Something really wild has just recently been discovered…..
Those who know me well at all know that I often rail about various claims made for things that violate the fundamental laws of thermodynamics.
My position on Ethanol (it’s a net lose) is based on this premise, as an example.
That we have politicians that continually put forward this kind of crap says that either they’re stupid or they know the public never bothered to study physics in high school – and thus most will “fall for it.”
Well, today, we have something truly incredible that apparently has been repeated – and is being published. If it stands up, it may turn the laws of thermodynamics on their ear.
I am referring to the article at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11732814/, which makes reference to “the hottest temperature ever achieved on earth.”
That, in and of itself, is extraordinary.
But buried in the story is something that
really caught my eye. See, making things hot is kind of interesting, but aside from the research implications doesn’t really mean anything. Put in enough energy, you can achieve basically any level of heat you’d like.
The startling pronouncement is here:
One thing that puzzles scientists is that the high temperature was achieved after the plasma’s ions should have been losing energy and cooling. Also, when the high temperature was achieved, the Z machine was releasing more energy than was originally put in, something that usually occurs only in nuclear reactions.If this proves out under scientific review then something truly extraordinary is happening here, and we don’t know what it is. There are a few possibilities; the most obvious one is that fusion has occurred
in materials other than deuterium and tritium.I cannot possibly overstate the significance of that, if indeed it has occurred.
If this machine is releasing more energy than was originally put in the only plausible explanation under the laws of physics as we know them is that fusion has occurred
without leaving dangerous radioactive byproducts laying around (e.g. the product of the fusion is a stable, non-decaying isotope.)
Now can this be commercially exploited? I don’t know. Much depends on exactly how far above break-even this device is reaching. If a few percent, it’s extraordinary as a discovery, but perhaps not as a viable energy source. But if the margins are large…..
Watch this one folks….. something truly ground-breaking may have come out of a program that many in our government have tried like hell to kill for years – a basic research program that suddenly appears to have produced something that nobody – anywhere in the world – ever expected.
