· Scientist says device disproves quantum
theory
· Opponents claim idea is result of wrong maths
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Friday November 4, 2005
The Guardian
It seems too good to be true: a new source
of near-limitless power that costs virtually nothing, uses
tiny amounts of water as its fuel and produces next to no
waste. If that does not sound radical enough, how about this:
the principle behind the source turns modern physics on its
head.
Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic
who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source
that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional
fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments
and Dr Mills says that his company, Blacklight Power, has
tens of millions of dollars in investment lined up to bring
the idea to market. And he claims to be just months away from
unveiling his creation.
The problem is that according to the rules
of quantum mechanics, the physics that governs the behaviour
of atoms, the idea is theoretically impossible. "Physicists
are quite conservative. It's not easy to convince them to
change a theory that is accepted for 50 to 60 years. I don't
think [Mills's] theory should be supported," said Jan
Naudts, a theoretical physicist at the University of Antwerp.
What has much of the physics world up in arms
is Dr Mills's claim that he has produced a new form of hydrogen,
the simplest of all the atoms, with just a single proton circled
by one electron. In his "hydrino", the electron
sits a little closer to the proton than normal, and the formation
of the new atoms from traditional hydrogen releases huge amounts
of energy.
This is scientific heresy. According to quantum
mechanics, electrons can only exist in an atom in strictly
defined orbits, and the shortest distance allowed between
the proton and electron in hydrogen is fixed. The two particles
are simply not allowed to get any closer.
According to Dr Mills, there can be only one
explanation: quantum mechanics must be wrong. "We've
done a lot of testing. We've got 50 independent validation
reports, we've got 65 peer-reviewed journal articles,"
he said. "We ran into this theoretical resistance and
there are some vested interests here. People are very strong
and fervent protectors of this [quantum] theory that they
use."
Rick Maas, a chemist at the University of
North Carolina at Asheville (UNC) who specialises in sustainable
energy sources, was allowed unfettered access to Blacklight's
laboratories this year. "We went in with a healthy amount
of scepticism. While it would certainly be nice if this were
true, in my position as head of a research institution, I
really wouldn't want to make a mistake. The last thing I want
is to be remembered as the person who derailed a lot of sustainable
energy investment into something that wasn't real."
But Prof Maas and Randy Booker, a UNC physicist,
left under no doubt about Dr Mill's claims. "All of us
who are not quantum physicists are looking at Dr Mills's data
and we find it very compelling," said Prof Maas. "Dr
Booker and I have both put our professional reputations on
the line as far as that goes."
Dr Mills's idea goes against almost a century
of thinking. When scientists developed the theory of quantum
mechanics they described a world where measuring the exact
position or energy of a particle was impossible and where
the laws of classical physics had no effect. The theory has
been hailed as one of the 20th century's greatest achievements.
But it is an achievement Dr Mills thinks is
flawed. He turned back to earlier classical physics to develop
a theory which, unlike quantum mechanics, allows an electron
to move much closer to the proton at the heart of a hydrogen
atom and, in doing so, release the substantial amounts of
energy he seeks to exploit. Dr Mills's theory, known as classical
quantum mechanics and published in the journal Physics Essays
in 2003, has been criticised most publicly by Andreas Rathke
of the European Space Agency. In a damning critique published
recently in the New Journal of Physics, he argued that Dr
Mills's theory was the result of mathematical mistakes.
Dr Mills argues that there are plenty of flaws
in Dr Rathke's critique. "His paper's riddled with mistakes.
We've had other physicists contact him and say this is embarrassing
to the journal and [Dr Rathke] won't respond," said Dr
Mills.
While the theoretical tangle is unlikely to
resolve itself soon, those wanting to exploit the technology
are pushing ahead. "We would like to understand it from
an academic standpoint and then we would like to be able to
use the implications to actually produce energy products,"
said Prof Maas. "The companies that are lining up behind
this are household names."
Dr Mills will not go into details of who is
investing in his research but rumours suggest a range of US
power companies. It is well known also that Nasa's institute
of advanced concepts has funded research into finding a way
of using Blacklight's technology to power rockets.
According to Prof Maas, the first product
built with Blacklight's technology, which will be available
in as little as four years, will be a household heater. As
the technology is scaled up, he says, bigger furnaces will
be able to boil water and turn turbines to produce electricity.
In a recent economic forecast, Prof Maas calculated
that hydrino energy would cost around 1.2 cents (0.7p) per
kilowatt hour. This compares to an average of 5 cents per
kWh for coal and 6 cents for nuclear energy.
"If it's wrong, it will be proven wrong,"
said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace USA. "But
if it's right, it is so important that all else falls away.
It has the potential to solve our dependence on oil. Our stance
is of cautious optimism."
Alternative energy
Cold fusion
More than 16 years after chemists' claims
to have created a star in a jar imploded in acrimony, the
US government has said it might fund more research. Mainstream
physicists still balk at reports that a beaker of cold water
and metal electrodes can produce excess heat, but a hardy
band of scientists across the world refuse to let the dream
die.
Methane hydrates
The US and Japan are leading attempts to tap
this source of fossil fuel buried beneath the seabed and Arctic
permafrost. A mixture of ice and natural gas, hydrates are
believed to contain more carbon than existing reserves of
oil, coal and gas put together.
Solar chimneys
Sunlight heats trapped air, which rises through
a giant chimney and drives turbines. Leonardo da Vinci designed
such a power tower and the Australian company Enviromission
plans to build one. Despite being scaled down recently, the
concrete chimney will still stand some 700 metres over the
outback.
Nuclear fusion
Turns nuclear power on its head by combining
atoms rather than splitting them to release energy - copying
the reaction at the heart of the sun. After years of arguments
the world has agreed to build a test reactor to see whether
it works on a commercial scale. Called Iter, it could be switched
on within a decade.
Wave generators
No longer a dead duck, the hopes of engineers
are riding on bobbing floats again. The British company Trident
Energy recently unveiled a design that uses a linear generator
to convert the motion of the sea into electricity. A wave
farm just a few hundred metres across could power 62,000 homes.
David Adam
