So, somnilista asked I comment on the Steorn claimed over-unity device.
The claim is for a permanent magnet configuration that draws power but returns more energy than it takes in, ie it is a type one perpetual motion machine claim.
I should note that I have not seen the machine, nor have I seen diagrams or explanations of what it claims to do.
The basic design seems reminiscent of gimmick Daedalus came up with for New Scientist some years ago, to puzzle and amuse his peers.
Normally these claims are simple investment fraud, I have not seen any evidence that that is the case in this case, if nothing else, despite the publicity, the company seems to have too much to lose.
More likely this is a genuine error, and the current obfuscation is either because someone did some reading and went uh-oh, or they are so excited because they think they're onto something, that they've got silly.
Anyway. my personal bet is that their engineers messed up impedance matches and they have got real power, reactive power and apparent power mixed up and they're using off the shelf power meters in a situation where they fail.
They may even be stealing power off the grid, but this is my instinctive reaction - they are mixing reactive power and apparent power readings.
They don't need a "jury" of scientists - but if they want one, I reiterate my earlier suggestion that they hire some ruthless academic physicists for a modest 5,000 euros for the week, and throw in some senior lab techs to go with them. If they can spend that much on an ad in the Economist.... ]
But, they don't need that.
The input power, take it off a rechargable battery, use an ac/dc converter as needed; then feed the output power into a rectifier and use it to recharge the battery, and run a lightbulb in series.
They claim ~ 200% overunity, so minor conversion efficiencies shouldn't matter.
Leave it on a bare tabletop for a few days, no wires. Then I'll be impressed.
I'll be even more impressed if the company goes off line and provides its own power (and no back door diesel deliveries...); or better still, just start selling juice back to the grid, most utilities provide for this to encourage micro-generation.
Don't wait for explanation, just start making money.
PS see also http://www.steornwatch.com/
Eric Krieg of PhACT (Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking) used to be active in debunking free energy claims, I don't know if he is still at it. Bob Park, author of Voodoo Science (highly recommended) also comments regularly on such things.
A favorite obfuscation for free energy devices has been "zero point energy". I predict that, with the verification of dark matter, that will become another favorite.
Bob Park commented briefly on this in his latest What's New column:
I'm afraid they must have also confused science and engineering. Most scientists wouldn't feel a need to examine the machine and explain their mistake other than as an amusing exercise.
Physicists insist that the speed of light is constant and unchanging. If so, then photons are perpetual motion machines and therefore light doesn't exist!
(Disclaimer: the author works on a changing c)
Well, their claim is that their engineers built it and now need a scientist to understand it;
it would be amusing, if possibly tedious, to actually see what they have done and figure out their error. From what http://www.steornwatch.com/ says, they are a small company, so I am betting on inexperienced young engineer not understanding reactive power and trusting power meters...
And there is the remote possibility of a genuine frisson at discovering they are right...
But the odds are bad.
Physicists do not insist that the speed of light is constant or unchanging, indeed some of the trendier speculations in cosmology are "variable speed of light theories".
Nor are photons perpetual motion machines, they just obey (relativistic generalization of) Newton's Laws.
Indeed on my window sill is a lovely compact machine for extracting mechanical power from photons....
Physicists insist that the speed of light is constant and unchanging. If so, then photons are perpetual motion machines and therefore light doesn't exist!
(Disclaimer: the author works on a changing c)