steorn - Violating the law of "conservation of energy"?

Question

A company called Steorn as shown below.

http://www.steorn.net/en/technology.aspx?p=5

does any one know what "machine" have they created and how does it work?

Answer 1

No, but I would be VERY interested in seeing a practical demonstration of this as well as a detailed explanation of all facets of the technology. Note that this is not a couple of jackasses with a website they cooked up. This is a major technology company worth millions of dollars promoting this. If they are engaging in funny balogna, they stand to lose their shirts.

Also, I'd like to point out that the law of conservation of energy ignores systems and perspective. For example. Our planet earth is a system. For all intents and purposes, our sphere of experience and influence does not move outside this system. Energy might not be created or destroyed but it certainly can move into and out of a system. If you cannot leave the system but energy come into it and leave, then for all intents and purposes, that energy is created and/or destroyed FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE. This is more than a theoretical supposition. Our sun continuously beams energy into the system delineated by the earth, in large amount. Further, the amount of energy is functionally unlimited. All circumstances, especially life, depend on this situation. The conservation of energy is a theory that breaks down on a practical level.

I suspect that they are not actually violating the law of conservation of energy (although, who knows, the law is hardly something of an inviolate nature....only an observation based in incredibly limited experience and perspective). However, they are probably moving the energy into our system from another system outside our practical experience. From our point of view, the energy seems to be created.

This is also no joke. Think about an atomic bomb. It hardly shows any evidence of its potential energy. Yet, split the atom and so much energy is released that a city is blown to bits. This energy seems to come from nowhere...and out explanation for where it comes from is a theory only small parts of which are observable (the rest needs to be inferred).

Answer 2

It's rather convenient that these folks don't even give us a hint as to how these wondrous micro-generators work. The funny thing about this is that true scientists working on something like this would rush to publish their findings in reputable publications to get credit for their discoveries -- if they've truly broken the laws of thermodynamics, I dare say they'd be just a wee bit more excited about it. I'd shout it from the rooftops, myself, if only so the world knew that I was the one who discovered it. Then, of course, I'd patent the silly thing and start trying to market it. If you're published in a reputable journal, someone is going to try to replicate your results -- that's the basis behind good science: that your experiments are independently repeatable. Just going out and asking physicists to look at this free-energy device isn't the right way to go about it -- you come off as a crackpot and you'll get ignored or laughed at. It should be open to anyone and everyone to look at and pick apart, and your patent will also disclose how it works, so you can't keep it secret that way, either. So they're either a complete fraud, or they're not very savvy scientists... one guess which possibility my money's on.

Answer 3

At first I thought that the engineers working for that company should be fired...

but then just as I was about to register to receive updates, I figured it out. This is just a way to get a lot of email adresses from engineers and scientists, and sell them to spamming companies.

Then I concluded that their engineers are brilliant for their marketing. 40,000+ live email adresses in 9 days from people that are probably earning at least $50K a year....

I will bookmark them, and check back in a year or so. The site should be down by then...

Answer 4

If they really have developed something that accesses "A world with an infinite supply of clean energy for all.", they can't patent and sell it.

An infinite, free energy supply would be available by an infinite number of free technologies, and therefore impossible to lay any claim of ownership to.

Answer 5

No. And until the scientific community has come to a concensus on it, you can assume it's crap. It's the equivalent of saying bumblebees the size of crows have taken over Washington, DC. It really is that unlikely.

Answer 6

Considering they are based in Ireland, I suspect working Guiness lunches could be the source of their claims.

Answer 7

Probably. We'll know in a few months/years when they are (dis)proved.