24 Dec
2012
24 Dec
'12
6:01 p.m.
On 2012 Dec 24, at 4:47 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 12/24/2012 02:49 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
A local newspaper here ran an article a few years ago about a
basement-tinkerer who had invented a 'free energy' source. He had a
box filled with wires and electrical doo-hickeys and claimed that
more energy came out than went in, based on calculations and
measurements from meters hanging off the thing (he must know what
he's talking about).
It had been examined by "experts" and nobody could explain to him
what was going on or show him that he was wrong. Of course, the
experts were flummoxed, as opposed to him being incapable or deaf to
understanding.
Of course, he wouldn't let anyone examine the internals as they could
steal his design.
And of course, all the big boys (the power companies and so on) were
marginalising him because it would put them out of business.
I think he was sincere in his belief, but I'm guessing he didn't
understand the concept of 'power factor'.
The better question is why did the newspaper devote space to it.
Yes...the "I'm not doing real work,
so this is good enough for me"
garbage. I've taken to bringing along grownup equipment whenever I'm
going to any sort of technical gathering, because of all the crap
I see
people toting along. "Well this one was soooo much cheaper! That
means
I was a SMART SHOPPER!"
It's much worse than that--just go to YouTube and search for "Free
Energy" or "Magnet Motor" for tons of examples of how a cheap DMM
can be misused. "Hey, I'm getting 150% efficiency out of this
because my DMM says so."
Not quite as bad as those (and they're there) who use voltage as a
measure of power. It makes the head hurt.