First time at this site. I’ve loosely followed Blacklight Power’s progress over the last 15 years or so. Randall Mills may be (more or less) mistaken in his theory, but he’s covered enough bases to keep intelligent people interested.
To correct some misconceptions: Mills teaches that most of the hydrogen in the universe is below the (commonly accepted) ground state. He says this special hydrogen, called hydrino, dominates the universe and is what we call dark matter.
Ground state, to me, is best regarded as the lowest energy state of an atom that is achieved spontaneously under normal conditions.
Mills says there are up to 137 energy states below the ground state of atomic hydrogen. These states are not spontaneously achieved but require special conditions to cause the electron to drop to a lower energy level. In Mill’s estimation nature has provided these conditions (although not optimally) which is why most of the hydrogen of the universe is in the alleged hydrino state.
And what evidence does he offer to support these many ground-breaking assertions? You’d think with all these discoveries under his belt, he could use the awards from his many Nobel Prizes to fund his project.
Mills has offered lots of evidence: anomalous heat generated, supposed hydrino-formation spectral signatures observed in the lab and in outer space, supposed hydrino crystalline compounds, spectral line broadening, and perhaps some other things I have forgotten. As I said, he has covered a lot of bases.
Some of these findings have been published in journals, some of which (I’m pretty sure) are peer reviewed. Not that peer review guarantees junk free science, but it helps.
Mill’s equations (found in his very large treatise on classical physics) apparently correctly calculate ionization energies for relatively light atoms, and does much better at this than quantum theory.
So the conundrum is: There are reasons to believe Mills’ claims, and reasons to dismiss them. For instance, I believe that the strangeness of the quantum world is pretty much established, but Mills stubbornly insists on classical explanations instead. Personally I think Mills is wrong in this regard. For instance I recall not being satisfied at all with this explanation for the results of the double slit experiment.
That however doesn’t rule out the possibility that he might be relatively correct in other aspects of his physics.
It will be interesting to see what transpires in the demonstration in about a week’s time.
But from what I have observed thus far over the years, there has been far too much hyperbole coming from Blacklight Power. Because of this I’m not optimistic that the demonstration will be convincing enough to persuade those on the fence, let alone those on the other side.
Well markie, you are a lot more optimistic on this matter than I am.
It’s not that I know a lot about this particular organisation or its claims. It’s just the combination of
a) A hitherto unknown ground state of hydrogen that no one else has ever heard of
b) an energy density orders of magnitude higher than nuclear processes
I have to cry “hokum”.
Understandable. To clarify, the claimed energy of the hydrino transition is intermediate between chemical and nuclear. But taken together as an industrial process the claimed energy density for hydrino is said to be higher than nuclear. This is because the nuclear reaction rate is made to be low, otherwise it would not be controllable. In other words, the hydrino process is controllable at high energy densities while the nuclear process is not.
But listen to me, talking about hydrinos as if they even exist! Reality check: the alleged hydrino, essentially like a very, very large neutron, has not been discovered before now, while both the neutron and even the elusive neutrino have been known for over 60 years? Very hard to swallow. I sympathize with doubters. I do however believe that something is going on with hydrogen and the larger cold fusion scene. How much Mill’s interpretation is in line with what is actually occurring remains to be seen. I’m not holding my breath. Well, maybe a little…
Oh, certainly something is going on with this. But all evidence is that that something is a small group of people out to make an easy buck off of the gullible.
Easy to say. I have encountered no evidence - except for Randal Mill’s demonstrable hyperbole on what and when he can deliver - that there is anything unethical going on. Look at the board of directors, managers, chemists and engineers. Are you prepared, with your ‘evidence’, to say to them in person that they are essentially a bunch of crooks? Consider that making such glib accusations could it be considered unethical behaviour!
If the Blacklight enterprise ends up as being a dead end, what I would conclude is this: otherwise competent people were sucked into, as an author of Steve Jobs bibliography would put it, a ‘reality distortion field’. Steve Job’s intelligence, intensity, vision, drive, single mindedness, etc, made the unbelievable or impossible seem within reach to those around him.
ETA: Actually, that’s not entirely fair. I suppose some of them may be earnest fools. There are a fair number of fools in the world with money, management positions, or fancy degrees.
And if, for some reason, there is actually posters out there who think this isn’t a hoax, the wiki article lists several analyses from the technical press to academics to patent offices that all more or less refute the idea there’s anything to the company.
It’s a standard profile of a hoax company, spread out over a decade.