| Keywords: Perpetual motion, pseudo-science, free energy Title: The Search for Free Energy - A Scientific Tale of Jealousy, Genius and Electricity Author: Keith Tutt Publisher: Simon and Schuster Media: Book Reviewer: Paul Taylor |
The Executive Board of the American Physical Society is concerned that in this period of unprecedented scientific advance, misguided or fraudulent claims of perpetual motion machines and other sources of unlimited free energy are proliferating. Such devices would directly violate the most fundamental laws of Nature, laws that have guided the scientific advances that are transforming our world.This book surveys some of the many attempts to get something for nothing, from zero-point fusion to cold fusion. Tutt strives to be fair to the inventors concerned, and acknowledges the problem of charlatanism and conspiracy theories, but there are times when it is questionable whether he is a reliable guide. The chapter on Tesla uncritically repeats the claim electricity's hidden genius would design and construct his inventions in his imagination, whereby,
in this virtual testbed, he would set them running, later returning to see what had happened, what had worn or broken down, what had functioned correctly or incorrectly. (p.14)How feasible can it be to run some prototype electro-mechanical device in your imagination and thereby get knowledge about its performance? Picture someone standing on thin ice: how thin does it have to be before it cracks? A couple of remarks on p.121 also jangled the alarm bell:
I have also spoken to scientists who are more adept at spotting trickery and fraud than I am, who have personally examined the Thesta-Distatica and been convinced of its ability to produce energy from the atmosphere alone.Leaving aside how adept you'd need to be to more adept than Tutt, what's remarkable here is his innocence of the advisability of bringing a good stage magician along when assessing extraordinary claims. That notorious spoon-fiddler and guller of millions famously convinced a physics professor, but was easily seen through by experts like James Randi.
The suspicious, sceptical arguments didn't seem to square with the people I talked to. When I met them, my personal truth about the Thesta-Distatica's reality as the world's only true self-sustaining 'closed-loop' free energy machine was reduced not to a set of energy measurements, or an independently carried out, third-party laboratory investigation, but to my own judgement of these people's character. It's not science, I know, but it's the only conclusion I can offer.What proper conclusion can be drawn, though, if it turns out, yet again, that independent measurements and investigations cannot be offered in support? Personal truth is not science, as he admits, but if we're trying to fathom physical phenomena, science is what we need. The discussion of Randell Mills, a doctor and inventor, brings in Robert Park's book Voodoo Science:
Mills recently took out a lawsuit against Park in order to stop the publication of his book. The launch date was indeed delayed, and it is possible that Park has had to tone down some of his comments about Mills in the book. (p.188)One of Parks' possibly toned-down comments is this:
His 'theory' reminded me of my thesis advisor's comment when I referred to my first scientific paper as 'a theory'. 'It's a theory,' he said gently, 'to the extent that it was done with a pencil. Nor had Mills offered any experimental evidence for his claim. (op. cit. p.133)Introducing a chapter on Fleischmann and Pons, Tutt writes,
Here we look at the real story of cold fusion's premature demise, at the evidence for a cover-up and at the research that shows cold fusion wasn't bunk after all. p.123Certainly we can expect new ways of generating energy to be developed, but Tutt's book leaves a few of these prospects just as mysterious as ever. It will appeal to those concerned with the quest to find new and safer energy sources, and to inventors following the fortunes of what has or hasn't been patented in this field.