bert hubert finally blogs: Steorn "Free Energy" Claimscode, musings and moretag:blog.netherlabs.nl,2005:TypoTypo2006-08-22T15:36:48+02:00bert hubertbert.hubert@netherlabs.nlurn:uuid:780cf4c5-3433-4f27-b57f-f79dcef36f3d2006-08-20T14:25:00+02:002006-08-22T15:36:48+02:00Steorn "Free Energy" Claims<p>Regular readers of this blog may know I have an interest in new physics, or
as some of my learned friends call it, fringe physics, the latter not being
a positive connotation.</p>
<p>This week a company called <a href="http://steorn.com">Steorn</a> took out a full page advertisement in the
Economist, a respected newspaper, announcing their invention of a ‘free
energy’ device. Part of the <a href="http://netherlabs.nl/steorn-big.jpg">exact text of the ad reads</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Imagine - A world with an infinite supply of pure energy. Never having to
recharge your phone. Never having to refuel your car”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To validate their bold claims, they are seeking twelve “most qualified and
most cynical” scientists. We are told a number of physicists have already
investigated their device, but are unwilling to go on the record with their
endorsement.</p>
<p>Now, does all of this make sense? Is it a setup, or a scam, or a bunch of
delusioned people? </p>
<p>(<font color="#ff0000">Update</font>: ok, I have a theory based on research reported on the Wikipedia. It appears the company Steorn is somewhat defunct, and may have in fact been empty. One thing that might have happened is that someone took over this empty shell, and is using it to launch a kind of ’<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets">Space Cadets</a>’ TV show. This is exacerbated by the fact the the advertising agency that does the Steorn promotion is also used by ITV. See <a href="http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/rupertgoodwins/0,39020691,39281444,00.htm">this article</a>).</p>
<p>The media has already sought and found a number of scientists willing to say
it can’t possibly be true, with choice quotes like “Irish energy miracle ‘a
joke’”. </p>
<h2>State of Physics</h2>
<p>This article isn’t really about the possible veracity of their claims, but I
do want to say a few things about the state of physics. </p>
<p>Arthur C. Clarke said in 1962:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something
is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Over the years this dictum has changed, and we can safely remove the word
‘elderly’ from the above. For the past half century, physics has mostly been
about adding more decimal places to known science, while studiously ignoring
things that distract from the grandour of the fine laws of physics.</p>
<p>And indeed, the cries of ‘impossible’ are heard a lot, and again in the case
of Steorn. They might well be correct. But physics is no longer the secure
place it once was. Breaking the speed of light is also impossible, but when
that same speed became an impediment to the ‘big bang’ model of physics, it
was quickly decided that, well, if we’d have to otherwise rewrite all our
laws, then the speed of light CAN be broken. </p>
<p>This is called the inflationary theory of the creation of the universe, and
it is currently the most widely supported explanation of the big bang. From
the Wikipedia entry on the ’<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflationary_Epoch">Inflationary Epoch</a>’:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Most scientists estimate the duration of the inflationary epoch as 10^-32 of
a second. During this time, the size of the universe increased by a factor
of 10^50 from an initial size of 10^-26 meters in diameter (a hundred billion
times smaller than a proton) to approximately one hundred million light
years (10^24 m) in diameter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is then usually followed by a vigorous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwaving">handwaving</a>, meant to distract
the reader from the fact that we’ve just broken the very laws of physics we
are trying to save:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This exponential inflation solves many of the problems of a simple big
bang, such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the same way, the world of physics is currently straining to explain a
rather large number of anomalies, like what is causing the universe to
expand in the way it is. This has led to the invention of ‘dark matter’
(regular matter hidden in the universe, that we don’t see because it emits
nor reflects any light), which is not too controversial, but the sums still
didn’t work out. So ‘dark energy’ has been posited to make everything fit.
The problem is that said dark energy can’t very well exist under our current
laws, as it is supposed to exert ‘negative pressure’, acting as a sort of
negative gravity. And it has to be 70% of the mass of the universe.</p>
<p>Furthermore, precise and decade long measurements of space probes show they
are moving in different paths than they should be, both when passing very
quickly and closely to the earth, and when they are very far away. The
anomalies are small but highly persistent. See
<a href="http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/0604052">Is the physics within the Solar system really understood?</a>, and the Wikipedia entries on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly">the flyby anomaly</a> and on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly">Pioneer anomaly</a>.</p>
<p>To wrap this all up, the current state of physics is not solid enough for
bold “Impossible!” statements, because impossible things are rather
regularly posited to make up the gap between reality and current laws of
physics.</p>
<h2>Steorn’s challenge</h2>
<p>Let’s assume they honestly believe they’ve found something. How would we go
about things? It stands to reason they want to make money from their
invention, history has been unkind to inventors hoping to get their just
rewards without also being good business people.</p>
<p>Also, many inventors have gone crazy and rushed out with bold claims which
later proved to be hard to validate. In the current conservative science
climate, if a third party makes a single failed attempt at replicating the
claim, you are effectively excommunicated.</p>
<p>The problem is that any new physics is bound to be somewhat tricky to show,
because if it weren’t, we’d have noticed the ‘new’ effects already, and they
wouldn’t be new.</p>
<p>The situation can be compared to making a souffle, which is notoriously
difficult to do right. Everything has to be just so, otherwise we don’t end
up with a fluffy and delightful meal, but a soggy wet mess. </p>
<p>Let’s say you have a physicist friend, and you describe him the joys of a
souffle, and he doesn’t believe a word of it, and requests the recipe. Still
not believing a word of it, he’ll head to his kitchen, and lo, he ends up
with a soggy wet pie. </p>
<p>And if this happens with your ‘new physics’ experiment, you are toast. We
all know souffles exist, and in this case, he probably did not get
everything “just right”, probably not helped by his staunch disbelief.</p>
<p>But in the world of physics, anybody having made a bold claim that could not
be (fully) validated instantly is shunned. Recent history is rife with
experimenters being researched for fraud, and being evicted fromt their
universities. Doing new physics is a career limiting move.</p>
<p>So, imagine we are Steorn, and we honestly believe we’ve hit something new,
now what. Their claim that physicists have already looked at their claims
but refuse to go on the record is highly plausible, for the reasons
described above.</p>
<p>However, from this we can probably also derive that their effect can’t be
stunningly obvious, as in that case they’d be able to just present people
with the aforementioned phone that never needs recharging.</p>
<p>Their current actions best fit the situation where they have a small effect
that they believe can be scaled up to something real with the right amount
of investment, which they might be able to attract if they can find
“respected scientists” to sign off on their current results.</p>
<p>I’ll be following this exciting “Willy Wonka” like event for as long as it takes, expect more posts.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the theory that this might all be a scam is not too plausible, Steorn has existed for a while now, the people involved appear to be real, they’d be throwing away a lot. More information is appearing on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn">the Wikipedia Steorn entry</a> all the time, it might be interesting to watch that too.</p><p>Regular readers of this blog may know I have an interest in new physics, or
as some of my learned friends call it, fringe physics, the latter not being
a positive connotation.</p>
<p>This week a company called <a href="http://steorn.com">Steorn</a> took out a full page advertisement in the
Economist, a respected newspaper, announcing their invention of a ‘free
energy’ device. Part of the <a href="http://netherlabs.nl/steorn-big.jpg">exact text of the ad reads</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Imagine - A world with an infinite supply of pure energy. Never having to
recharge your phone. Never having to refuel your car”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To validate their bold claims, they are seeking twelve “most qualified and
most cynical” scientists. We are told a number of physicists have already
investigated their device, but are unwilling to go on the record with their
endorsement.</p>
<p>Now, does all of this make sense? Is it a setup, or a scam, or a bunch of
delusioned people? </p>
<p>(<font color="#ff0000">Update</font>: ok, I have a theory based on research reported on the Wikipedia. It appears the company Steorn is somewhat defunct, and may have in fact been empty. One thing that might have happened is that someone took over this empty shell, and is using it to launch a kind of ’<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets">Space Cadets</a>’ TV show. This is exacerbated by the fact the the advertising agency that does the Steorn promotion is also used by ITV. See <a href="http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/rupertgoodwins/0,39020691,39281444,00.htm">this article</a>).</p>
<p>The media has already sought and found a number of scientists willing to say
it can’t possibly be true, with choice quotes like “Irish energy miracle ‘a
joke’”. </p>
<h2>State of Physics</h2>
<p>This article isn’t really about the possible veracity of their claims, but I
do want to say a few things about the state of physics. </p>
<p>Arthur C. Clarke said in 1962:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something
is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Over the years this dictum has changed, and we can safely remove the word
‘elderly’ from the above. For the past half century, physics has mostly been
about adding more decimal places to known science, while studiously ignoring
things that distract from the grandour of the fine laws of physics.</p>
<p>And indeed, the cries of ‘impossible’ are heard a lot, and again in the case
of Steorn. They might well be correct. But physics is no longer the secure
place it once was. Breaking the speed of light is also impossible, but when
that same speed became an impediment to the ‘big bang’ model of physics, it
was quickly decided that, well, if we’d have to otherwise rewrite all our
laws, then the speed of light CAN be broken. </p>
<p>This is called the inflationary theory of the creation of the universe, and
it is currently the most widely supported explanation of the big bang. From
the Wikipedia entry on the ’<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflationary_Epoch">Inflationary Epoch</a>’:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Most scientists estimate the duration of the inflationary epoch as 10^-32 of
a second. During this time, the size of the universe increased by a factor
of 10^50 from an initial size of 10^-26 meters in diameter (a hundred billion
times smaller than a proton) to approximately one hundred million light
years (10^24 m) in diameter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is then usually followed by a vigorous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwaving">handwaving</a>, meant to distract
the reader from the fact that we’ve just broken the very laws of physics we
are trying to save:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This exponential inflation solves many of the problems of a simple big
bang, such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the same way, the world of physics is currently straining to explain a
rather large number of anomalies, like what is causing the universe to
expand in the way it is. This has led to the invention of ‘dark matter’
(regular matter hidden in the universe, that we don’t see because it emits
nor reflects any light), which is not too controversial, but the sums still
didn’t work out. So ‘dark energy’ has been posited to make everything fit.
The problem is that said dark energy can’t very well exist under our current
laws, as it is supposed to exert ‘negative pressure’, acting as a sort of
negative gravity. And it has to be 70% of the mass of the universe.</p>
<p>Furthermore, precise and decade long measurements of space probes show they
are moving in different paths than they should be, both when passing very
quickly and closely to the earth, and when they are very far away. The
anomalies are small but highly persistent. See
<a href="http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/0604052">Is the physics within the Solar system really understood?</a>, and the Wikipedia entries on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly">the flyby anomaly</a> and on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly">Pioneer anomaly</a>.</p>
<p>To wrap this all up, the current state of physics is not solid enough for
bold “Impossible!” statements, because impossible things are rather
regularly posited to make up the gap between reality and current laws of
physics.</p>
<h2>Steorn’s challenge</h2>
<p>Let’s assume they honestly believe they’ve found something. How would we go
about things? It stands to reason they want to make money from their
invention, history has been unkind to inventors hoping to get their just
rewards without also being good business people.</p>
<p>Also, many inventors have gone crazy and rushed out with bold claims which
later proved to be hard to validate. In the current conservative science
climate, if a third party makes a single failed attempt at replicating the
claim, you are effectively excommunicated.</p>
<p>The problem is that any new physics is bound to be somewhat tricky to show,
because if it weren’t, we’d have noticed the ‘new’ effects already, and they
wouldn’t be new.</p>
<p>The situation can be compared to making a souffle, which is notoriously
difficult to do right. Everything has to be just so, otherwise we don’t end
up with a fluffy and delightful meal, but a soggy wet mess. </p>
<p>Let’s say you have a physicist friend, and you describe him the joys of a
souffle, and he doesn’t believe a word of it, and requests the recipe. Still
not believing a word of it, he’ll head to his kitchen, and lo, he ends up
with a soggy wet pie. </p>
<p>And if this happens with your ‘new physics’ experiment, you are toast. We
all know souffles exist, and in this case, he probably did not get
everything “just right”, probably not helped by his staunch disbelief.</p>
<p>But in the world of physics, anybody having made a bold claim that could not
be (fully) validated instantly is shunned. Recent history is rife with
experimenters being researched for fraud, and being evicted fromt their
universities. Doing new physics is a career limiting move.</p>
<p>So, imagine we are Steorn, and we honestly believe we’ve hit something new,
now what. Their claim that physicists have already looked at their claims
but refuse to go on the record is highly plausible, for the reasons
described above.</p>
<p>However, from this we can probably also derive that their effect can’t be
stunningly obvious, as in that case they’d be able to just present people
with the aforementioned phone that never needs recharging.</p>
<p>Their current actions best fit the situation where they have a small effect
that they believe can be scaled up to something real with the right amount
of investment, which they might be able to attract if they can find
“respected scientists” to sign off on their current results.</p>
<p>I’ll be following this exciting “Willy Wonka” like event for as long as it takes, expect more posts.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the theory that this might all be a scam is not too plausible, Steorn has existed for a while now, the people involved appear to be real, they’d be throwing away a lot. More information is appearing on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn">the Wikipedia Steorn entry</a> all the time, it might be interesting to watch that too.</p>8th street latinasurn:uuid:fd6f8ce3-5747-4c47-876c-d9c264e40f082007-05-25T10:19:30+02:002007-05-25T10:19:30+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by 8th street latinasTry validator.w3.org should helpass paradeurn:uuid:2e2db9c4-a9b5-4442-a901-c3e8ee4b879f2007-05-25T00:01:09+02:002007-05-25T00:01:09+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by ass paradeRecommend me please some validator, so that i could optimize my html!crissy moranurn:uuid:b9c15f21-67bc-429c-a819-84f60e59a9a02007-05-24T14:43:27+02:002007-05-24T14:43:27+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by crissy morani want to ask if it is possible to create different mysql base and keep there old not needed messages?sky lopezurn:uuid:b5ec6c6e-4744-4de4-b73a-18ec25a1a1382007-05-24T00:47:02+02:002007-05-24T00:47:02+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by sky lopezProgramming is so exciting, you should definetely try it!tera patrickurn:uuid:3dc747df-80a6-44af-902b-643a3bf754a02007-05-23T14:18:42+02:002007-05-23T14:18:42+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by tera patrickCommon mistake is not checking just created sites in all possible browsers, in order to see everything is correct!round and brownurn:uuid:31ffc6be-44ba-4694-8ba6-bd5f4be2259d2007-05-23T02:12:25+02:002007-05-23T02:12:25+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by round and brownAdvice me please mass podcast site for free usagemilf hunterurn:uuid:935b9502-9804-4fcc-9975-a55dbc606c7e2007-05-22T14:43:33+02:002007-05-22T14:43:33+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by milf hunterI am curious how do you manage all posts? is there a html editor fur ruby or rails?Amy Reidurn:uuid:0d0bc4e1-6413-4802-92a3-5cd43b142ec42007-05-21T23:27:07+02:002007-05-21T23:27:07+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by Amy ReidI am afraid it is impossible to rewrtite code on PHP in this way :(big naturalsurn:uuid:0b2055a9-d54e-4c6d-993e-22237d366ad02007-05-21T15:05:07+02:002007-05-21T15:05:07+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by big naturalsHow to set up RSS of blogs on ruby?bang busurn:uuid:a656634e-01f1-4fe3-a4f1-c903f168e3612007-05-17T20:17:20+02:002007-05-17T20:17:20+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by bang busmaking it in ruby or in rails will not give you any opportunity!teen modelsurn:uuid:33faf757-4cc3-4f01-b6bc-a2868dd6fb292007-05-17T13:08:51+02:002007-05-17T13:08:51+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by teen modelsis there any mass edit plugs section? want to change my blog script - it's wp now.Jenna Hazeurn:uuid:1d1d0387-4ed3-4723-a6c9-b9066954a22d2007-05-16T22:08:10+02:002007-05-16T22:08:10+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by Jenna Hazeit's so hard nowadays to find some original admin tools for blogs that are free to use, can anyone advice any to form multi language posts?8th street latinasurn:uuid:f19cb5d8-5420-4668-8ec0-30dd22c7d8812007-05-16T00:40:54+02:002007-05-16T00:40:54+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by 8th street latinasUsing self-writed macroses can effect your blog view! be careful!raven rileyurn:uuid:b19c110e-6831-4e0d-b7e1-17ec49b115652007-05-16T00:34:31+02:002007-05-16T00:34:31+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by raven rileyLogs are usually saved in the folder admin specify for, so ask himbig naturalsurn:uuid:f114d897-7bc3-4bce-8472-55d8b329d2fc2007-05-15T22:18:01+02:002007-05-15T22:18:01+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by big naturalswhere do you register domain and host it?aria giovanniurn:uuid:a385d6a2-7a3f-43d1-8e2a-5b278d34d0b92007-05-15T13:52:23+02:002007-05-15T13:52:23+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by aria giovanniHello there from Aria. Please explain me how does ajax updates on the server without refreshing page?amy reidurn:uuid:990ce864-bb6a-4c74-98c8-db5f5870b93e2007-05-15T10:58:59+02:002007-05-15T10:58:59+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by amy reidHello everyone, how are you? does anyone writes on php? need to complete my homework.lesbian sexurn:uuid:f3507c7b-b092-44b4-90b1-b4b61fa973312007-05-14T22:29:40+02:002007-05-14T22:29:40+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by lesbian sexEcho variables used in wp (wpress) can be cancelled by editing in template sectionmy first sex teacherurn:uuid:57998b25-f93c-487d-a123-2d4d82151dbb2007-05-14T18:45:29+02:002007-05-14T18:45:29+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by my first sex teacherI apologise for nut understanding, but how to transfer blog files from 1 domain to another?huge boobsurn:uuid:4773a2d7-5097-4c59-853c-961a55a7a4412007-05-14T14:34:12+02:002007-05-14T14:34:12+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by huge boobsDid you ever tested you blog in safari? it's a mac browserbriana banksurn:uuid:7b4e5478-076c-40d8-9c72-d444a0d7d78b2007-05-13T23:42:25+02:002007-05-13T23:42:25+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by briana banksPlease explain me how to exclude double posting?Jenna Jamesonurn:uuid:e688af71-7d5c-4aac-b99f-5c71dfdc15c92007-05-13T22:14:16+02:002007-05-13T22:14:16+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by Jenna JamesonWhich syntax does blogs use in message encrypting?8th street latinasurn:uuid:6a25f794-4aa8-4973-ab1d-86bac7173c2a2007-05-13T14:31:10+02:002007-05-13T14:31:10+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by 8th street latinasIf there is no access to admin - you can leave only that value "php_flag register_globals" - it should help round and brownurn:uuid:a2372ad8-efff-4eba-b81f-31033f0c91552007-05-13T02:50:36+02:002007-05-13T02:50:36+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by round and brownYes, you better contact admin if you don't know how, or in httacces file.my first sex teacherurn:uuid:edc03d9b-f0fd-4d46-801e-816a8f5e6a552007-05-13T01:25:15+02:002007-05-13T01:25:15+02:00Comment on Steorn "Free Energy" Claims by my first sex teacherFirst one in the university, first one in my life!