'Free' Unlimited Energy Source Developed

MagCap, A Canton, MA company working with an Illinois inventor has filed a patent for a device that extracts electricity from 'living but non-animal organisms' (like trees).

magcap.com (PDF)

So far the device can produce 2.1v (enough to keep a cadmium cell driving an LED fully charged). They expect to be able to modify the device over the next six months to enable it to produce 12v at 1A. That would allow your oak tree to power your laptop indefinitely.


[edit on 19-1-2006 by jtma508]

[edit on 19-1-2006 by sanctum]

WOW! I really do hope that this isnt just another crazy free energy idea. If it is true that we can harness this power from trees well it would just be utterly amazing. Just think of it, this would encourage everyone to plant more trees and such. This idea could truly have a overwhelming impact on how everyone lives here on earth. I just have to throw this is out just because i cannot help myself, but if this pans out i cant help to think of the Nox from Stargate, we may be able to turn out like them in the long run! Doubtful I know, but still fun to think about.

The article said that you can verify this by putting in a roofing nail into the side of a tree, through the bark, about a half inch deep. Take a grounding rod and pound it into the ground, and you can get a reading around of about .8 of a volt. Capacitors in series will help clean the current.

I am going to try that this weekend. I will write my results.

Keep in mind, this is very close to our friend Tesla's work. His entire work was based on the premise that electricty pervades nature and it can be tapped. Apparently the gentleman that discovered this, realizing that lightning most often travels from the ground up, came to a similar conclusion. 2.1v (or 0.8v without their device) may not seem like muchbut if they can do 12v at 1A that would be truly, truly HUGE!

Originally posted by godservant
The article said that you can verify this by putting in a roofing nail into the side of a tree, through the bark, about a half inch deep. Take a grounding rod and pound it into the ground, and you can get a reading around of about .8 of a volt. Capacitors in series will help clean the current.

I am going to try that this weekend. I will write my results.

Awesome I can't wait for your results

[edit on 083131p://19u08 by Lucid Lunacy]

How is it an unlimited power source if it has to extract the electricity from the trees, etc? I understand the trees are probably continuously generating electricity...but wouldn't there be a limit as to how much you could extract? For instance, I imagine you couldn't power your entire house and appliances from a single tree. Or do they mean it's unlimited in moderation?

[edit on 033131p://19u40 by Lucid Lunacy]

The tree acts like the upper plate and the ground the lower plate i.e. a capacitor and you get a current flow since air and earth carry different charges (static). Same thing Tesla did but using the big ball thingy on the tower. I didn't think the research showed anything would work unless you had the upper plate way up in the air - like thousands of feet to get a decent sized current. Maybe all the leaves on a tree increase the surface area enough to pull this off.

All our energy (well most - we have radioactive deacy) comes from the Sun. Thisi s just the Suns energy setting up the weather and hence static charges to be built up. Tap Sun directly I say with PV or space based microwave....

This sounds very similar to making a battery out of a lemon.

A couple of small metal rods of differing alloys - making terminals - inserted into the lemon results in voltage which results in current flow.

Lucid:

I'm sure you're correct. A single tree has some upper voltage/current potential. The unlimited part comes from the fact that there are millions of trees and they are renewable. I'd also like to know if the phenomenon is additive. That is, if you could get 2v from a single tree out of a stand of 12 trees, would you get 24v if you tapped all 12? My hunch is that the overall potential would be reduced by their proximity (since they all draw the other side of the current from the same patch of ground). We'll have to see...

Desert Dawg:

I don't think the 'lemon battery' is the same thing. A lemon battery is a chemical cell (acid acting on two metals with different electrogalvanic potentials) creating a current. Much like a car battery.

THe language of their press release is bizarre to say the least. Why do they call it "living non-animal" and not call it botanical? Something very odd as to why this wasn't released in a science journal and instead is just a press release.

Sounds nothing like a new way to harness electricity but a new way to scam, mabye they are bankrupt, in debt, money problems of some kind and probably think this is the last shot they have to make a buck.

Here is what I found on the web:

www.masshightech.com...

Remember, all that is being said is that this is in its infancy. This information could be years old, they could be talking about any number of things such as em in top soil trapped when light from the sun reached the earth's surface to underground powerlines.

to stat that, in fact, the power is coming from somethinig LIVING. It's merely stressing that such things are alive, and therefore produce energy, instead of merely using botanical.

If you had the right stuff, you could pull current out of a rock. Anything with atoms will produce at least a minimal level of energy, and moves of it's own accord. (This is not to state that rocks, on their own, can leap up and fly or the such.) Atoms form molocules and all these things have nuetrons and protons and such. Those building blocks move. If frozen, they move slower. If heated, faster. Still, they move. Your table, at this moment, is moving of its own will. However, the movement is only enough to keep the shape constant. Don't hold your breath waiting for it to walk around for you. If it moves (and all things do) then it produces energy.

The secret is how to tap that energy to harness it.

i too have my suspicions, frosty...especially when they spell "lightning" wrong..(they put lightening) It makes it seem less scientific and more of a "fund me now" scam...

Yup - remember those 7 rules of psudo-science trying to be real science -

"Release to press before any publication in scientific journals..." was one of them....

I'd be curious to see if this is the static charge thing ala Tesla or are we talking Matrix like energy from the trees directly....

Originally posted by DARKJEDIG
i too have my suspicions, frosty...especially when they spell "lightning" wrong..(they put lightening) It makes it seem less scientific and more of a "fund me now" scam...

So, next time you make a spelling mistake is it ok if we hold that against you too?

The document does say how you can go and test this out for yourself if you have any doubts. To completly dismiss the claims based upon one spelling error is just a bit ignorant. How about trying out the test yourself before jumping to ignorant conclusions?

what does this (Latin?) word mean, in your signature?

neminem

I agree this would be pretty cool if true!

I wonder why they would use an aluminum roof nail in the tree though and not something made from copper?
Copper by far is a better conductor of electricity and the corrosion of aluminum does not compare, plus how are they connecting the nail through the circuit? If they are using copper there will be problems because of the dissimilar metals.

I think I will give this a try too, I have lots of tree's where I live.

Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
what does this (Latin?) word mean, in your signature?

neminem

I think neminem means facts. It's a part of the phrase ignorantia legis neminem excusat..which I think translates to: don't be ignorant of teh facts biznatch! I'm probably wrong.

[edit on 083131p://19u03 by Lucid Lunacy]

Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
to stat that, in fact, the power is coming from somethinig LIVING. It's merely stressing that such things are alive, and therefore produce energy, instead of merely using botanical.

That is what I stress. They are releasing a press article about an engineering/science advancement and to me the language seems to layman, though it is a press release. I think their investors/funders would rather see what they have done in a science journal (math), they could reach a wider range of clients by giving greater details to what it is specifically they want/need funded. They did not state what is specifically they need funding for, too.

Originally posted by Produkt

Originally posted by DARKJEDIG
i too have my suspicions, frosty...especially when they spell "lightning" wrong..(they put lightening) It makes it seem less scientific and more of a "fund me now" scam...

So, next time you make a spelling mistake is it ok if we hold that against you too?

He is an individual and a member of a webbased discussion forum, not an editor for a company making a press release about their latest invention.

The document does say how you can go and test this out for yourself if you have any doubts. To completly dismiss the claims based upon one spelling error is just a bit ignorant. How about trying out the test yourself before jumping to ignorant conclusions?

I bet you could duplicate the results, though I am suspicous thatthe article does not list a specific tree, it must be some sort of constant (hmmm). I am also certain that you will recieve readings from the tv in your house, computer, blender, etc by the same method. But none of that offers evidence to prove the claim that MagCap has made about harnessing any energy from the source over an unlimited amount of time.


DustintheWind
Great observation.

[edit on 19-1-2006 by Frosty]

[edit on 19-1-2006 by Frosty]

[edit on 19-1-2006 by Frosty]

It's a bit hard to work out what the current power output of the tree is, as they don't tell you how many amps the current is. However it is enough to light an LED with, which is hardly saying anything.

They state they are using "circuitry" to boost the power output:

Basically, the existing system includes a metal rod embedded in the tree, a grounding rod driven into the ground, and the connecting circuitry, which filters and boosts the power output sufficient to charge a battery. In its current experimental configuration, the demonstration system produces 2.1 volts, enough

How exactly can circuitry boost a power output? Sounds like magic to me. The sort of claim perpetual motion machine builders make all the time.

Some of their claims are just silly:

Lagadinos said the system could be enhanced enough to generate 12 volts and one amp of power, “a desirable power level that could be used to power just about anything,”

12 Watts is enough to power "anything"? Even if they could get this sort of power rating (which they haven't yet) it would, for example, take 166 trees just to power the electric heater in my living room. As I live in London, and not in a forest, this isn't terribly practical. That's one of the fundamental flaws in the plan, most of the world's power is used in cities, where there aren't many trees.

They also say:

or to use with an AC converter to produce household power,

Well, no. A 12 Watt power source (of which you would have lost some by converting to AC) would be negligable in terms of household power. I realise that they say that they can "tap" the tree many times - but how many?

This really just seems like a school experiment dressed up in fancy language (Non-Animal Organism - plant).

DustintheWind, you said "I wonder why they would use an aluminum roof nail in the tree though and not something made from copper? "

Which made me think and do it a bit more reading...I think they may well be using aluminum becuase it corrodes, and as it corrodes it....produces electricity. My bet is that once the nail has fully corroded (poisoning the tree!) it will stop working.

Here is a strange coincidence:

Copper(II) electrode potential: 0.337V
Aluminium electrode potential: -1.662V

Hmm, what's the total difference between them? About 2V...where have I heard that before?

Source: www.ami.ac.uk...

Which explains exactly how this device works. It is a galvanic reaction that uses the sap in the tree as an electrolyte, and if copper was used for both the nodes it simply wouldn't work. Considering the amount of energy it takes to refine aluminium, this device will actually be energy negative.

Here is a link to project excalibur which is in production.

Project Excalibur

Zero Point Energy.