Steorn invent a 'free energy' machine

pH

Steorn develops free energy technology and issues challenge to the global scientific community

London, 18th August 2006: Steorn, an Irish technology development company, has today issued a challenge to the global scientific community to test Steorn’s free energy technology and publish the findings.

Steorn’s technology is based on the interaction of magnetic fields and allows the production of clean, free and constant energy. The technology can be applied to virtually all devices requiring energy, from cellular phones to cars.

Steorn has placed an advertisement in The Economist this week to attract the attention of the world’s leading scientists working in the field of experimental physics. From all the scientists who accept Steorn’s challenge, twelve will be invited to take part in a rigorous testing exercise to prove that Steorn’s technology creates free energy. The results will be published worldwide.

Sean McCarthy, CEO of Steorn, commented: “During the years of its development, our technology has been validated by various independent scientists and engineers. We are now seeking twelve of the most qualified and most cynical from the world’s scientific community to form an independent jury, test the technology in independent laboratories and publish their findings.

“We are under no illusions that there will be a lot of cynicism out there about our proposition, as it currently challenges one of the basic principles of physics. However, the implications of our technology go far beyond scientific curiosity: addressing many urgent global needs including security of energy supply and zero emission energy production. In order for these benefits to be achieved, we need the public validation and endorsement of the scientific community”.

“We’re playing our part in making that happen by throwing down the gauntlet with today’s announcement – now it’s over to the scientists to ensure that the real potential and benefits of our technology can be realised.”

Following the validation process, Steorn intends to license its technology to organisations within the energy sector. It will allow use of its technology royalty-free for certain purposes including water and rural electrification projects in third world countries, details to be announced later

http://www.steorn.net/en/news.aspx?p=2&id=22

Original (now locked) thread in politics forum.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054978349

Here's the Video

Boing Boing

Wikipedia

Yahoo news

Irish Examiner

Though there is some speculation that this is a publicity stunt (the upcoming Bungie game HALO 3 is the current choice)
http://www.steorn.net/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=191&page=1#Item_0

stevenmu

I saw a story about it in the indo earlier. What rings alarm bells for me is that they say scientists *have* validated it, but aren't willing to publicly put their names to it for fear of ridicule. Surely anyone trying to properly ridicule it would have to get their hands on the device and either figure out how it works, or at least prove that it doesn't. Therefore anyone who has 'validated' it mustn't be all that confident about it. Still it would be a very, very nice thing to have if it does work.

the_syco

Aye, but if those who validated it put up their hands, we'd laugh at them anyway.

It would be nice if somehow someone figured out Tesla's little box, tho.

davros

It's another effort in the great tradition of Irish challenges to the Laws of Physics. This reminds me of the guy from the ESB who took on Einstein.

We'll just have to see how this plays out. At least the claim is testable and they are willing, on the face of it, to have it fairly tested.

I don't expect it to succeed but I'm willing to assume they are genuine in their belief that it works.

pH

400 Scientists apply to test the device.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1854305,00.html

torinoblue

It seems like a publicity stunt.

http://www.steorn.net/frontpage/default.aspx

All publicity is good publicity supposedly, but when this blows up in their faces or fizzles out in inertness, more appropriately, the company must be dead in the water.

jd

Ha, they think they are good. I will SOON release a special pill that GUARANTEES a man can seduce and service 10 WOMEN IN THE SAME NIGHT!!

pH

Interview with CEO Sean McCarthy on the Last Word (Today FM)
Interview (4.8Mb)
It's rapidshare so you have to click on free and wait 60 secs.

Zombrex

Every couple of years there is a story like this, someone has found a way to produce more energy than they put in but they are not sure how it works, and everytime the result is due to a mistake in the measurements.

The fact that Steorn are doing such a weird promotional thing (sign up to evaluate our machine ... wtf? why not just pop down to a lab in Trinity with a couple of Physics lectures and turn the thing on), would lead one to believe that if it isn't in fact a viral marketing project for Halo 3 these guys probably know they are hanging by a thread of scientific credibility, even if they don't want to admit it.

Is it just a scam to get investors interested. Are these guys just nuts? Who knows, who cares?

pH

I remember seeing a picture of a float pump when I was in school, and being absolutely convinced that if you could get a watertight seal to allow the balls in at the bottom then it would work.

(the tank is full of water, and the spheres are buoyant)

It took me about a week to figure out why it won't work, which gave me a lot of satisfaction at the time. Now I guess google will tell you quickly why it won't work, but there's satisfaction to be had figuring it out for yourself.

MrB

Wicknight wrote:

Every couple of years there is a story like this, someone has found a way to produce more energy than they put in but they are not sure how it works, and everytime the result is due to a mistake in the measurements.

The fact that Steorn are doing such a weird promotional thing (sign up to evaluate our machine ... wtf? why not just pop down to a lab in Trinity with a couple of Physics lectures and turn the thing on), would lead one to believe that if it isn't in fact a viral marketing project for Halo 3 these guys probably know they are hanging by a thread of scientific credibility, even if they don't want to admit it.

Is it just a scam to get investors interested. Are these guys just nuts? Who knows, who cares?

Exactly, whenever someone comes out with an amazing new theory which defies an accepted law of physics by announcing it in the media, daring the scientific community to challenge prove them wrong and using a variation on the “They called Galileo crazy” defence my BS sense goes into overdrive. Remember “Extraordinary Claims require extraordinary proofs” and it’s up to the people making the claims to provide the proofs!

On the other hand I do hope they are right, but I doubt it.

pH

Ahh - I think if they rerouted the plasma conduit it could supply power to both the shields AND life support

Zillah

*sigh*

There's a teeny tiny part of me that isn't going "Thats a load of crap!" We'll wait and see I suppose.

Peanut

They haven't actually said anything along the lines of 'we have a perpetual energy machine' though, have they.

I suspect it is something like trying to harvest environmental energy like wind etc., except in this case it's some changing magnetic environment, in some sort of specific situation which may prove to be too impractical to be useful. However they don't have enough resources to build a large scale prototype, so possibly this is why they are going down the publicity route.

robindch

> They haven't actually said anything along the lines of 'we have a
> perpetual energy machine' though, have they.

No, they're wiser than that coz they know that they won't get a patent if they do call it a PMM, because patent offices will automatically reject the claim. What they've said (as far as I've read anyway, which isn't far), is that they've designed a device which produces more energy than it consumes, a bit like the cold fusion gadget from 1989, and I suspect it will have similar levels of success.

pH

Peanut wrote:

They haven't actually said anything along the lines of 'we have a perpetual energy machine' though, have they.

I suspect it is something like trying to harvest environmental energy like wind etc., except in this case it's some changing magnetic environment, in some sort of specific situation which may prove to be too impractical to be useful. However they don't have enough resources to build a large scale prototype, so possibly this is why they are going down the publicity route.

Here's the claim:
McCarthy stated in an RTE radio interview that, "What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy, [...] The energy isn't being converted from any other source such as the energy within the magnet. It's literally created. Once the technology operates it provides a constant stream of clean energy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn

Peanut

Oh they used to be an e-commerce company.. lol enough said :rolleyes:

Zillah

robindch wrote:

> They haven't actually said anything along the lines of 'we have a
> perpetual energy machine' though, have they.

Actually they're patenting it piece by piece. No individual piece counts as a PMM but together they make one. (Or so they claim.)

EDIT: According to some discussion on Steorn's forums the mechanism is likely to deplete the magnets that are used, hence explaining where the energy comes from. I'm not familiar with the science of it so I thought I'd share that notion.

Also very interesting article here: http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/rupertgoodwins/0,39020691,39281444-1,00.htm

pH

Article in the Guardian today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1858134,00.html

Apparently the machine is 285% efficient! Many were expecting figures like 100.01%. It's very hard to believe that anyone who understood what they're doing could make a mistake of that size.

One other thing, here's McCarthy's quote from a while back:

"What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy"

So Energy (Kinetic) is 1/2mv^2
m is mass
v is velocity

I'm presuming they're not claiming that in a revolution it gains mass, so what they're saying is when it returns to the same position it's moving faster than it was when it was last at that position.

If this is true, they have a machine that given a gentle push to start, builds up to much greater speeds, until the 'free energy' being extracted is counteracted by friction/resistance.

This claim doesn't need a panel of 12 scientists - it doesn't need a computer making 28,000 measurements per second. It just works - and it is self evident that it works - give it a small push, and 2 minutes later it's spinning at 1,000 rpm and will continue to do that for weeks.

Zillah

lol

Would someone like to run the numbers and see how long it would take this device to break the speed of light after a gentle push?

If its 285% efficient that should be plenty to overcome atmospheric resistance. Less hope they built it out of heat resistant ceramics like the space shuttle nose

Hell, pop it in a vaccum chamber.

6th

Zillah wrote:

lol

Would someone like to run the numbers and see how long it would take this device to break the speed of light after a gentle push?

If its 285% efficient that should be plenty to overcome atmospheric resistance. Less hope they built it out of heat resistant ceramics like the space shuttle nose

Hell, pop it in a vaccum chamber.

Just what i was thinking ..... "Stand well back guys, i'm gonna give this a tap"

pH

The search for perpetual motion is considered heretical in the scientific community because it violates the First Law of Thermodynamics. Historically, those who set out to prove otherwise fell into one of three categories: sincere but wrong; a few cogs short of a self-blowing windmill; and money-grabbing fraudsters.

“The onus is on him to prove it rather than for me to disprove it. I don’t want to pooh-pooh the greatest invention in the world, but I have my own things to work on.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2331264_1,00.html

Zombrex

Anyone figured out Steorn's angle yet?

Are they nut jobs who really believe this thing works (but are some what afraid to show it working?)

Are they out to make a quick buck? If so how exactly? Have they been looking for investment or grants?

I can understand one lone slightly nutty inventor deluding himself into believing his invention works, but these guys seem to have all deluded themselves

Its a very strange tale ... the ISS should ask to call around to their offices and see the thing working.

torinoblue

They probably believe it works, but who knows.

The world doesn't seem to have been shaken to its core though.

Zillah

They're probably a company who are repositioning themselves as sensationalist promotionalists. This is their launching stunt.

Villain

So who is meant to have developed this theory that creates the energy? these 3 guys at Steorn?

This sounds awfully like the hoax back in 2002 where we had the jasker machine that was designed by a couple of guys in the West of Ireland.

Zillah

irish1 wrote:

So who is meant to have developed this theory that creates the energy? these 3 guys at Steorn?

They don't have a theory, they discovered it accidently. They don't claim to know how it works.

spidermonkey

that machine is as old as the hills, its more commonly known as the N-MACHINE and was discovered by faraday at the same time as he was developing the dynamo,

only problem is where is this energy coming from? it could be the product of slowly shooting ourselves in the foot.
its also anti-government, the government are out to make money to keep the country afloat, would you pay the same rates for electricity if you knew that the government were making 280% net profit? riots galore!
things like this are common, take black holes for example, no-one's seen one, yet they are mathematically proven to exist. maths are the basis for everything (the universal language) and are "solid".

heres the link, its a good lump of info.

http://www.mufor.org/nmachine.html

enjoy.

monkeyfudge

spidermonkey wrote:

things like this are common, take black holes for example, no-one's seen one, yet they are mathematically proven to exist. maths are the basis for everything (the universal language) and are "solid".

It's not just maths for black holes, the observation of the movements of other stars indicates their existence. And recently they've even been capable of creating micro black holes within particle accelerators.

pH

spidermonkey wrote:

maths are the basis for everything (the universal language) and are "solid".

Excellent, I'll take that as an offer from you to walk us through this 'solid' math.

A good place to start this walk-through I think would be Noether's theorem, but then again, maybe you have other ideas.

Larry-K

Sounds like Laurence Gardner's "Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark - amazing revelations of the incredible power of gold" is fulfilling it's prophesy... Hmmmm...

Son Goku

things like this are common, take black holes for example, no-one's seen one, yet they are mathematically proven to exist. maths are the basis for everything (the universal language) and are "solid".

The unfortunate thing is that there is significant mathematical backing to say something like this isn't possible.

Since I can take the laws of physics and translate them into the future without them changing, this means nature has temporal symmetry.

Due to Noether's Theorem, every symmetry has a corresponding conservation law and the conservation law corresponding to this temporal symmetry is energy conservation.

So, conservation of energy is basically the same statement as "The laws of physics do not vary over time".

Also General Relativity requires that energy is conserved and it works very well, so I don't think Steorn's claim has any merit.

its more commonly known as the N-MACHINE and was discovered by faraday at the same time as he was developing the dynamo,

Curious, since Faraday's experiments lead to the discovery that a magnetic field does no work.

Also the language of the head guy is a bit dubious, i.e.
"A certain geometrical arrangement of magnets."

Geometrical is just inserted to make the sentence sound more technical.

Zillah

Has this been confirmed as crap yet?

pH

I really though these guys had gone away, apparently not - they got €23m from absolute morons investors, and despite the fact that the original orbo was all about moving things in an electromagnetic field, they've just "invented" a solid state USB phone battery charger that keeps charging batteries and never needs charging itself!

They want €1200 for one of these, oh and their rigorous scientific "field tests" involved putting it behind a bar in Dublin - you'll be glad to know the barman said it works great.

Irish firm invents everlasting battery
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/fact-or-fiction-irish-firm-invents-everlasting-battery-1.2506832

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/self-charging-battery-causes-a-stir-in-dublin-pub-test-1.2211622

http://boingboing.net/2015/12/08/free-energy-for-sale-steorn.html

Arbie

Steorn officially went into liquidation a few weeks ago. Almost €23 MILLION of investments wasted, which is a disgrace when you consider the genuine scientists and entrepreneurs who need funding for legitimate R&D.

zg3409

Items up for liquidation. Viewing tomorrow (Monday 22nd May 2017) by appointment only in Tallaght from 10am until 4pm:
http://www.cooney.ie/tc/126_tc.pdf

Bids with 20% deposit by Tuesday.

There is not much left really, no signs of any actual 'batteries'

Photos of some stuff here:
http://www.cooney.ie/cooney_item_page.php?id=126

I would bid for a plastic case if I was around just for fun.