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Steorn's "Free Energy" Jury Comes Back To Bite Them
chiark writes "Remember Steorn? Free energy for all, coming soon, and a gauntleted slap in the face to the physics establishment: 'come be our jury, and prove us right or wrong.' Well, 2 years later, the jury's verdict is in, and it's not the validation Steorn was hoping for: 'Twenty-two independent scientists and engineers were selected by Steorn to form this jury. It has for the past two years examined evidence presented by the company. The unanimous verdict of the Jury is that Steorn's attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy. The jury is therefore ceasing work.' Steorn had the choice to either accept this and move on, or attempt to rebut. Guess which approach they took?"
I just can't believe that anyone wasted 2 fucking years of their life trying to "disprove" it.
CheShA: Manchester Breakcore / Drill and Bass Yes I'm a s
The fact that people take these free energy claims seriously is the prime example of how scientifically illiterate people are, and it's a real problem. It's what allows things like alt-meds to gain a foothold, UFO abduction proponents to have a voice, and free energy claims to waste everybody's time.
Even somebody like myself with no scientific background whatsoever can understand basic scientific principles like thermodynamics. It's called scientific literacy, it's like regular literacy except you replace regular words with science words.
And that was the last Terry Fox run I ever participated in.
Look, I admit that their claims sound unlikely, but you can't just dismiss all claims out of hand because "they break the laws of physics". The fact is that they break the current laws of physics.
Hell, there could be all sorts of unlikely explanations that don't even break the current laws of physics (like perhaps some mass is being converted into energy)
Real Science means conducting experiments and taking measurements. The 'laws' of physics are only as good as the experiments and measurements taken.
The fact is that the experiments have been conducted, and it appears that it doesn't work. It doesn't mean that the Jury are 'idiots' for trying to test it - it means that they are scientists.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Don't do that ** self-censoring shit. It makes you look like a retard.
I'd note that we get free energy all the time. We get more energy out of a gallon of gasoline than was put into making it. We get far more power from a pound of fuel in a nuclear reactor than we put into mining the uranium, refining it and turning it into nuclear fuel. Neither of those violates the first or second laws of thermodynamics. That's because those laws apply to closed systems, and we're not in a closed system. In the case of gasoline, the sun put energy into the system from outside. In the case of uranium, the supernova that created the uranium atoms put the energy into creating them. So it's entirely possible to have a source of energy that's simply tapping something outside our normal view of the system. Such a source would appear to be providing free energy.
OTOH, Steorn seems to have failed the acid test: producing results. It'd've been much more convincing if they could've just dropped a unit down on the bench and told their jury "Here it is, here's how to turn it on and off, here's where the power comes out. Have fun with it.". A working prototype trumps all theoretical arguments, and Steorn couldn't produce a working prototype. Until they can, I'm inclined to believe they're either mistaken or running a scam.
Is this free as in beer?
Religions really have the best take on this business method: claim the reward/product/proof will come after you're dead!
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
Steorn's extraordinary claims are outside of the realm of known physics, many others have made similar claims (Galileo, Newton, Einstein, etc). The difference is proof...
Steorn needs to provide substantial proof to the world that their claims are legitimate, that the known laws of physics need revision.
Proof would open up enormous possibilities for research and development, now that we know what to look for, and how to test it (think airplanes, transistors, etc).
But Steorn has failed to provide any basic proof of any of their extraordinary claims. The scientists have not disproven anything, they have just shown that Steorn can not back up their extraordinary claims when tested properly.
The scientists go back to work.
Steorn goes back to "we fixed the little problem, it really works now, send us money, you can trust us..."
You're right... correct grammar and spelling are overrated with respect to effective communication.
Just a bit of friendly sarcasm there, but really, you seem to make the reader's inability to decipher poor writing/typing as the reason the message was lost. I myself had to read over it multiple times with some trial and error as to what was intended and eventually I figured it out. God help anyone who doesn't speak English natively.
More than a few sentences of that and screw it, I won't bother trying. That's unfortunate since the post was relevant and added to the conversation; but let's not downplay the GP's culpability in this mis-communication.
Just ask to see the company's quarterly electricity bill. If it's greater than 0.00EUR (0.00GBP/0.00USD) walk away.
AT&ROFLMAO