Take water and potash, add electricity and get - a mystery
By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 18/05/2003)
British researchers believe that they have made a groundbreaking scientific
discovery after apparently managing to "create" energy from hydrogen atoms.
In results independently verified at Bristol University, a team from Gardner
Watts - an environmental technology company based in Dedham, Essex - show a
"thermal energy cell" which appears to produce hundreds of times more energy
than that put into it. If the findings are correct and can be reproduced on
a commercial scale, the thermal energy cell could become a feature of every
home, heating water for a fraction of the cost and cutting fuel bills by at
least 90 per cent.
The makers of the cell, which passes an electric current through a liquid
between two electrodes, admit that they cannot explain precisely how the
invention works. They insist, however, that their cell is not just a repeat
of the notorious "cold fusion" debacle of the late 1980s. Then two
scientists claimed to have found a way of generating nuclear energy from a
similar-looking device at room temperature. The findings were widely
challenged and the scientists, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, accused
of incompetence, fled America to set up labs in France.
"We are absolutely not saying this is cold fusion, or that we have found a
way round the law of energy conservation," said Christopher Davies, the
managing director of Gardner Watts.
"What we are saying is that the device seems to tap into another, previously
unrecognised source of energy."
According to Mr Davies, the cell is the product of research into the
fundamental properties of hydrogen, the most common element in the universe.
He argues that calculations based on quantum theory, the laws of the
sub-atomic world, suggest that hydrogen can exist in a so-called metastable
state that harbours a potential source of extra energy.
This theory suggests that if electricity were passed into a mixture of water
and a chemical catalyst, the extra energy would be released in the form of
heat.
After some experimentation, the team found that a small amount of
electricity passed through a mixture of water and potassium carbonate -
potash - released an astonishing amount of energy.
"It generates a lot of heat in a very small volume," said Christopher
Eccles, the chief scientist at Gardner Watts.
The findings of the Gardner Watts team were tested by Dr Jason Riley of
Bristol University, who found energy gains of between three and 26 times
what had been put in.
In a written report, Dr Riley concluded: "Using the apparatus supplied by
Gardner Watts and the procedure of analysis suggested by the company, there
appears to be an energy gain in the system."
In tests performed for The Telegraph, the cell heated water to near-boiling,
apparently producing more than three times the amount of energy fed into it.
Scientists admit to being astonished by the sheer size of the energy
increase produced by the cell. "I've never seen a claim like this before,"
said Prof Stephen Smith of the physics department at Essex University.
"In the case of cold fusion, people talked about getting a 10 per cent
energy gain or so, which could be explained away quite easily but this is
much too big for that."
Prof Smith said he was sceptical about the theory put forward by the
company. He conceded, however, that scientists had also been baffled by the
source of energy driving radioactivity, as the key equation involved -
Einstein's famous E=MC2 - had yet to be discovered.
According to Prof Smith, if there is a flaw in the company's claims, it lies
in the measurement of the amount of electrical energy pumped into the cell.
It is possible that, as sparks pass between the electrodes, there is an
energy surge which would not be picked up by the instruments measuring the
electrical input.
Prof Smith said: "This needs to be very carefully checked, as there could be
far more energy going in than the makers think."
Prof Smith's views were echoed by Dr Riley, who said: "There's no doubt that
there was a heat rise but I'd like to see a more thorough investigation of
the electrical energy supplied into the cell."
While many scientists are trying to solve the mystery of the thermal energy
cell, its huge commercial potential has already caused interest.
Cambridge Consultants, one of Britain's most prestigious technology
consultancies, has teamed up with Mr Davies and his colleagues to develop a
working prototype. "We've had a multi-disciplinary team working on this, and
we're perplexed," said Duncan Bishop, head of process development at
Cambridge Consultants.
"We are offering to risk-share on it, as it will need about Ј200,000 to
prove the principle behind it."
According to the Gardner Watts team, it will take about six months to carry
out tests putting the reality of the effect beyond all doubt. The company
then plans to develop a prototype capable of turning less than one kilowatt
of electrical power into 10 kilowatts of heat.
Mr Davies said: "The technology could be licensed by a company making
household boilers for the domestic market. " He added that the plan is to
have the first thermal energy cell devices on the market within two years.
