At 12:39 PM 10/28/2010, Jones Beene wrote:
From: Frank
Ø I think Schwinger was correct in
attributing sonoluminescence to Casimir effect
but should have concentrated on the rate of
change in Casimir geometry by the meniscus of
the compressed bubbles in cavitation- the liquid
medium is uniform and if conductive makes the
bubble essentially equivalent to Casimir plates
You and I agree that Schwinger was correct on
this and that excess energy could have come
from that source, but still - this overlooks the
claimed radiation poisoning and the anomalous
large excesses. How would Stringham have missed it, for instance?
They may have set up conditions that were well
beyond what had ever been done before. That's likely, by the way, I think.
It would be instructive to see a medical report
which affirms that radiation poisoning was
diagnosed by a professional instead of this being 100% anecdotal.
Well, I'll repeat what he wrote:
I was sickened, along with Serge, in two
separate experiments. We barely survived the
first set of experiments, this is no laughing
matter. The day after the experiment, Serge
showed symptoms first, vomiting and diarrhea. A
day later, I was in the same boat. For two days,
we both had to fight to breath, I was convinced
I was going to die. My wife and children
witnessed both of our symptoms, Serge stayed
with us for months before he was well enough to
return home to Cleveland. I lost about one third
of my hair. I had beta burn on my skin. I was
sore down the entire length of the right side of
my body, the side facing the experiment. Blood
tests showed that my white blood cells were
nearly wiped out. McMaster University did SKY
radiation dosimetry on us gratis, and found
multiple chromosome breaks and translocations in
both of us and concluded it was plausible it was
caused by radiation damage. For five months, we
had no ability to thermoregulate our body
temperature, which would swing from 95 degrees
up to 101 degrees, back and forth over the
course of minutes. I had to cal 911 when Serge
passed out from a 95 degree body temperature.
The first responders did not even dare to enter
the lab to carry him out. Over the course of
months, we both lost the linings of our
intestines. This was particularly disturbing
since GI problems associated with radiation are
the sign of a near fatal dose. Every object
within two meters of the experiment was laced with nuclear tracks.
The experiment triggered massive transmutation
of the elements, conformed by extensive
SEM-EDAX, XPS and LA-ICP-MS mass spec. Ninety
different elements were detected in large
amounts (grams), inluding the presence of many
short-lived isotopes. The isotope ratios were
indentical to those found in supernovas, and did
not resemble natural abundances at all. The
transmuted particles were so hot, they cooked
the polystyrene dishes they were placed in,
turning the bottom nearly opaque with nuclear
tracks that formed a ring around the bottom of the dish.
This is only a small sample of what happened. A
warning to you all, anyone spending more than a
few hours next to this device would end up dead.
There are suspicious aspects to this. Why did the
first responders not "dare to enter the lab?" The
way the story is told, they did not at first
suspect radiation sickness. That's why it
happened twice. But, with the first responders,
clearly it was believed that there was
significant radiation. They talk about a Geiger
counter only showing 20% count elevation. That
would not inhibit a first responder, they'd go into worse than that!
But it can happen that doubts can be raised about
real and factual resports. I could go on about
reasons for skepticism. But, on the other side,
if he is reporting (perhaps not perfectly!) about
what happened, this was radiation sickness.
So far, all positive reports about this have come
from Mark. I originally said that he was either
lying or he'd made a major discovery. I'll add a
third possibility: he's insane. I think of Nash.
I doubt that LeClair is competent to make that kind of diagnosis otherwise.
Following the story, he did not do it on his own.
I've seen nothing from his partner on this,
"Serge." Serge is the one with a prior expressed
interest in zero point energy, fusion, and the
Casimir effect. David Nagel has known about this
work, and was quoted in the examiner.com article
as having had his bullshit detector activated
when he heard about the radiation poisoning. What
does that mean? Given that he said nothing
positive, and that he's apparently known Mark
LeClair for years, according to what I quoted here, this is telling.
What I'd recommend, for someone with the
resources and the need to know, is to first
attempt to validate the account. Those first
responders, they would remember the incident. How
many times do you refuse to go into a lab because
the radiation levels are too high? This is a
rural area, I believe. It would be fairly easy
for someone investigating to find out about the
incident. They have sent samples of the allegedly
neutron-activated material, a superficial
examination found nothing unusual, but the
analyses may not have been deep enough. What Mark
published was inadequate to tell what was going
on. (An analysis with no description of what was
being analyzed, i.e., the samples, and no
controls, isn't terribly impressive, and,
remember, we must keep in mind the possibility of a sophisticated fabrication.)
The actual dosimetry lab results mentioned could
be seen, and the lab contacted. With permission
from LeClair and his partner, of course.
If enough evidence can be found to believe that
the radiation event really happened, then some
serious effort should be put into replication.
First, can NanoSpire replicate this, preferably
on a smaller scale! Given the technology they
were using and all the detailed results
supposedly developed, they should be able to replicate, readily.
LeClair has sufficient established reputation in
his field, it seems, to give this a first
assumption of credibility. But the Nash affair
shows that a respected scientist can also be a
paranoid schizophrenic, capable of conflating a
set of events into a totally fantastic story. The
lack of input and report from Serge leads me to suspect this, as a possibility.
However, there were at one time on the web many
other reports about ill health effects which
were seen in circumstances where energy
anomalies and EUV could have been present, and
if memory serves, Bill B. included a couple on
his site years ago, but they may have been
removed
since they were said to have been due
to orgone or negative orgone, whatever that is.
Great. Just what we need.
This was not a marginal "ill health effect." From
the symptoms described, they almost died, and they could still die from cancer.
One of the suspicious aspects of the story is
that they do not seem to have been hospitalized.
But perhaps the story was incomplete.
IOW do you find any merit in justifying one
pseudo-scientific claim with others?
Answer: you might if you are a hands-on experimenter.
Yes, but it is a Bad Idea. Stick with the facts.
This level of doubt does not negate LeClairs
other claims, but there are many other red flags
besides radiation poisoning. Several in fact.
Jones
Yes. Lots, in fact. Let me propose, though, a
positive possibility. They got severe radiation
poisoning, because they got a major level of hot
fusion reaction. Remember the "dead graduate
student effect"? They experienced it. Perhaps had
they been grad students, forced to work
themselves to the bone, or whatever the grad
student unions allege about working conditions, they'd be dead....
They might not be, after that, particularly sane for a while.
It should be possible to independently verify
enough of this story to move on to investigating
what actually happened and how to replicate it.
Mark claims, though, that he wasn't expecting
nuclear reactions, he talks about expecting
velocities of 20,000 mph, and that the real
velocity was 0.5 c, which is where he needs to
explain how these crystals would accelerate to
such a speed. That he'd have had the facilities
and expertise to measure those velocities, in the
availalbe time, is, again, suspicious. The story
is a bit contradictory on this.
I still would not be surprised to get a mail from
the real Mark LeClair, saying that he'd been away
for a week .... on the other hand, I do know that
Mark, or someone claiming to be Mark, did
communicate about the nuclear incident about a
year ago. Serge has been cc'd on some mails, but has not shown up.
More will be revealed, I presume.
