I always considered these guys to be another impossible hype program, but there seems to have been some independent verification of their claims. Electricity generated from water: BlackLight Power announces validation of its scientific breakthrough in energy production - MarketWatch
This stuff derives from "cold fusion". From Blacklight Power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The skeptic in me says this is almost certainly tin-hat silliness. Of course, if it isn't then we're talking Nobel Prize and massive impact on society. But as Carl Sagan said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."
The two big problems are: "Hydrino theory" -- It's not a theory, it's a hypothesis. A theory has been peer reviewed and tested but not in every case. For example the theory of relativity can't be fully tested because we can't travel close to the speed of light. The theory of evolution can't be tested because we don't have a Tardis. However, enough evidence and what testing that we can do indicates there is a very strong possibility that the theories are correct. "Leading academic and industry experts" -- Unnamed. Right now this doesn't pass the sniff test.
From a quick skim, it looks like BS. Of course anything is possible, but there are few things we understand as well as the hydrogen atom. It's just one proton and one electron, with which we get exact solutions to the energy levels via Schrodinger's wave equation. And the math doesn't really allow for anything below the 1s ground state. Terms like Hydrino just sound like gobbledygook (perhaps a some combination of hydrogen and neutrino). The press release says "... hydrogen atoms of water molecules to transition to a lower-energy, Hydrino state, resulting in a release of energy that is intermediate between chemical and nuclear energies." Excuse me, what? If there was some nuclear energy release then that proton is no longer a proton. And protons are extremely stable. Claiming a continuum in the spectra implies that the energy states are not quantized which is unexpected for an "atom". If real, it could be some interesting new fundamental physics. But as they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
IEEE did an article on this. Not sure what really changed (they mentioned 6 studies, but were they peer reviewed and what did those studies specifically cover)? http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/loser-hot-or-not Digging a bit deeper, their website seems to have a link to the "six separate, independent studies": http://www.blacklightpower.com/technology/validation-reports/ All I see are "reports" that consist of visiting their lab and then saying that somehow validates their "theory" about "hydrinos". None of them were actual scientific papers, nor did they show anyone actually doing the experiment using their own instrumentation. This link has some actual papers: http://www.blacklightpower.com/publications/ Digging even further, I looked to see how they got an article published in an actual journal (THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL D). Here's what the editor has to say (after noting very clearly that they are not endorsing the views expressed in the article): http://www.springerlink.com/content/q8005267210x3568/fulltext.pdf
From the article: Quotes from Academic and Industry Experts Dr. K.V. Ramanujachary, Rowan University Meritorious Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. W. Henry Weinberg, who was a professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Applied Physics at California Institute of Technology for eighteen years, a professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science at University of California, Santa Barbara for six years, and co-founder and CTO of Symyx Technologies for 13 years. Dr. Terry Copeland, former manager of product development for several electrochemical and energy companies including DuPont Company and Duracell. Dr. James Pugh, Director of Technology at The ENSER Corporation. Those are in fact named :wink:
"Hydrino Theory" Wikipedia Article http://www.blacklightpower.com/technology/validation-reports/ Could someone explain this to me please? Am I reading that right? Are water-powered cars possible?
We kinda covered that here: Blacklight Power for real? It basically sounds like nonsense to me and certainly doesn't jibe with what I know about condensed matter physics. I don't feel it's worth spending much time on.
The problem is that it's not a theory, it's a hypothesis and needs a lot of peer review before it can move further (which it's unlikely to do in my opinion).