new energy part 3: the science - quantum ratchets
DESCRIPTION
The eleventh part in our survey of emerging New Energy sciences. This is possibly one of New Energy's most promising fields - that of quantum heat engines. Quantum ratchets or heat engines may one day be used to power our mobile devices without ever needing to be charged. They may also power nanobots inside our bodies for targeted delivery of medicines, arterial cleansing, etc.TRANSCRIPT
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New Energy for an Ultramodern Vietnam
Part 3: The Science
June 2014 Saigon New Energy Group
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To discuss this presentation and pose any questions you may have, please visit our website,
www.nangluongmoisaigon.org
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Our eleventh physics theory for New Energy development is called Quantum Ratchets
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If the thought of running your car/motorbike on water isn’t enough, I’d like you to imagine now a technology which provides you batteries for your laptop, mobile phone, I-Pad… which never need to be recharged.
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This is another technology which, if you can help introduce it to our society, will make everyone love you!
Your grandkids will never have to do this!
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When we say “ratchet” here, we’re not talking about one of these:
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Instead, we’re talking about a nano-scale Brownian ratchet, which looks like this:
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A Brownian ratchet has been proposed as a hypothetical overunity device
• The idea is that random heat fluctuations in a system will cause particles to circulate in random directions, some pushing the paddle to the left and others, to the right
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Using a pawl, the ratchet is prevented from turning to the left, but is allowed to turn to the right
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In this hypothetical example, the ratchet now achieves “perpetual motion” as it rotates to
the right without any input of energy
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Some physicists have suggested that a Brownian ratchet is an example of “Maxwell’s demon” – in other words, a device which apparently violates
the Second Law of Thermodynamics
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Richard Feynman is famous for saying that a Brownian ratchet is impossible in practice
• Feynman said that the pawl would bounce up and down, allowing motion of the ratchet in both directions
• He also believed the spring which held the pawl in place would tend to force retrograde motion of the ratchet
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However, today, scientists are looking at photosynthesis as an example of a “quantum
heat engine” which suggests that perhaps Feynman was wrong
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We’ve already seen how Stanley Meyer
was inspired by photosynthesis to create his electron stripping circuit in the water fuel cell
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We’ve also seen how Viktor Schauberger, working during World War II in Germany,
supported the idea that we should look to nature as a guide for developing New Energy
applications
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In photosynthesis, light is used to power energy from chemical reactions
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Prof. Marlan Scully (Princeton) points out that in this process, the photosynthetic reaction center in a plant’s cells or bacteria acts as a
quantum heat engine
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In photosynthesis, quantum coherence arises from the “random” thermal noise of the quantum foam
• Photons in sunlight then enter the cell’s photosynthetic “quantum heat engine” at random intervals
• The state of quantum coherence allows a very efficient conversion of heat energy into mechanical energy
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This insight is causing scientists to think about how thermal noise can be used to induce
quantum coherence in other systems, such as quantum ratchet systems
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Already, some scientists are starting to use Scully’s insights to improve the efficiency of
solar panels by helping them to imitate photosynthesis
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See: http://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_24/february_2013/features/artificial_photosynthesis_saving_solar_energy_for/#.U7AwtrGv_Vg
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To produce electricity, some scientists are experimenting with the use of graphene to
create a quantum heat engine• Graphene is a very thin
sheet of carbon which is only about one atom thick
• It has unusual interactions with light which cause correspondingly strange quantum oscillations
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If graphene loses its spatial symmetry, an electron ratchet motion can arise
• Experimentally, magnets and terahertz radiation have been used to create this asymmetry and the ensuing ratchet motion
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See: http://www.2physics.com/2013/02/quantum-ratchet-in-graphene-one-way.html
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The electrons in the graphene lose their equilibrium and start to release energy from the system
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Drs. Zihan Xu and Guoan Tai (Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ.) have made a graphene battery that taps energy from the rapid movement of ions due to thermal noise
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Graphene batteries
• The energy of moving copper chloride ions can reach kilojoules per kilogram per degree
• The Xu-Tai battery attaches gold and silver electrodes to a strip of graphene
• The battery produces a continuous 2-volt electrical current
• Theoretically, graphene batteries will work “forever” without recharging
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How does the graphene battery work?
• The copper ions (Cu2+) crash into the graphene• As a result, electrons are ejected from the
graphene• Some of these electrons combine with a Cu2+ ion. • Other electrons travel into the circuit. • Electrons ‘prefer’ to travel in the graphene circuit
since they can do so at much faster speeds compared to the speed at which they can move in the solution.
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Now, scientists are exploring the use of ultrasound frequencies to make the ions move
faster and thus increase the voltage output
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Some physicists regard the graphene battery as an example of Maxwell’s demon – a device which appears to break the Second Law of
Thermodynamics
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Dr. Dean Astumian (University of Maine) is another scientist who is interested in using thermal noise (which engineers often try to
minimize) productively to cause unidirectional motion of electrons
Read Astumian’s report Motors from Molecules, at http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/theo1/hanggi/Astumian.pdf
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This insight is very like that of Dr. Storms, who found that in LENRs, cracks in metal (which we
usually consider undesirable) actually are of great use in causing atomic nuclei to fuse
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Dr. Astumian has used sawtooth-like pulses of
voltage to create a unidirectional current of
electrons in liquid solution
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The key idea behind the work of Tai, Xu, and Astumian is that rapid electrical pulses can cause subatomic particles to flow in an ordered way by
“biasing thermal noise”, and in the process releasing ZPE
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This is similar to what the core of our Milky Way galaxy does, when it creates coherent
motion at the subatomic level, thus extracting ZPE from the transmuting ether
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Dr. Johannes Rossnagel and others are working on other nano-scale technologies to harness thermal noise
• Rossnagel proposes “single ion heat engines” as one solution
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How does the single-ion heat engine work?
• A single calcium-40 ion acts as the “piston” and “drive shaft” of the engine
• Electrical fields and lasers are used to isolate the ion
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The ion would be held in a cone-shaped “Paul trap”
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The single-ion engine would operate in some ways similar to Meyer’s electron stripping circuit
• A laser at the narrow end of the cone would then heat the ion and cause the electrons to jump into further orbits
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The calcium atom would rush toward the wide end of the cone, where a cooling laser
would rapidly reduce its temperature
• This rapid heat exchange would power the engine (in theory, infinitely)
• Because the calcium atom has a natural resonance, the lasers would need to be timed to operate in harmony with this resonance to get increasing amounts of power with each iteration of the heating-cooling cycle
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If successful, the engine would apparently break the “Carnot limit” for engine efficiency and this would again create an apparent violation of the
Second Law of Thermodynamics
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To sum up, in our discussion of quantum ratchets today, we’ve seen how thermal noise
can be harnessed to do useful work
• Using photosynthesis as a guide or form of “inspiration from nature”
• In graphene batteries• Using sawtooth waveforms to increase
unidirectional electron movement• Possibly, in single-ion quantum heat engines
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This field is still its infancy, so stay tuned for new developments!
Dr. Thomas Valone considers quantum heat engines to be one of the most promising
areas of New Energy development, so don’t let the modest nature of the experimental
results so far deter you from getting into this field.