[geeks] Fuelless power?

[Chris Byrne]

Apologies to you Bjorn but I couldn't resist on this one. I actually
submitted it as a /. Story.

Heres the text of my submission below.

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A friend on a mailing list just sent me this link under the subject line
"Does this work?"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11771&item=300116
5002
 
The device in question is purported to be a "self powered fuelless
generator" 

Theres a quite nice explanation of how the notional device works
complete with horrible spelling and grammar (I got the impression the
the author was definitely not a native english speaker) 

Quoted here in all it's incoherent glory: 

"The basic concept of the alternator driven and self-powered fueless
generator is as follows. For a better photographic understanding of the
following please look at Diagram A, titled "Fueless Generator: Basic
Set-up." The standard car alternator is actuated by the battery in the
car. Once the alternator is actuated and it begins spinning at about one
thousand RPM or so and then begins producing the necessary amperage to
run the vehicle's various electrical mechanisms. There are such
alternators in existence that are self actuating which work more like
power generators. All these generators need is to be spun in order to
produce the average 55 amps needed to run a vehicle. Now picture this.
You have a row of 6 self-actuating alternators connected to an electric
motor which spins them. All the power needed to run the electric motor
comes from one of the spinning alternators. In this set-up your left
with five alternators that continue spinning freely producing
electricity at will, that you can use for whatever you want. You can
attach the remaining alternators to five additional power inverters
which can in turn provide enough electrical power to run 10 or more
different appliances. Now the only loop whole your left with in this
situation is that you have to initial start the system by getting the
electric motor to spin fast enough to get the alternators producing
power. However once you get this system jump started you end-up with a
generator that's going to produce constant power until the alternators
and/or the electric motor gives out. This is the basic running principal
behind the process of how the self-powered generator works." 

The scariest part is that he may have actually had a bidder, though I
suspect the notional bidder was simply a shill for the scam. 

How many people in the general population might actually fall for this
explanation?
In fact how many people reading it just now thought, even for a second,
"that sounds reasonable"? 

Let me explain further. 

There is a fundamental principle of physics known as the law of
conservation of energy. It states that energy can neither be created nor
destroyed, it can only change form (This law is the reciprocal of the
law of conservation of matter. Of course, since as we all know matter
and energy are the same thing... but anyway). 

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE OUT MORE THAN YOU PUT IN. 

In fact under most generating technologies you are lucky to get 40% of
what you put in as kinetic energy, out as electrical energy. It's a
fundamental principle of electrical generators that the more power that
is generated, the more energy is required to actuate the generator. So
no matter how much power the generator puts out, its always using more. 

If that weren't the case we could all have perpetual motion machines
everywhere and there would be no oil companies and no polution and all
would be right with the world etc... 

Let me repeat 

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE OUT MORE THAN YOU PUT IN. 

Or, in the immortal works of Robert Anson Heinlein "There Aint No Such
Thing As A Free Lunch", otherwise known as the TANSTAAFL principle. 

I of course immediately sent a fraud report to ebay. Just then a quote
popped into my head: "Never ascribe to malice that which can be
adequately explained by stupidity" 

Chris Byrne