Blacklight Power

[Extravoice]

I was going to post this in "Against the Mainstream," but it isn't astronomy.

The folks at Blacklight Power have a facility just up the road from where I live. I'd heard that that their technology is a bunch of snake oil, but according to this article (http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1136192775314670.xml&coll=5), the guy running the show isn't an intellectual slouch and has convinced a number of smart people of its feasibility.

Is it possible that there is actually something to this hydrino stuff?

[snarkophilus]

Is it possible that there is actually something to this hydrino stuff?

and to many, BlackLight's claims defy the laws of physics.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and with no knowledge of the issue beyond that statement and the fact that I've never heard of a hydrino, say "no, there is nothing to it."

Further research gives me
It should be noted that hydrino theory is not accepted as a legitimate theory by nearly all reputable scientists who've examined its claims and in fact is currently regarded by most scientists, especially physicists in particular, as being a pseudoscience.

"Quantum mechanics has duped the world that there is . . . all this strange stuff that has never been verified," Mills said. "It turns out you can solve enormously complex problems by treating electrons differently."
Ha ha ha.... I can solve all sorts of problems by changing the problem! I'm not saying that's what he did, exactly, but it sure sounds funny. :D

According to standard quantum mechanics, in a hydrogen atom there is one proton (positive charge) and one orbiting electron (negative charge) that are separated by a fixed distance between the electron and the atom's nucleus.
I don't know what to say, even....

[Eta C]

No, nope. No way. Nohow. Reference the quotes from Tweedledee and Pauli below.

Check out Bob Park's Voodoo Science pp 132-135 for the story of Randall Mills M.D. and Black Light Power. Basically Mills rode the coattails of cold fusion and came up with his "hydrino" concept. There's absolutely no experimental evidence for any "below ground state" energy level in the hydrogen atom. He managed to bilk a couple of power companies out of about $10M by getting them to invest in his company. That's money down the toilet and the venture capitalists that funded that one should be fired. Park puts it this way.
His (Mills') "theory" reminded me of my thesis advisor's comment when I referred to my first scientific paper as a "theory." "It's a theory," he said gently, "to the extent that it was done with a pencil."

Since you live nearby, might I suggest a couple of observations to make. Is the facility connected to the power grid? If so, why since they have such an abundant source of cheap power?

[Grey]

Here (http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=34551)'s an earlier discussion (started by ToSeek, of course!). The short answer is that there's nothing to it, and here (http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0505150)'s a link from akirabakabaka to a nice paper explaining some of the problems with the idea.