On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Harry Veeder <hveeder...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 1:26 PM, Joshua Cude <joshua.c...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> I'm not talking about initiating. I'm talking about sustaining. I have no >> problem using electricity to initiate the ecat. But if it's a source of >> energy, it should behave like one and be able to at least power itself. >> >> >> A match is needed to ignite a firecracker, but once ignited, the >> explosion sustains itself. >> >> >> A match is needed to start a campfire, but not to sustain it. >> > > In addition to the wood fuel, oxygen must be supplied. > > > >> A battery is used to start a car engine, but not to sustain it. >> >> > In addition to the gasoline fuel, oxygen must be supplied. > > If the ecat must be self-sustaining to be considered a credible source of > power, then a campfire or a car engine should not be accepted as > credible sources of power because they don't make their own oxygen. > > I would consider the firewood + oxygen or the car engine + oxygen as the "devices" that are self-sustaining. One can certainly enclose oxygen with an engine or with chemical fuel to make a self-contained thing that self-sustains, if you have trouble with the abstract notion of a "device" that includes gases present in the atmosphere as part of its definition. Oxygen is not an energy source, so it does not represent energy input. Including the ac mains as part of the ecat is different though because that is an energy source by itself, and the goal of the ecat is to replace the power source that provides the mains.
