Imagine a world where you fill your car with water instead of petrol or have a utility room running a perpetual motion machine that provides all your energy needs with no energy bills. A world where oil, coal and gas become obsolete and everyone, everywhere has power. Would it be paradise or a problem?
Such claims of free limitless energy appear in fringe science discussions as they fall short of scientific credibility in that they need to pass rigorous, repeatable scientific validation They claim to be the solution to end fossil fuel dependence, eliminate polution and solve global warming and reshape global economics.
Before we discuss the various claims lets briefly look at the science behind energy.
Energy and its use are bound by the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, these state that:
1. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.
2. No system can be 100% efficient or produce more energy than it consumes. Energy systems always lose some efficiency.
Free limitless energy contradicts these long established physical laws.
When we talk about the methods of obtaining free or limitless energy they normally fall into the following categories:
• Cold fusion devices that can generate massive power at room temperature. Its the idea that nuclear fusion—the process that powers the Sun—could happen at or near room temperature, instead of requiring extreme heat and pressure like in stars or hydrogen bombs. In 1989, two scientists—Pons and Fleischmann—claimed they had achieved cold fusion. However their experiment could not be reproduced.
• Zero-point energy that taps into exotic sources. Zero-point energy is the idea that even when you remove all energy from a system—like cooling it to absolute zero—some energy still remains due to the weird rules of quantum physics. Particles are never completely at rest.
• Magnetic or perpetual motion machines that run indefinitely without fuel.
• Over-unity devices that output more energy than they consume. See examples below.
• Anti-gravity propulsion systems. The idea is that such devices would use some kind of unknown or exotic physics, like manipulating gravity itself or using energy fields.
• Reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology such as Element 115 (Moscovium) as a power source (popularized by Bob Lazar)
These are some of the most famous examples of free limitless energy claims.
1. Bhāskara’s Wheel (12th Century)
A wheel with containers of sand, mercury or water that shift weight as the wheel turns. Supposedly the weight of the material in the vials was always biased toward one side of the wheel, causing that side to fall, and since the "overbalance" was present in every wheel position, the wheel should spin forever. There are similar variations of an overbalanced wheel where weighted arms or balls are mounted on a wheel so that the weights shift outward on one side and inward on the other.
2. Joseph Newman’s Energy Machine (1970s–80s)
This consisted of a giant electromagnetic motor that allegedly produces more energy than it takes in. Newman even attempted to patent the device without success as it was concluded the output power was not greater than the input and was therefore considered an ‘inoperative’ invention
In conclusion every perpetual motion machine so far has failed to stand up to independent scientific testing and violates the first two laws of thermodynamics mentioned above.
With regards to suppressed technologies it is claimed that governments or corporations suppress free energy technology to maintain economic control. A truly free energy source could destabilize markets and diminish centralized control. You can imagine the feelings of governments and large corporations with a world where energy is abundant and costs nothing. Power would literally be in the peoples hands.
Some people who have been claimed to be suppressed, harassed, or even killed for their research into free limitless energy are Stanley Meyer, Eugene Mallove and Nikola Tesla.
Meyer claimed that a car retrofitted with the device could use water as fuel instead of petrol. The water fuel cell purportedly split water into its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gas was then burned to convert chemical energy to heat energy, a process that reconstituted the water molecules. Stanley Meyer died suddenly on March 20, 1998, while dining at a restaurant. His brother claimed that during a meeting with two Belgian investors, Meyer suddenly ran outside, saying "They poisoned me".
Eugene Mallove (A science writer and broadcaster) was a proponent of cold fusion and related exploratory alternative energy topics. He claimed to have produced a device that output more energy than it consumed in an experiment successfully replicated on several occasions. However there were claims that the results were suppressed through an organized campaign of ridicule from mainstream physicists, including those studying controlled thermonuclear fusion, trying to protect their research and funding. Mallove was murdered in 2004.
Its worth pointing out The U.S. Patent Office has classified over 5,000 patents under national security orders, but most relate to defense tech, not energy.
Free Limitless energy sounds great but until someone proves it works under strict scientific conditions, it’s best approached with healthy skepticism. To date, no credible, peer-reviewed study has demonstrated a functioning free energy device.
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