David Jonsson wrote:
No, I can't see that. Isn't capillary force a Casimir force and thus ZPE
dependent.
Yes - partly, perhaps - but this does not have to be an either/or
situation; but still it is true that d'Alemberts paradox may not be
involved.
At any rate: some of this is just "thinking aloud" or by
free-association in the context of overunity
On the surface at least (no pun intended) one would think that either an
effect approaching superfluidity, but at room temperature, or "negative
viscosity" would permit some kind of demonstration of "free energy".
Perhaps the connection between the two exists only in the possibility of
an end-result: finding so-called "perpetual motion" or anti-gravity.
PERPMO alert! Read the following at your own risk of being converted
into the dreaded realm of pathological science.
[Not to mention: 'Aloha Charlie', the micro-diode-guy should get a
charge out of this demon of an idea <g> since it echoes some of the
sentiment of the mega-diode chip]
Negative viscosity is or was the partial premise behind the idea which
was posted to the Maxwell's Demon forum some time ago: The phenomenon of
increased capillary efficiency at micro dimensions especially when
combined with the electrical phenomenon of "needle emission" could
permit perpetual motion, if properly implemented, as below.
The observation that there is a non-zero "free" field emission from the
tips of conductive "needles," to the extent that space charge effects
can be mitigated - is known as the "needle emission" effect. Combine
that with the assumption that free or minimally bound electrons will
serve to increase buoyancy in a liquid and "voila"...
More details.
The 'space charge' in such a device would be mitigated by a continuous
flow of a liquid like water in a closed circuit loop ... which would
make it into a "perpetual" Demon by rising against gravity... IF (big
if)... there is a substantial natural electron buoyancy effect along
with the other effects. A liquid with less dielectric constant might be
preferable to water however: not sure if you want free electrons or an
attached charge. Anyway...
The normal kind of capillary action found in nature has never found its
way into a working "Demon" despite numerous attempts. This proposed
enhancement would be a true Maxwell's Demon since electron emission
always involves removing heat, whereas "just" capillary action (as found
in biological life) may not. The Cathode in this situation would be
cooler than the anode-even if both were effectively grounded, or shorted
through a diode to each other.
The idea would be that in the comimg years, advances in
micro-lithography will permit a large population of perhaps 10^8/cm^2 of
hollow nano-needles (maybe more) to be fabricated (etched) along with
pores so that fluid is allowed to flow through. These hollow needles are
etched onto a cathode/diode chip, so that milliamps/cm^2 of electrons
can be emitted from ground into a moving stream of liquid passing
through pores etched in that cathode, and then collected above it by a
grounded anode at the surface.
Recent advances in capillary science have demonstrated that there is
negative viscosity effect (seems to be negative since water will be
climbing against a pressure gradient much faster than normal capillary
action. This apparent negative viscosity probably partly explains Jason
Holt's statement, "As you shrink pore size, there is a huge enhancement
in flow rate....It's something that is quite counter-intuitive," says
LLNL chemical engineer Jason Holt, whose findings appeared in the 19 May
2006 issue of "Science."
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol312/issue5776/index.dtl
[you must have a subsrcition to view]
Jones
