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Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head
· Scientist says device disproves quantum theory · Opponents claim idea is
result of wrong maths
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Friday November 04 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."
 

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