Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Wait -- do you mean Miley's recent work on Patterson-type cells?
Nope. Gas loaded ZrPd powder. Similar to Arata. Roughly the same power density as Rossi.
I've never argued that what Rossi is claiming is physically impossible. He's too clever to claim perpetual motion or any such thing; he's picked something that *could*, after all, be true.
He has also proved it by first principles in the Oct. 6 test. Unless you think a 30 L container of water can magically radiate heat for 4 hours and yet remain hot while you run 60 L of tap water through it.
It is ridiculous that anyone would question his results after that. There is no chance there was a hidden battery, wires or chemical fuel.
"Experts" cut no ice with me, I'm afraid, unless they really are experts in the exact subdiscipline in question, which these people may or may not be.
They are definitely. The colonel discussed his work with Lewan and others, and there is no doubt he is an expert HVAC engineer.
It is conceivable that these people are engaged in some sort of weird fraud. I'm sure the machine is real and it produces anomalous heat, but that does not preclude the possibility that they're using it to commit fraud. People often commit fraud with real technology. In the 1980s hard disk companies on the edge of bankruptcy used to ship boxes full of bricks instead of hard disks. The customers did not realize they had bricks in the warehouse until after the hard disk company vanished. That was not evidence that hard disks do not exist, or that these companies were incapable of manufacturing them..
If this is fraud, it is being conducted by people who happen to be experts in thermodynamics and HVAC. I suppose that would make it easier for them to put on what looks like a convincing demonstration. They know what tools to use, and how to hook up heavy-duty power cables. Rossi is an acknowledged expert in heat engines. No one denies that.
Remember, the scientists at SRI were totally fooled by Uri Geller.
That's a dumb example. As you say, they have to be experts in the discipline in question. Those people knew nothing about sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Citing them is a perfect example of the misuse of authority logical fallacy.
And Steve Jones is a physicist who should really, really understand how things can and can't fall down, yet he thinks the WTC came down via explosives.
He also thinks that all cold fusion results can be explained as the result of recombination, even McKubre's results with an internal recombiner. At least he said that's what said he believes. When I challenged him in person he refused to say it right out. That's what he wrote any number of times on the Internet and in various reports.
Frankly, I don't think he actually believes that. That's preposterous, and he is a smart guy. I think he said that because he is a political animal who will say anything to gain an advantage. He wanted recognition for his cold fusion work, and he thought the only way he could get it was to first destroy Fleischmann and Pons.
Taubes said many preposterous things, such as the assertion that power demand is lower on weekends and therefore laboratory grade regulated power supplies deliver more electricity on weekends, and researchers think this is excess heat. He said that on NPR, as I recall. That is also preposterous, but I expect he believes it, because he is very, very stupid.
- Jed
