This is a topic that surfaces fairly regularly on just about every Internet forum and probably at least once a year in casual conversations among everyone's friends, family and co-workers. I'm more than certain that this attempt to try and clear the air a bit will have little effect on the problem but perhaps it will help some of the more reasonable people who are wondering about it. So let's make an effort to discuss it.
First of all, the term "free energy" means different things to different people. To some, things like hydroelectric dams, solar panels, wind farms, etc. produce free energy. In one sense that's correct because one doesn't have to keep feeding them fuel as is done with generating plants that burn fossil fuels. And once they're built, the only thing that keeps the energy produced from being completely free is the repairs necessary because of ordinary wear and tear.
But in the context that the term is normally used, it's taken to mean a device that produces energy from nothing - no wind, water, sun - and involves what's called a "over-unity" device. Simply put, that means a machine or electrical circuitry that does require an input of energy but that produces more than it consumes.
One class of these over-unity devices/processes employs magnets in their design. And that's understandable because mankind has always had a certain fascination with magnets. They exert an invisible force and seems somewhat mysterious. And because of that and the inherent gullibility of a large segment of the world's population, there's been a whole plethora of magnetic devices sold to do everything from increasing the fuel economy of your vehicle (just attach this $100 miracle magnet to your fuel line) to relieving headaches and joint pain by affixing 'therapeutic' magnets to various parts of your body. These things show up on the market, fade out as people become disgusted from getting no results, and then show up again ten or twenty later to restart the whole cycle over again with a new crop of customers.
Another class involves somewhat complex electrical circuitry that involves transformers, coils, capacitors and other components. Again, it's very similar to the magnet phenomenon. There's a large group of people to whom electricity is somewhat mysterious too. They know it exists and is useful but they really don't even understand the basics of it. So when these 'inventors' present their devices with all sorts of meters attached and pictures of waveforms taken from various points in the circuit, these people are impressed with the 'scientific-ness' of it all. It's SO complicated that it MUST work.
Yet another is more like a perpetual-motion machine and will contain components from either or both of the two just described. Very often, they employ magnets. Sometimes on sliding axises or tilting, levered arms. And many include a wheel in which the inventor imagines that somehow one side can be kept heavier than the other so that the device will continue to rotate forever.
I intend this post to simply be an introduction before going into such things as frictional losses and thermodynamics. Those will surface in due time if anyone is interested enough to participate in this discussion. Hopefully, we'll hear from both camps - the believers and the debunkers alike.
First of all, the term "free energy" means different things to different people. To some, things like hydroelectric dams, solar panels, wind farms, etc. produce free energy. In one sense that's correct because one doesn't have to keep feeding them fuel as is done with generating plants that burn fossil fuels. And once they're built, the only thing that keeps the energy produced from being completely free is the repairs necessary because of ordinary wear and tear.
But in the context that the term is normally used, it's taken to mean a device that produces energy from nothing - no wind, water, sun - and involves what's called a "over-unity" device. Simply put, that means a machine or electrical circuitry that does require an input of energy but that produces more than it consumes.
One class of these over-unity devices/processes employs magnets in their design. And that's understandable because mankind has always had a certain fascination with magnets. They exert an invisible force and seems somewhat mysterious. And because of that and the inherent gullibility of a large segment of the world's population, there's been a whole plethora of magnetic devices sold to do everything from increasing the fuel economy of your vehicle (just attach this $100 miracle magnet to your fuel line) to relieving headaches and joint pain by affixing 'therapeutic' magnets to various parts of your body. These things show up on the market, fade out as people become disgusted from getting no results, and then show up again ten or twenty later to restart the whole cycle over again with a new crop of customers.
Another class involves somewhat complex electrical circuitry that involves transformers, coils, capacitors and other components. Again, it's very similar to the magnet phenomenon. There's a large group of people to whom electricity is somewhat mysterious too. They know it exists and is useful but they really don't even understand the basics of it. So when these 'inventors' present their devices with all sorts of meters attached and pictures of waveforms taken from various points in the circuit, these people are impressed with the 'scientific-ness' of it all. It's SO complicated that it MUST work.
Yet another is more like a perpetual-motion machine and will contain components from either or both of the two just described. Very often, they employ magnets. Sometimes on sliding axises or tilting, levered arms. And many include a wheel in which the inventor imagines that somehow one side can be kept heavier than the other so that the device will continue to rotate forever.
I intend this post to simply be an introduction before going into such things as frictional losses and thermodynamics. Those will surface in due time if anyone is interested enough to participate in this discussion. Hopefully, we'll hear from both camps - the believers and the debunkers alike.