I wrote:
> I think you should propose a method by which a con game would be physically > possible without the cooperation of the people who designed the calorimetry, > brought the instruments, and operated them. As a practical matter, you cannot do that until you have had time to study the technical details of the experiment. You have to look at the photos and configuration. I hope to upload these soon. Or at least a photo. I am having the usual problems with files generated on Macs and PCs in Europe and the U.S. For now I am only saying there is no evidence for a "con" and on the face of it, a con is physically impossible. So you are premature suggesting that hypothesis. You have to have a defensible reason for any hypothesis. The assertion that the guy may be crook is not a scientifically defensible argument, since it cannot be tested or shown to have any plausible connection. Even if Rossi was a world famous magician or Macavity the mystery cat, the Hidden Paw, he would have no ability to change the laws of physics or prevent calorimeters from working. Magicians tricks ALWAYS interfere with human perception, with sleight of hand, hidden devices and the like. They never interfere with instrument readings. I do not think there are any examples in the history of 20th or 21st century experimental science in which a con-man was able to fool experimentalists. In the 19th century I recall there was a perpetual motion scam that turned out to be driven with air hoses, attached to the equipment tables. The modern equivalent would be hidden electric wires or induction. Very easy to arrange, but impossible to hide from an expert who physically present looking at the equipment and attaching thermocouples and pumps to it. I am pretty sure you cannot use hidden induction to power something at 12 kW! - Jed
