coming from the permanent magnets (which doesn't happen with traditional motors), and thus does not violate conservation.

      Now, maybe that only applies to the simple example on this page, and actual PPMT motors don't draw energy from the permanent magnets at all. Maybe his FAQ is incorrect, and it does drain the magnets. Perhaps, as you say, he is deceiving himself and/or others (well enough to fool the aforemention Boeing engineers). Or perhaps TFA was a lie from start to finish, just to waste all our time.

      I can draw no further conclusions from a couple of webpages, only opinions. But at least you read past TFA summary :-)

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    5. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 1

      You are not reading my responses. You are confusing force and energy. There is insufficient energy stored in permanent magnets to do anything useful. The guy is a con artist or a fool, and if you want to avoid being a shill you need to develop your critical faculties.

    6. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by Namarrgon · · Score: 1
      I understand the difference. AFAICT, this guy is not claiming to have made anything that puts out more energy than you put in (force yes, in his example, but not energy). All he's saying is that he's found a way to make a more efficient electric motor, and apparently Boeing engineers (who are more qualified to judge than you or I, as they've seen it and spoken to him) appear to believe him.

      I try not to automatically dismiss statements outside my fields of expertise unless I know for a fact that they directly contradict physical law. Since we personally have no reliable facts in this case, just some fairly vague claims on a few easily-misinterpreted webpages, I must therefore reserve final judgement until I a) see & examine it for myself (at least the precise claims and theory), or b) hear the opinion of reliable experts whom I trust, the set of which includes very few Slashdot readers.

      To go around calling people fools or con artists based on incomplete facts is not an exercise of "critical faculties" so much as an unscientific belief that you know it all already, and a malicious one at that. Skepticism may indeed be warranted, but I recommend avoiding complete dismissal until you know more about what is actually being claimed. Hence my original recommendation to simply read more than just a non-scientific journalist's article summary.

      Anyway, I enjoy an argument as much as the next geek, but this one has taken enough of my time already and is just degenerating into name-calling.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    7. Re:Sounds like no-one read past TFA summary by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 1

      In that case I'll go for more name calling: you are an idiot, as it's clear from the quote I gave you earlier that he is claiming an efficiency of over 100%.

      I have a degree in physics, which doesn't mean much, but certainly gives me the right to dismiss claims of machines that break the law of thermodynamics invented by people who don't understand the difference between force and energy. As someone once said, completely fucking incredible claims require completely fucking incredible evidence. Claims that someone from Boeing has said this or that do not amount to said evidence.

  85. My turn? by Spackler · · Score: 1

    Let me be the 156th person to call bullshit.

  86. Fuel Cell Technology by ryanisflyboy · · Score: 1

    One actually useful technology I ran across recently is fuel cells that fit in a rack:

    http://apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm ?base_sku=ISX-FCXR10-30

    Looks like it can actually generate 10Kw and could have a several day runtime capability. The web site is unfortunatly short on details, but I'm sure some intrepid /. readers can dig them up.

    I bet they cost an arm and a leg, or maybe two legs. Has anyone out there ever seen/used one of these units?

  87. Did you ever wonder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what Yoda's penis looked like?

    Slashdot - news for inconsequential turds...

  88. This was on DIGG weeks ago!!!! by tsmithnj · · Score: 0, Redundant

    oh joy digg is the bomb

  89. Profit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Say you invent something that violates the second law of thermodynamics.
    2. Send an article that doesn't explain how your invention works in detail.
    3. ??????
    4. GOTO 1
    5. Profit!

  90. Video of the quote here by The+Hobo · · Score: 1

    Uploaded it here: clicky

    --
    There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
    1. Re:Video of the quote here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't work for me. "playlist invalid"

    2. Re:Video of the quote here by The+Hobo · · Score: 1

      odd
      there's a download link
      here

      --
      There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
    3. Re:Video of the quote here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      here's a download link

      Tried that too. I'm guessing it's an encoding problem. I'm not running Windows, and while 90% of WM plays, apparently this one is in the other group.

  91. Scuttlemonkey by skayell · · Score: 1

    Scuttle the monkey perhaps?

  92. Cool! by ranga_the_don · · Score: 1

    This is really Cool!

    --
    - Yes, but does it run Lunix?
  93. ScuttleMonkey knew by fletchzip · · Score: 0

    I think some people have jumped to the wrong conclusion. The Topic Title is "Self Contained Power Source?". You'll notice the question mark at the end of the title, this suggests to me that ScuttleMonkey read the article and has in fact highlighted the problem with a greater than 100% efficient electric motor, ergo, it becomes a Self Contained Power Source which is of course absurd.

  94. Oh Wait. by ocie · · Score: 1

    I forgot to put in the crystals.

    --
    JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
  95. You CAN have perpetual motion! by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 1
    You can so have a perpetual motion machine* - as long as you capture some of the stray energy of the gawkers who come to look at your machine. (Say, the "oohing" and "ahhing" noises they make.) Heck, call it "all natural" and "homeopathic" and you will get plenty of interest. Toss in a "crystal" or two, for good luck!


    * ok, technically this would not be "perpetual motion (tm) **", but THEY (the rubes) don't know that. Besides, if you charge admission, you might have enough coin left over to keep the lights on, say, if you had lights on all the time, a little solar panel might help to run the perpetual motion machine too...


    ** I am sure there is a submarine patent somewhere that covers this technology.


    Crap, I think I just described a side-show. Maybe when I am too old for engineering I will just become a huckster after all.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  96. Scotty says... by katchins · · Score: 1

    Ya canna change the laws of physics!

    --
    if (!sig) { printf("Signature Unavailable\n"); }
  97. Been there, done that ... by PraGu3 · · Score: 2, Interesting
  98. it appears not to be bogus. by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 2, Funny

    they just add a couple of magnets for extra power source. Magnet =~ extra battery.

    Of course, the magnets will eventually run out...

    it makes sense.

  99. Possibility by Derosian · · Score: 1

    Wait, wait.. So what your saying is.... that... You cannot create energy or matter. I suppose you could say this is a fact, just like you can't go faster then the speed of sound becuase resistance will increase exponentially, or that the world is flat becuase everyone who goes out that far never returns. Don't get me wrong I think this article is bogus as much as the previous posters. But in all fairness science has never been 100% right, a self-contained power source is a possibility, probably not in humanity's lifetime though.

  100. Excellent point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Excellent argument. I now believe in God.

    1. Re:Excellent point by Loconut1389 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      my personal view is that there almost has to be something and that creationism and evolution aren't incompatible- what better way to create the best of everything?

      I take issue with the most orthodox portion of almost all religions- anybody who has made up their mind that they must hang on every word of a particular book or doctrine and interpret things in a very narrow minded view, I have trouble understanding that. The best example I can think of is, I went to a Baptist church once and they lectured for an hour on "God is love" and how if you do not believe in God, you cannot truly love due to the wording of the phrase. Perhaps if you do not believe in a higher power of some kind, you are not the type of person who can open their hearts to another person either, but I reject the notion that you cannot love due to the wording of that phrase. Especially when you consider that the bible was not even written in english to begin with and how many translations there are, the possibility that the phrase is being over-interpreted into a narrow view seems very high.

      I find that there are so many religions, and at the very core of most, there is a supreme being of some sort. Maybe we're all hoping against hope and have convinced ourselves there's something there when there's not, but I find it hard to believe that several billion individuals are wrong. I think ultimately, there must be some kind of supreme being, and that being is whatever we need it to be- jewish, christian, muslim, buddhist, whatever. I would imagine that a being powerful enough to create the universe would also be powerful enough to represent itself in the best manner necessary to communicate with a particular group.

      Maybe I'm blasphemous, maybe I'm a heathen, maybe I'm an infidel- but I do believe something is there.

      Either way, the question always comes up- supreme being or not, it all had to come from somewhere. Even if the question could be answered once and for all how we were created, it would not answer the question of how that event or being was created. Science and religion can chalk it all up to one big bang, a supreme being, a dozen supreme beings, or aliens on mars (perhaps supreme beings too), but there are questions that neither science nor religion can answer. At some point you have to be content with the answers you have. For some people, science is enough. For some people, God is enough. For some people, God explains science. For some people, science explains God. For others, nothing is enough and will remain searching. To be truly happy, you have to believe something- that God is the answer, that science is, or whatever you need to fill in the holes in your life.

  101. Actually, you *can* get usable zero-point energy by xiphoris · · Score: 1

    It actually should be able to make a device that "runs on" zero-point energy. However, it depends on your definition of "runs on". Usually, when we say that, we talk about the last important power source. Cars run on gasoline, which (probably) came from plants, which came from the sun, soil, etc.

    It is entirely possible to 'extract' energy from the vacuum (the zero-point energy) by making use of the Unruh effect. Specifically, whenever you are accelerating, you appear to perceive light coming from the vacuum. If you ran some device off this energy, it would run on zero-point energy much like a car runs on gasoline. Gasoline and the zero-point energy in this example did not "just exist" though, the energy for the device ultimately came from somewhere else.

    I suspect this is not what you were referring to, though, but I thought I'd point it out because it is interesting nonetheless :)

    What you really meant is that zero-point energy can't be harvested in such a way that it's "free" to us. But really, any energy becomes free to us when its actual source is sufficiently far away that we don't care. Solar energy is "free" -- we just have to put up solar cells and collect it from the sun.

    Perhaps we may find that zero-point energy is extractable from the vacuum -- and we might never really figure out where it's coming from. (Who knows, black holes send us the energy from other universes?)

    But anyway, it is important to pin down the notion of "free" energy. Free energy is any energy that comes from outside your local thermodynamic system.

  102. No server cabinet power here, folks. Move along. by IceFoot · · Score: 1

    There is NOTHING in this technology that has ANYTHING to do with "self-sustained server cabinet power." Roast the submitter! And the editor!

    Flynn Research is developing electric motors. From the Flynn website

    Parallel Path Applications

    Fans, Medical Pumps, Hydraulic Pumps, Refrigeration, Disk Drives, Trolling Motors
    Traction devices: Electric Vehicles, High speed rail, Lift Trucks, Golf Carts,
    Battery operated equipment using motors or actuators,
    Appliances Using motors or actuators,
    Aircraft & Aerospace

  103. Physics is not /. by notoriou5 · · Score: 1

    I don't think that slashdot is a forum for perpetual motion debate. If you like physics, read the journals.

  104. I'm a perpetual motion machine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a perpetual motion machine.

    Well, no one has proven me wrong yet.

  105. Possible prior art in this patent. by Allnighterking · · Score: 1

    Sorry to bust any bubbles but I know I submitted the prior art over a year ago as an article (that was turned down) as this was and is actually an invention of a Japanese Gentleman who has been working on it most of his life. The original inventor is a Mr Kohei Minato who has a number of patents already on this motor.

    Here are some links

    article 1
    article 2
    google search

    --

    I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.

  106. provides the exponential increase in efficiency... by Traf-O-Data-Hater · · Score: 1

    Yeah, right... EXPONENTIAL increase. It's that revolutionary? Ahh don't think so!

  107. Actualy by autopr0n · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually Slashdot's traffic trippled just a couple months ago. At least among IE uses with the alexa toolbar installed.

    Kind of weird, and annoying given how crappy this place has become. No one with any authority cares about the site at all. It's pretty lame.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:Actualy by Jaseoldboss · · Score: 1

      Forget the dodgy opensource energy story, how on earth could all those people with Alexa installed start reading slashdot. That's extremely worrying!

      Did someone port the toolbar to Linux or has Disney.com put in a browser redirect!?

    2. Re:Actualy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In actuality, actually contains two ells and triple contains on pee. Learn to spell before you post flames about how nobody cares about Slashdot anymore.

  108. Why is that? by Ivan+Matveitch · · Score: 1
    I can easily conceive of one potential design: suppose someone found that, by subjecting some kind of matter to a new process, it could be made, from then on, to accelerate itself according to new physical principles. Such lumps of flying matter could then be put to use in various mechanical ways.

    If their natural force of self-acceleration is less than that imposed upon them by gravity, stray bits of the stuff would skip around harmlessly on the ground; otherwise, they would fly away into outer space at high and dangerous speeds.

    1. Re:Why is that? by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      That's not much of a conception. By hand-waving with the phrase "new physical principles", you've glossed over the whole problem. Come up with the principles first.

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  109. It's probably an advanced version of: by jbourj · · Score: 1
  110. Yet another money-maker for slashdot....(Sigh) by woolio · · Score: 1

    I wonder if ScuttleMonkey is getting a share of the ad revenues....

    When stupid stuff like this gets posted, a flame war against the submitter and editor ensues... Which means a whole lot of page views... Which means that little banner at the top of the page gets reloaded a lot... (and probably more click-thoughts from the sheer volume of people involved)

    And for subscribers who join in, they get to deplete their subscription even faster... Which makes them re-subscribe more often... Which means more $$$$ for slashdot...

    My subscription was a gift from a friend. While it was a very nice gift, I'm starting to get tired of the ./ editor's tactics. I don't see myself renewing it in the near future.

    I would be willing to support slashdot if discussion was encouraged through the posting of truly interesting stories... Unfortunately, the editors seem to think that thinly-disguised advertisement 'articles', viewpoints on the computer industry written by humanities scholars, and pseudo-science are what the readership wants to see.

    Perhaps CowboyNeal should start making some useful polls like "What would you like to see on Slashdot?"
    1) Interesting Industry Articles
    2) New Science Breakthroughs
    3) Issues related to technological rights
    4) Programming Articles
    5) SPAM,CRAP, and other scatology

    [Guess which one is the "CowboyNeal" option]

  111. Company Logo by Typoboy · · Score: 1

    Anyone notice how the company logo looks a lot like those rearranging paper puzzles? Hmm.

  112. New Guidelines for posting your story by 4Dmonkey · · Score: 1

    1. Dig up a story. Any story.
    2. Read its most sensationalist part (usually the start and end paras)
    3. Make a breif summary out of those parts only, making sure that it sounds more like psuedoscience (This is needed so that we get more posts and slashdot gets its revenue, ya bread n butter stuff)
    4. Dont forget to add a question mark at the end of your subject. (You have 67% more chances of getting the story posted this way)
    5. Click Submit.

    --
    God created man in his own image, but somehow he evolved into a hairless monkey.
  113. Seems like a consensus by synaptic · · Score: 1

    Heavier than air craft will never fly.

    Is it remotely possible that some of our theories or "laws" are incomplete or have exceptions? Is it possible to find a breakthrough technology or novel special case without temporarily suspending faith in so-called laws defined by error-prone human beings. I know that most of these laws have been tried and tested for a century or more but doesn't science allow for continued attacks of these laws? If they fail, they reinforce the theory and provide additional foundations for it's classification as a "law". But if no one ever tries, the understanding may be incomplete and we may be missing something big.

    Nearly all the posts here seem to jump to the immediate conclusion that anything that breaks their mental model is the work of ignorant, certifiable kooks. How many of you have actually verified these laws? I'm sure some here have but I doubt the vast majority of people immediately saying "impossible" have ever. Did you learn your mental models from a book, from a teacher, from anecdotal evidence? Have you jumped to the conclusion that so many incredibly intelligent people have tried that they couldn't have possibly missed something, even considering our new understanding of additional, or previously unheard of magnitudes, of material properties like, say the magnetostriction that causes the giant magnetocaloric effect or the still unexplained energy anamolies when a material undergoes phase change? Have you ever walked around looking for your sunglasses that are on your head, the keys that are in your hand, or otherwise solved some puzzle that made you ask how you could have missed something so obvious on first examination?

    I welcome these people who always question, form hypothesis, test, refactor, test, refactor, test, requestion, factor in new knowledge, etc. because even if they fail, they succeed by reinforcing our existing models. It's productive to play devil's advocate or to point out how existing laws suggest it is impossible, but don't be so close minded as to immediate reject the idea that anyone can ever discover something that requires a revision of our models of perception. Encourage the people, offer your knowledge that might lead them down the path of discovery or lead to reinforcement of existing dogma.

    Unfortunately, Slashdot readers are more apt to cast scorn on the people who should be your ally. You want them to fail by giving up before even trying, not by trying and failing. This is certainly not the reaction I would have expected from a cabal of wannabe computer scientists. Despite what you may think, you are not the center of the universe and you don't have it all figured out.

    Not that any of you will actually care to investigate the claims, but I downloaded and compiled the USPTO tiffs into a PDF and have made the patent available at http://outlawlabs.com:8000/US006246561.pdf.

  114. Lets just gloss over the PMM part by Timberwolf0122 · · Score: 1

    If the mans made a better motor then fair play to him, although I suspect the motor is <100% effecient..
    Anything that can get green cars on the road faster is a good thing, now if he could turn his skills to say jamming more energy per m^3 into batteries I would be impressed.

    --
    In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
  115. Yes you can by jesterpilot · · Score: 2, Funny

    You cannot get energy from magnets.

    You can burn them.

    --
    Trust me, I work for the government.
    1. Re:Yes you can by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      What if you drop them into a pulsar?

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
  116. the masses are not always correct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    In your dialect, it is more likely that the word is *pronounced* that way than it is *spelled* that way. (Spelt is legitimate, but has more than one meaning.) 1.5 million people do not turn back the fact that 'ridiculous' comes from 'ridicule' and that 'redicule' comes from no place other than Cantspell, USA.

    I suppose you think it doesn't matter because I was able to understand what you meant... ...when, in fact, that just makes me look smarter than you. And I'm not saying that's true - for all I know you're a genius - but that is the way it looks.

  117. think about that 100% by mennucc1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    hey everybody, stop for a moment and think (or, at least, google around) before you write. Nowhere does the original article, or the Flynn research team (AFAI could find), say that this enginge produces more energy than it receives.

    (The original article says "You should not be able to get more out of a system than you put into it and when someone claims to have invented something which does otherwise, skeptics are quick to challenge the validity of any claim that appears to violate conservation." and "A Parallel Path motor uses magnets...this ability to manipulate the magnetic flux in the core of a motor is what provides the exponential increase in efficiency with Parallel Path technology.". The phrasing of the above may be misleading, but it is not saying that "A Parallel Path motor generates more energy than it consumes".)

    What the tecnology is about is that a "parallel path design" can help keep the magnetic flow around the rotoro, right where it is needed.

    And what about the "over 100% of efficiency" statement?
    I have a true clear-cut example for you. I have recently bought a new heat system for my house; when I started browsing models, I came across the realm of "caldaia a condensazione" (english: see condensing high efficiency boilers)) that claim to feature up to 106.5% efficency.
    Here the brainded ./er would say "106.5% efficency? Perpetual motion! That must be b.s.".
    The intelligent one says "106%" w.r.t. what ?. In Italy, it is "106% w.r.t. the theoretical limit of a standard design of a boiler". So it is not b.s.

    So, by comparison, I may assume that the "parallel path" design exceeds 100% of the theoretical efficiency of the "standard electrical engine design". And this is scientifically reasonable, and yet it does not mean that a "parallel path" design is a perpetual motion engine

  118. No Wikipedia link by pjacobi · · Score: 1

    This article has no link to a Wikipedia article about "Parallel Path" and I'm a little bit proud of it, see:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_fo r_deletion/Parallel_Path

  119. hafnium .... releases 60 times input energy by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    The military interest was triggered by research published in 1999 by Carl Collins and colleagues at the University of Texas at Dallas. They found that by shining X-rays onto certain types of hafnium they could get it to release 60 times as much energy as they put in (New Scientist print edition, 3 July 1999).

    http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3406

    So what can you do with that? make a UAV out of it.

    The US Air Force is examining the feasibility of a nuclear-powered version of an unmanned aircraft. The USAF hopes that such a vehicle will be able to "loiter" in the air for months without refuelling, striking at will when a target comes into its sights.

    But the idea is bound to raise serious concerns about the wisdom of flying radioactive material in a combat aircraft. If shot down, for instance, would an anti-aircraft gunner in effect be detonating a dirty bomb?

    It raises political questions, too. Having Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) almost constantly flying over a region would amount to a new form of military intimidation, especially if they were armed, says Ian Bellamy, an arms control expert at Lancaster University in Britain.

    But right now, there seems no stopping the proliferation of UAVs, fuelled by their runaway success in the Kosovo and Afghanistan conflicts. The big attraction of UAVs is that they do not put pilots' lives at risk, and they are now the norm for many reconnaissance and even attack missions.

    The endurance of a future nuclear-powered UAV would offer military planners an option they might find hard to turn down. Last week, the Pentagon allocated $1 billion of its 2004 budget for further development of both armed and unarmed UAVs. .......

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  120. Not So Fast by iendedi · · Score: 0

    The slogan here is "news for nerds", not "news for people who have no knowledge whatsoever of the basic principles of physical science"...

    So just to be clear on the basic principles of physical science, could you explain how the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet retains the same strength over time, is able to perform useful work indefinitely (e.g. could magnetically levitate another magnet which requires, according to any analysis you choose, a continual exertion of force and therefore power and energy), etc.?

    After all, if we are going to ridicule anything that resembles perpetual motion due to permanent magnets, then it is pretty important that we can unequivocally state that a permanent magnet itself is not capable of perpetually exerting force, power and energy. Right? Oh wait...

    Think carefully before walking down this road. Even if you are a trained physisct, there be some serious dragons here. Be careful what you dismiss as pseudoscience.

    --

    It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
    1. Re:Not So Fast by ab8ten · · Score: 1

      magnetically levitate another magnet which requires, according to any analysis you choose, a continual exertion of force and therefore power and energy)

      I am currently levitating my cup of coffee 3 feet off the ground. Woah! Spooky! Look, it's not even moving! That's because there's a freaknig DESK holding it there. Replace 'desk' with 'magnetic field' and you have your answer. No work is being done because nothing is moving and nothing is heating up and nothing is radiating. Get. A. Clue.

      --
      I have no .sig
    2. Re:Not So Fast by gunnk · · Score: 1

      Work = (Force)(Displacement)

      Something can float without work being done or energy being used. A FORCE has to exist, but that doesn't mean energy is being consumed or work is being done. A boat floats in water because the force exerted on the boat by the water it displaces counteracts the force of gravity trying to sink it. Zero work is done by a floating boat though forces are acting on it to keep it floating.

      --
      Life is short: void the warranty.
    3. Re:Not So Fast by mad.frog · · Score: 1

      could you explain how the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet retains the same strength over time

      The gravitational attraction of a given mass of matter also remains constant over time (proton decay notwithstanding), but I would also ridicule any PMM based on known gravitational forces.

      Keeping an open mind does not preclude rejecting extraordinary claims (unless there is correspondingly extraordinary evidence, which is clearly lacking here).

      Be careful what you dismiss as pseudoscience

      Good advice indeed -- but given that the inventor claims something that has never been demonstrated in a reliable or repeatable way, and has huge reams of both experimental and theoretical evidence against it, and has furthermore been repeatedly used in hoaxes and frauds over the years...

      May I suggest easily-google-able sites detailing the unworkability of PMM's in general, and electromagnetically-based ones in particular:

      http://www.phact.org/e/z/freewire.htm
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion_mach ine
      http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/museum/unwork.htm
      http://www.kilty.com/pmotion.htm
      http://www.phact.org/e/dennis4.html
      http://burtleburtle.net/bob/physics/whythere.html
      http://commons.bcit.ca/physics/rjw/pmm/text/em_pmm s.htm

    4. Re:Not So Fast by iendedi · · Score: 1

      Work = (Force)(Displacement)

      Something can float without work being done or energy being used. A FORCE has to exist, but that doesn't mean energy is being consumed or work is being done. A boat floats in water because the force exerted on the boat by the water it displaces counteracts the force of gravity trying to sink it. Zero work is done by a floating boat though forces are acting on it to keep it floating.


      You are forgetting that in this particular example, we are countering the effects of gravity. To counter the acceleration due to gravity, energy is required. Even your equation is blatantly wrong. If I push on a wall, I am exerting energy and force but there is no displacement.

      And in the case of gravity, even a rigid body is exerting energy to keep a mass from accelerating towards the center of gravity. It is just that the expended energy is distributed to the atomic and molecular bonds of the rigid body that is working to counteract gravity (and continuously generating heat in the process, as any compression of a rigid body will do). As I put in another post related to the grandparent, those molecular bonds are also suspect because they appear to be able to exert force that requires energy in perputua. There is something more at work here and it is only subtle if you don't question how it works (e.g. if you memorized your physics from college but never bothered to ask how, for example, electrostatic forces could continue to operate at the same intensity in perpetua without decreasing in effectiveness).

      As I said, there be dragons here.

      --

      It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
    5. Re:Not So Fast by commander_gallium · · Score: 1

      If I push on a wall, I am exerting energy and force but there is no displacement.

      And in the case of gravity, even a rigid body is exerting energy to keep a mass from accelerating towards the center of gravity. It is just that the expended energy is distributed to the atomic and molecular bonds of the rigid body that is working to counteract gravity (and continuously generating heat in the process, as any compression of a rigid body will do).


      When you push on a wall, the force from your arm does no work. However, you grow tired because work is being done at the cellular level in you body. Your muscles require energy to remain contracted.

      A compressed rigid (or non-rigid) body is only going to generate heat while it is being compressed. After that it cools. If that were not the case, I could heat my apartment by stacking up a pile of rocks.

    6. Re:Not So Fast by iendedi · · Score: 1

      When you push on a wall, the force from your arm does no work. However, you grow tired because work is being done at the cellular level in you body. Your muscles require energy to remain contracted.

      You would have us believe that there is a difference in the expense of energy related to the success of moving the object or not? Are you listening to yourself?

      Please provide any example of how one body can compress another body without the continual expense of energy, without resorting to other suspect forces (such as molecular bonds via rubber bands or bracing, or gravity, etc..). One example. You will actually find that there are other equations in physics that relate energy to compression (such as a spring). These equations will be more useful to you than the force x distance one in this argument. It is also important, when makiing this analogy, to assume that any thought experiment must be constrained to not depend on any bracing at any time in the experiment. Doing so simply hands over to the molecular bonds of the brace all work required to continue the compression. It becomes hand-waving the problem away.

      A compressed rigid (or non-rigid) body is only going to generate heat while it is being compressed. After that it cools. If that were not the case, I could heat my apartment by stacking up a pile of rocks.

      At what point does gravity stop exerting force on a body? During compression, heat is generated as molecular bonds in the compressed body are broken. This process will continue with some half-life in a body experiencing constant compression, albeit at a much slower rate than during a change in compression. But even this doesn't matter much - you are looking for ways to balance the equations of conservation of energy (as you were taught). My assertion is that there is none at the level of the basic wheel-works of nature. In fact, I am stating that there is always an expense in energy when one body experiences a force (even if that force is in equilibrium). This is really self evident if you think about it. We are taught to believe that conservation of energy is a fundamental law and therefore don't question whether it applies to forces such as gravity. But upon inspiction, it becomes very clear that it does not. Gravity can and does act to accelerate other bodies without ever diminishing in effectiveness. Once you accept that fact, you must then consider the work it is performing on stationary objects as well. Consider Fusion in the sun. Consider black holes. Then think about the surface of the planet and tension on molecular bonds. Think outside the box.

      And yes, absolutely, you could heat your house with gravity. Take a look here and here.

      --

      It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
    7. Re:Not So Fast by gunnk · · Score: 1

      No, you're mistaken.

      Energy does NOT need to be exerted to counteract a force: another force operating in an opposite direction with equal strength will do the job nicely.

      Compression? If compression required the exertion of energy to counter it then everything in the Universe would collapse. What you are confusing is the act of compressing an object (which does typically generate heat) with an object existing in a STATE of compression (which is a state in which the forces compressing the object are in balance with those preventing further collapse).

      It is TRUE that compressing an object so that it takes up less volume requires energy: work IS being done as the object is getting smaller. Once the volume stops changing (forces in balance), no work is being done and no energy is being consumed.

      Your example of gravity is likewise wrong: a counteracting FORCE produces stability, NOT the exertion of energy. Forces exist independently of work. This is the foundation for the entire concept of potential versus kinetic energy.

      If you have not studied physics, I can see that this can be confusing because many of the terms are used loosely day-to-day, but in physics that is not the case. If you are truly interested, pick up a college level physics text meant as an introductory course for physics majors (don't get one of the "overviews" for non-majors). Better yet, pick up an undergraduate text in Newtonian Mechanics. The principles you will learn carry over into thermodynamics, so you should get a better understanding of exactly what I'm discussing. In case you haven't guessed by now, I have a degree in physics from UNC-Chapel Hill. :-)

      --
      Life is short: void the warranty.
    8. Re:Not So Fast by iendedi · · Score: 1

      Energy does NOT need to be exerted to counteract a force: another force operating in an opposite direction with equal strength will do the job nicely.

      Force does not exist in a vacuum. Something must generate it and my entire point is that requires energy. This idea is new and controversial, so I am not surprised you have a blindspot preventing you from even seeing my argument.

      If you have not studied physics, I can see that this can be confusing because many of the terms are used loosely day-to-day, but in physics that is not the case. If you are truly interested, pick up a college level physics text meant as an introductory course for physics majors (don't get one of the "overviews" for non-majors). Better yet, pick up an undergraduate text in Newtonian Mechanics. The principles you will learn carry over into thermodynamics, so you should get a better understanding of exactly what I'm discussing. In case you haven't guessed by now, I have a degree in physics from UNC-Chapel Hill. :-)

      I'm afraid you are missing the point.

      Let's start with counteracting gravity. But let's assume we want a mass to levitate in a field of gravity. In order for that to happen, it will need to accelerate opposite the field of gravity. In the case of earth, that would be 9.8 m/s^2 and a conventional rocket will require a great deal of energy expenditure to pull this trick off. There is no doubt that the rocket is, in fact, generating force equal to it's acceleration times it's mass. But only a fool would say this doesn't require energy. Instead of saying that it doesn't require energy to exert a force, it is probably much more accurate to state that when the force is a result of a fundemental force (such as molecular bonds in the matter under the rocket at rest), that those fundamental forces are responsible for the energy accounting required to sustain the force. Perhaps the definition of energy, itself, needs an update.

      However, the assertion that energy is not required in some cases yet is required in others is suspect and needs to be investigated more vigorously. We are so accustomed to hand-waving away the molecular bonds, electrostatic forces, gravity and magnetism (all ASSUMED to be permanent artifacts of some cosmologically perfect universal truth) that we never really bother to question the energy characteristics of those very basic "wheel works of nature.". My entire point is that these should not, in fact, be hand-waved away.

      Energy is required to generate and sustain a force. Period. Please prove me wrong. And while contemplating this, please prepare yourself for some insight when you start to consider that the forces in question all hinge on gravity, electrostatic, nuclear and magnetic fields - considering them to be constantly replenishing their energy to maintain force or considering them to have the ability to generate force without expending energy end up being equivilent for almost all conventional analysis. Only when one starts to question how to tap into these potentially huge energy streams do the two different views begin to differentiate.

      The article of context is suggesting just such a thing. And there are hundreds of other projects, experiments and theories that are doing the same.

      Instead of suggesting I go back to high-school to learn newtonian mechanics, may I suggest you unlearn some of what you learned so that you can open your eyes to a vast new horizon of opportunities?

      --

      It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
  121. Re:hafnium .... releases 60 times input energy by williwilli · · Score: 1

    But it's 2006...

  122. re. self contained power source by electronspiraltoroid · · Score: 1

    This is interesting, but the way it appears to work is much the same as temporarily demagnetising a magnet by applying an AC field.

    The problem is that this weakens the magnet each time due to field coupling, resulting in a dead magnet after a short time.

    The only way to get around this is to use a magnetic shield which blocks part of the field from the magnet to generate torque in one direction. Pyrolytic graphite is nowhere near strong enough unfortunately, and there is speculation that in order for this to have any chance of working you would need to be able to switch the material (nicknamed unobtainium) from a superconducting to an inert state with applied voltage.

    -A

    --
    "Bother" said Pooh, as he was dipped in bees...
  123. Generator efficiences by ChoirmasterWind · · Score: 1

    A decent sized electricity generator (100MW - 600 MW) is already 98.5% efficient. A semiconductor-controlled synchronous electric motor is 97.5 - 98% efficient. End of story.

  124. I pose that opensourceenergy.org articles.... by Super+Happy+Fun+Chem · · Score: 2, Insightful

    are immediately dumped into the trash. Its not even journalism. When I went to high school, the school newspaper was better written. At least they would check the facts and care about accuracy (somewhat). EVERY article that I have seen from opensourceenergy has been debunked in about 20 posts on slashdot, and even before we have our morning coffee! Its that bad. Just... junk it. And senior mods need to sit Scuttlemonkey on their knee and explain the birds and the magnetic flux density to him.

  125. Joeseph Newman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    must be spinning in his grave......oh wait!

  126. Re: flywheel + generator instead of UPS by speculatrix · · Score: 1

    There's a key advantage to using a flywheel/generator combination: your electricity supply is massively cleaned up because you're generating a new clean electricity supply, the inertia of the flywheel also smooths out most glitches in the mains.

    Not only don't you need the UPS, you also do away with the problem of keeping the UPS cool.

    The only issue is noise, these things aren't quiet.

    A quick google found these people: http://www.activepower.com/

  127. From TFA.... by orion41us · · Score: 1

    Has anyone actualy read TFA? This is NOT a new energy source/prepetual motion device or anything that claims to work around current laws of physics - the comnpany simply found a way to make a better electric motor by manipulating the magnetic fields, they cliam a increase in efficency noithing more.

    1. Re:From TFA.... by taustin · · Score: 1

      What TFA say, and I quote, is "The technology claims to be able to increase magnet motor efficiency substantially, even over the 100% barrier." Efficiency beyond 100% is perpetual motion, and is physically impossible. Period.

      Patents have been issued on perpetual motion machines (which don't work) before.

      I'll believe it when I see it.

  128. Delta vs Absolute by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

    The first refers to a delta, a difference of +/- 4 minutes. The second is an absolute value of 4 minutes per mile.

    So if you're running a 10 minute mile, and increase your speed so that you're doing a 6 minute mile, you've increased your speed by four minutes per mile. You are NOT however, "running a 4-minute mile."

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  129. It's being coined? by jeddak · · Score: 1

    "It's called Parallel Path Technology and it's being coined as a revolution in the magnetic motor industry."

    You can coin a new word, you can't coin something that's already been invented (even if what's supposedly been invented is under dispute).

          http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid =Mozilla-search&va=coin

    The submitter probably meant 'touted,' 'sold,' or perhaps more appropriately, 'hyped.'

  130. It is truly a quantum leap! by AyeRoxor! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Parallel Path is a quantum leap in electromagnetic motor technology

    At least they're being honest. As a scientist would know, (and they purport to be scientists), a quantum leap is the absolute least amount something can move without standing still. And they didn't say whether it was a leap forwards or backwards.

    So basically they probably mean that this is a tiny tiny step backwards for them. I'll can believe that.

    1. Re:It is truly a quantum leap! by AyeRoxor! · · Score: 1

      I'll can believe that.

      *sigh*. Preview calls me, but I do not answer.

  131. Re:first by mocktattle · · Score: 1

    Imagine a beowulf cluster made out of vaporware

    Ok. Does it run Linux?
  132. Great Scott! by rochemj · · Score: 1

    1.21 Gigawatts!

  133. Over 100% could be valid by erbmjw · · Score: 2, Interesting
    After taking a look at the article, I think it is {poorly} attempting a comparison between their prototype motor and an equivilent conventional electric motor.

    It seems that the article is trying to say something to that effect with this sentence.
    Testing and Finite Element Analysis show that the Parallel Path system indeed manages to not only increase the magnetic flux in the core by a factor of four over conventional electric motors, but manipulate the flux to act in the direction of motion, generating considerably more motive power than conventional motors

    The claim could then be that the new motors provide better than 100% of the motive power possible of the equivilent conventinal electric motor. But I don't see where there is any data that would support that supposition - perhaps they provided it to the writer{s} but it was not correctly included in the article.
  134. Non-theories by Rufus88 · · Score: 1

    so we can stop having the Electric Universe, perpetual motion, and other fringe theories on the frontpage as science?

    This kind of misuse of the word "theory" is what fuels the Intelligent Design crowd.

  135. Presented at U of New Mexico by jhines · · Score: 1
    "has recently presented with Flynn Research on the technology at the latest STAIF conference held Albuquerque, NM this Feb 2006."

    Anybody have any details on or about or from this conference? Hello, any U of NM folks in the /. crowd?

  136. Permanent Magnet Motors: the energy source by labreuer · · Score: 1

    If anyone tells you that they can build a permanent magnet motor that will just keep on spinning, and even put out a little bit of force, it's OK to believe them, as this is not perpetual motion. The energy is coming from the magnets themselves -- yes, they are getting weaker as the motor spins. An interesting friend of mine was into this sort of thing and after I did some looking, I stumbled upon the energy source.

  137. Net energy balance of the Universe by hpa · · Score: 1
    Now for the mind bender- according to the laws of conservation, all the energy in the universe - spinning planets, energy stored in elements, whatever - had to come from somewhere. You can start with our solar system and our sun and move outwards through the universe, but eventually, if you trace the energy back from every object- it has to come from somewhere.

    Bullshit. All the various Laws of Conservation (of Energy, of Charge, of Lepton Number, of Quark Number...) state is that the total number cannot change. In the case of some of these, e.g. Lepton and Quark Number, it's believed that there is a slight assymetry in particule physics which we have not yet discovered; this is bolstered by the fact that the Universe does not seem to contain any significant amount of antimatter. On the other hand, when it comes to Energy, it's a distinct possibility that when you add up all the terms, the total is zero. The reason this is possible is that some forms of energy have a value which is negative vis-a-vis the immediately-after-Big-Bang state; Stephen Hawking is one of the leading scientists looking at what he calls the "South Pole" concept -- that the beginning of the universe is governed by the same laws of physics that the rest of the universe is.

  138. Conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In fact, the suppression of such inventions has been done not just by oil barons, but by a sinister alliance between industrialists and the environmental movement.

    "Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun." - Dr. Paul Erlich

  139. Australia did it a while ago by Jakuta · · Score: 1

    I don't know if its redundant but I was reading this some time ago and thought it was interesting then. Check this out if your interested.

  140. From TFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "They have received a US Patent."
    Oh, patenting things that don't/can't exist? There's a novel idea.

  141. Symetron: A truly revolutionary (non-PM) motor by jaysedai · · Score: 1
    Over 3X the power from the same size motor:

    http://www.rasertech.com/tech_g-1.html

  142. Basic Forces and Zero Point Energy by iendedi · · Score: 0

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my assertion that a rigid body counteracting gravity is quite different than a magnetic field counteracting gravity. If you used an electromagnet to levitate an object, there would be a measurable current drain that directly correlates to the energy required to create the repulsive force that is required to counter the acceleration of gravity. But we blindly accept that a permanent magnet does this without using energy?

    As a side note, there is evidence for unusual energy properties even in rigid bodies. When you place a mass on a rigid body in the presence of a gravitational field, the force that counters gravity is distributed to the atomic/molecular bonds of the rigid body itself. These bonds also appear to be able to exert force indefinitely in much the same way as a permanent magnet. So your example is also something that should be examined more closely and hardly can be used to hand-wave this phenomena away.

    The fact that two electrons can exert accelerating forces upon one another and yet retain the capacity to exert the same force in the future (e.g. electrostatic repulsion does not diminish with the number of times or intensity of their work) is itself interesting in the same way. As I said before, this particular line of inquiry is filled with subtle dragons, even for the most well trained physisct.

    My comment was modded down by someone who blindly accepts that the basic wheelworks of nature have properties that defy the law of conservation of energy. And they do, blatantly so (as in the electron example). Is blindly accepting this without questioning it a valid skeptical approach to science??

    It is more than obvious that what we see in the behavior and attributes of electrostatic attraction/repulsion, magnetism, nuclear forces and other basic wheelworks of nature is in fact a coupling to a universal power-source (e.g. Zero-Point Energy). If this were not so, the forces that bind atoms and molecules together would quickly depelete their energy and rigid bodies would simply fall-apart rather continuously.

    It is my observation that those who mock such OBVIOUS problems with our understanding of the universe are themselves pseudo-scientists. The real scientists are the ones who have the courage and skeptism (of current scientific understanding) to ask the hard questions and try to really get to the bottom of things.

    --

    It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
    1. Re:Basic Forces and Zero Point Energy by AmonRa1979 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The power lost in the electromagnet in this scenario is only due to the resistance in the electromagnet. If you were to do this you would notice that the electromagnet would heat up and that heat would account for the energy lost from whatever energy source you used to power the electromagnet. This is the only power loss as long as the other levitating magnet is remaining stationary. Now for the electrons repelling each other; the energy comes from bringing the electrons closer together. So, in order for the electrons to repel each other again, some amount of energy has to be exerted in bringing the electrons close together again. Energy is completely conserved in this situation. Just remember... force is not energy. It also doesn't take a supply of power to maintain a force. While there are problems with our understanding of the universe, this is not one of them.

    2. Re:Basic Forces and Zero Point Energy by iendedi · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The power lost in the electromagnet in this scenario is only due to the resistance in the electromagnet. If you were to do this you would notice that the electromagnet would heat up and that heat would account for the energy lost from whatever energy source you used to power the electromagnet. This is the only power loss as long as the other levitating magnet is remaining stationary.

      I am currently dumbfounded by two things. (1) That someone keeps modding these comments down, as the subject is intensely interesting and there is valid debate here, as I shall show (again). and (2) That I get responses like this one which are self-defeating, as I shall proceed to show.

      As to your comment, above, let us try a simple thought experiment. Imagine two electromagnets sitting on a tabletop and oriented such that their flux will cause a repulsive force when the electromagnets are powered. Imagine that both of these electromagnets are attached to a platform that can move on the table (wheels, low friction surface, whatever). Now further imagine that we place them arbitrarily close together. When we apply power to the electromagnets, what happens? Obviously, the electromagnets exert a motive force on one another and move apart. The act of moving apart clearly uses energy.

      Is your assertion that the energy expended to impart a motive force to the experimental apparatus not originating in the electrical power used to energize the magnetic coils? Or, perhaps you believe that the only energy expended is expended when the aparatus actually moves? If your answer is the first one, then your argument is self defeating because that clearly violates the law of conservation of energy. If your answer is the second one, then let us add aditional parameters to our experiment and see what happens. Since you (in this case) are stating that energy is only consumed when the aparatus moves, let us place two rigid bodies with pressure sensors on the opposing sides of each electromagnet and re-run the experiment. In this case, the electromagnets will exert a motive force on one another, but the aparatus can no longer move. However, the pressure sensors will register presure (active compression) related to the imparted motive force. This constant pressure REQUIRES A CONSTANT EXPENSE OF ENERGY.

      Do you disagree? If so, can you please explain how the electromagnets are causing a measurable compression of the pressure sensor without a constant expenditure of energy?

      Now for the electrons repelling each other; the energy comes from bringing the electrons closer together. So, in order for the electrons to repel each other again, some amount of energy has to be exerted in bringing the electrons close together again. Energy is completely conserved in this situation. Just remember... force is not energy. It also doesn't take a supply of power to maintain a force. While there are problems with our understanding of the universe, this is not one of them.

      It took me exactly 2 seconds to conceive of a simple thought experiment to prove you wrong. I am surprised that you didn't realize the same thiing when you were typing your response to me. I must assume that you are not actually thinking about this subject, but rather blinding regurgitating old, learned, conservation of energy religion. Here it is:

      Imagine a closed system in free space with a large quantity of electrons freely *bouncing around*

      Get the picture yet? Need help?

      Ok, here is help: Those electrons don't have anyone pushing them together (e.g. they are not being accellerated, except perhaps by one another). However, over time they will have essentially infinite electrostatic interactions with one another, bouncing around infinitely, never loosing energy. But here is the kicker: Because of their interactions with each other, they will constantly be exposed to electrostatic acceleration which implies the expenditure of energy. Acceleration is not free. At no time does t

      --

      It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
  143. In a word, BULLSHIT! by dsmatthews · · Score: 2, Informative

    With current motors at around 80% efficiency I doubt there is room for the claimed x4 improvement. The math does not make sense to me. How can you have 220% more power ouput than your input?

    Just using the right motor for the right job is more important.

    There is a nice write up of it here;

    http://www.psnh.com/Business/SmallBusiness/Motor.a sp

    and here;

    http://www.advancedenergy.org/progressenergy/motor _efficiency.html

    (Another five minutes of my time wasted on google because some fool posted something without doing a bit of research first.)

  144. Permanent Magnets and Zero Point Energy by iendedi · · Score: 2, Informative

    The basic idea behind harnessing the power of a permanent magnet is related to the similar phenemona associated with the electrostatic force in electrons/protons, the nuclear force, gravity and other such seemingly permanent forces. All of them give the full appearance of being able to perform useful work in perpetua.

    For example, two electrons, through electrostatic repulsion, will accelerate away from one another. It is impossible to dismiss that energy was required to cause this acceleration. Yet, the electrons do not diminish in energy, they do not loose any electrostatic potential and are in fact capable of continually doing this same magical feat indefinitely. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it will take some serious evidence to say it isn't a duck. The electrostatic force associated with an electron appears to have an infinite supply of energy to exert accelerating forces on other electrons. It is trendy to say that the electrostatic force of an electron is coupled to ZPE (Zero Point Energy), and through this coupling, it is able to draw from ZPE to keep it's electrostatic potential constant.

    A permanent magnet appears to have the same properties (e.g. it is capable of exerting force to accelerate objects without decreasing in apparent energy). It is true that a permanent magnet has it's properties because of the alignment of atoms and that over time the work that the magnet is doing does cause atoms to re-align and therefore decrease the effectiveness of the magnet. But this is in no way can account for the massive amounts of energy that the magnet appears to be able to use during it's effective lifetime. One could even say that the molecular bonds that are holding the magnet together and keeping the magnetic flux lined up are themselves generating the energy, since those bonds are countering the large magnetic forces that threaten to realign the magnet so that it is no longer magnetic. Those molecular forces themselves do not diminish and continue to exert strong accelerating forces.

    In summary, it is impossible to dismiss this phenomena. A permanent magnet is capable of performing work, as is simply evidenced in many different ways (although it does not appear to have been commercially realized - who knows why? Anyone have a tinfoil hat?). Electrostatic forces, molecular bonds, nuclear forces and gravity all appear to have a similar property of endless access to energy to perform work.

    If you reply to this comment, please don't hand-wave and say your physics professor knows more than me. Think about this subject seriously. The basic wheelworks of nature do give the full and blantant appearance of constantly violating the law of conservation of energy. That should be something that anyone who considers themselves a skeptical scientist would like to understand better.

    --

    It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
    1. Re:Permanent Magnets and Zero Point Energy by elvum · · Score: 1

      For example, two electrons, through electrostatic repulsion, will accelerate away from one another. It is impossible to dismiss that energy was required to cause this acceleration. Yet, the electrons do not diminish in energy, they do not loose any electrostatic potential and are in fact capable of continually doing this same magical feat indefinitely.

      Where do you get your free electrons from in the first place, and once they've pushed each other apart, how do you put them back together again? I'm afraid that the expenditure of energy is required in both cases.

      The same arguments apply to magnets, but the equivalent of free electrons (permanent magnets) do exist. Problem is that the energy you can extract from them is less than the energy required to magnetise them. If they were a viable energy source, they'd be as non-renewable as coal or uranium.

  145. More corrections! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Redikulous" comes from England, courtesy of J. K. Rowling.

    "Loose" instead of "lose" comes from Cantspell, USA.

    "Anti Semitic" to mean "Anti Jewish" comes from Zionism.

    Cu Chulainn did battle with the sea.

  146. Slashdot editors... hello? by osgeek · · Score: 1

    I would want a full refund of my money to Slashdot if I paid for it. Since I don't, I can only shake my head in disbelief that they have such stupid editors. If they're not posting some obvious hoaxy massive storage scam, they're posting perpetual motion machine crap like this. Maybe we'll get really lucky and they'll dupe this one.
    So disappointing that people who should have an eye for scams like this are so easily fooled.

  147. W = F *d by 50+ohm+impedance · · Score: 2, Informative

    To elaborate on the magnet on the fridge analogy:

    In its simplest incantation, work, or energy, equals force multiplied by distance.

    Distance travelled: d = 0. W = F*d. Even lim(W, F->infinity) = 0 if distance travelled, d = 0. You can get energy out of the magnet only by moving it. Oh, sure - let's hold the magnet away from the fridge a centimeter, and let go. It moved - non-zero work! Except we had to expend energy to move the magnet that first centimeter.

    And since I'm at it already:

    - I won't mention the thermodynamics arguements many have already posted about

    - It doesn't matter how many newtons of force a motor statically exerts - 1N or 1000000N - it's not linked to efficiency.

    - The best way to measure efficiency is by a dynamometer. Versions I've worked with basically are generators which you directly hook up your test motor to. Knowing the properties of the generator (efficiency model, etc) you can figure out how much energy your motor is outputting versus how much energy you're putting into running the motor. You can find efficiency curves for any motor design you wish by spending some time with google. Why doesn't Flynn's website provide these? Don't give me any bull about patents; novel motor configurations are common.

    - Despite its flaws, the peer-review journal system is still the most rigorous method of testing science. I don't need to search Science's website to tell you that "parallel path technology" will return 0 results.

    - While racing solar cars, I've encountered motors running anywhere between 80 to 98% efficiency. That's efficiency defined in the traditional sense: mechanical power out divided by electrical power in. I found it funny that Flynn is trying to convince solar car teams to try out his motor design.

    Give me some steel tubing, enough calculator solar cells, an electric lawnmower and my Swiss Army knife, and I'm sure I get farther in WSC2007 than Flynn. (Interestingly, the parallel path wiki says it can reduce solar cell surface area by 50%! Tell that to anyone who's raced a solar car and see how quickly they laugh)

  148. Levitating Object in Gravitational Field / Work by iendedi · · Score: 1

    Work = (Force)(Displacement) Something can float without work being done or energy being used.

    Really? This is news to me. Let's use your insight to analyze a rocket that lifts off from it's launch pad and then slows to a constant acceleration of exactly 9.8 m/sec^2 straight up. Hmm... Guess what? That rocket is not moving because that is precisely the acceleration down due to gravity. The rocket is burning fuel (a lot of it) in order to levitate with precisely zero displacement.

    According to your formula, the amount of work that the Rocket is doing to remain stationairy and float in the air is given by Work = Force x Displacement. Since Displacement is zero, work must also be zero, right?

    Do you see how ridiculous this claim is? The problem is that the rocket is counteracting acceleration (gravity). You cannot do that without work and the expense of energy.

    --

    It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
  149. you're unclear on pressure and potential energy by spage · · Score: 1

    I'm no physicist, but no one else has responded to your bizarrely modded-up posting.

    This constant pressure REQUIRES A CONSTANT EXPENSE OF ENERGY.

    No! In classical mechanics, p = Force/Area. There's no motion, thus no kinetic energy.

    With respect to your thought experiment of electrons bouncing around (classical mechanics not quantum mechanics), they impart kinetic energy to each other all the time. You're just describing Brownian motion. You write "they will constantly be exposed to electrostatic acceleration which implies the expenditure of energy." No, it implies the conversion of energy. The electrostatic potential energy of the electrons increases as they come closer, reducing their kinetic energy (they slow down), and then the potential energy turns into kinetic energy as they fly apart. Read about Potential Energy.

    If you're referring to the "magic" that the electrons keep bouncing around "forever", learn more about the second law. When they hit the container holding them they may transfer energy to it because it's colder, or vice versa. It's not a closed system.

    --
    =S
    1. Re:you're unclear on pressure and potential energy by iendedi · · Score: 1

      I'm no physicist, but no one else has responded to your bizarrely modded-up posting.

      My other preceeding comments were, in my opinion, bizarrely modded down. But it is clearly a matter of perception. Some people don't want to look at this puzzle. And yes, it is a puzzle, but you need to open your mind a little bit to see it.

      The essential point that I am making is that there is a difference between a force-field and force in operation. Or more clearly that a potential to impart force requires no energy, but force in operation requires an expense of energy. This is reasonably simple to grasp, but yes, it does go against what you learned in high-school (and college) physics (where force in operation magically does not use energy if the system is in equilibrium and the forces originate in the fundamental forces of nature [gravity, nuclear, electrostatic, magnetic]). So, what we learned is that conservation of energy is a law, but we don't need to use it to analyze the fundamental forces because they are, what? Everlasting? Permanent? Do not require energy to maintain?

      Are you getting the drift yet?

      A man weighing 80kg stands on the surface of the earth. Gravity imparts a force equal to 80kg*9.8m/s^2 on the man for a total of 784 Newtons. This force is in constant operation (it is not a potential force, it is an active force). However, the ground is similarly (by Newton's Third Law) exerting an equal and opposite force of 784 Newtons. In the case of the ground, this force is a direct consequence of the molecular bonds of the various materials that the earth is constituted from. The force is sustained by distributing the 784 Newtons, that gravity has imparted through the standing man onto the ground, to the various molecular bonds in the materials he is standing on. Those bonds are each now generating some small fraction of the force required to keep the man from falling straight through the ground like a bowling-ball through tissue paper.

      But is gravity consuming energy to apply 784 Newtons on the man (and therefore through him and onto the ground)? And are the molecular bonds (electrostatic bonding) consuming energy to counter this 784 Newtons so that the molecules can stay together and therefore sustain the weight of the man?

      Conventional wisdom is, NO, THESE INTERACTIONS ARE FREE. But where is the wisdom in this? How can this possibly be free? How much additional force can the electrostatic bonds generate? How much addtional force for acceleration can gravity generate? No one can argue that these forces cannot do useful work, they can and do continuously. Yet, as if terrified by the implications, our learned society turns their backs on these incredible phenomena and says things such as, "force in equilibriumm does not require energy". That statement simply hides where the energy is being spent. It is, in my opinion, patently incorrect.

      --

      It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
  150. Call/Write Jamie Childress @Boeing tsarkon reports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jamie Childress jamie.childress@boeing.com of Boeing Phantom works is giveng a talk at:

    Jamie is speaking at STAIF (The Space Technology and Applications International Forum) http://www.unm.edu/~isnps/staif/2006/

    His talk is about:
    "Childress, Jamie/Boeing Phantom Works: 019/Parallel Path Magnetic Technology for High Efficiency Power Generators and Motor Drives"

    We must ask Jamie and all Phantom folks if this stuff is on the fast path!!

  151. What? You mean... by CarpetShark · · Score: 1

    You mean it's NOT a working zero point module? Damn, and I was so convinced for a moment there ;)

  152. nullo by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

    Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda is a 29-year old white male with a stocky build and a goatee. He responded to my ad to be interviewed for this article wearing only leather pants, leather boots and a leather vest. I could see that both of his nipples were pierced with large-gauge silver rings.

    Questioner: I hope you won't be offended if I ask you to prove to me that you're a nullo. Just so that my readers will know that this isn't a fake.

    CmdrTaco: Sure, no problem. (stands and unbuckles pants and drops them to his ankles, revealing a smooth, shaven crotch with only a thin scar to show where his genitals once were).

    Q: Thank you. That's a remarkable sight.

    (laughs and pulls pants back up). Most people think so.

    Q: What made you decide to become a nullo?

    (pauses). Well, it really wasn't entirely my decision.

    Q: Excuse me?

    The idea wasn't mine. It was my lover's idea.

    Q: Please explain what you mean.

    Okay, it's a long story. You have to understand my relationship with Hemos before you'll know what happened.

    Q: We have plenty of time. Please go on.

    Both of us were into the leather lifestyle when we met through a personal ad. Hemos's ad was very specific: he was looking for someone to completely dominate and modify to his pleasure. In other word, a slave.

    The ad intrigued me. I had been in a number of B&D scenes and also some S&M, but I found them unsatisfying because they were all temporary. After the fun was over, everybody went on with life as usual.

    I was looking for a complete life change. I wanted to meet someone who would be part of my life forever. Someone who would control me and change me at his whim.

    Q: In other words, you're a true masochist.

    Oh yes, no doubt about that. I've always been totally passive in my sexual relationships.

    Anyway, we met and there was instant chemistry. Hemos is about my age and is a complete loser. Our personalities meshed totally. He's very dominant.

    I went back to his place after drinks and had the best sex of my life. That's when I knew I was going to be with Hemos for a long, long time.

    Q: What sort of things did you two do?

    It was very heavy right away. He restrained me and whipped me for quite awhile. He put clamps on my nipples and a ball gag in my mouth. And he hung a ball bag on my sack with some very heavy weights. That bag really bounced around when Hemos fucked me from behind.

    Q: Ouch.

    (laughs) Yeah, no kidding. At first I didn't think I could take the pain, but Hemos worked me through it and after awhile I was flying. I was sorry when it was over.

    Hemos enjoyed it as much as I did. Afterwards he talked about what kind of a commitment I'd have to make if I wanted to stay with him.

    Q: What did he say exactly?

    Well, besides agreeing to be his slave in every way, I'd have to be ready to be modified. To have my body modified.

    Q: Did he explain what he meant by that?

    Not specifically, but I got the general idea. I guessed that something like castration might be part of it.

    Q: How did that make you feel?

    (laughs) I think it would make any guy a little hesitant.

    Q: But it didn't stop you from agreeing to Hemos's terms?

    No it didn't. I was totally hooked on this man. I knew that I was willing to pay any price to be with him.

    Anyway, a few days later I moved in with Hemos. He gave me the rules right away: I'd have to be naked at all times while we were indoors, except for a leather dog collar that I could never take off. I had to keep my balls shaved. And I had to wear a butt plug except when I needed to take a shit or when we were having sex.

    I had to sleep on the floor next to his bed. I ate all my food on the floor, too.

    The next day he took me to a piercing parlor where he had my nipples done, and a Prince Albert put into the head of my cock.

    Q: Heavy stuff.

    Yeah, and it got heavier. He used me as a toilet, pissing in my mouth. I had to

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.