Tag: treadmills

Infinite Energy Eternally Delayed?

The Kinetica Museum, slated to be the site of the first demonstration of the Orbo perpetual energy device from Steorn, has now announced that the opening of this exhibit has been “postponed until further notice”...

Not only has Steorn failed to get their alleged invention working in the real world, but Kinetica themselves are now staying closed until this exhibition is working. Could be a long wait, and makes me feel that Kinetica has no viability as an entity outside of Steorn’s marketing.

The current full noticed from Kinetica’s site follows:

“KINETICA OPENING DELAYED: Due to technical difficulties the planned demonstration of Steorn’s ‘Orbo’ free energy technology has been postponed until further notice. As a consequence, Kinetica Museum will not be open to the public during this period. A technical assessment is currently underway and information regarding the rescheduling of this demonstration will be posted on the websites of Steorn and Kinetica as soon as it becomes available. We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”

Orbo Free Energy Demo – Not Yet Working…

Today at the Kinetica Museum in London, Steorn are supposed to be demonstrating their new Orbo technology – a technology they claim offers free energy, or perpetual motion as it’s also known. As of now, July 5th 3pm BST, the demo is not working – with the following explanation:

“We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today. As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”

Hmm.. Note the use of the word ‘assessment’ twice – is this th pseudo-scientific equivalent of multiple exclamation marks???

Yes, as someone with a Physics degree and aware of the laws of energy conservation & entropy, I’m highly sceptical of free energy – highly efficient maybe, free no. That said I’d love to be proved wrong, as would many people, and I suspect that’s why Steorn has so much hype.

[UPDATE: It’s now Saturday 7th July, and the opening of the Orbo ‘demonstration’ has been delayed indefinitely pending further investiations. Going directly to Orbo’s site gives a “Virtual Folder Unavailable” error, and Kinetica themselves have delayed their opening. Hmm. The plot thickens.]

If the Internet was trying to take off from a treadmill…

Every day I’m amazed by the power of the Internet – to connect, inform and empower people creatively. Then there’s the ability it gives you to see quite how dumb people can get… Witness this post from yesterday’s NYT online. The question is simple: if you put a plane on a treadmill, as big and wide as a runway, and the treadmill runs in the opposite direction to the wheels as fast as the wheels are running – then will the plane take off? The answers being put forward are quite amazing. Apparently the question is not so simple as it might first appear. I mean. What if the treadmill breaks? Or surely the wheels don’t make the plane take off – it’s the engines, so it doesn’t matter how fast or not the wheels are going.

Oh. You want to hear my answer? Hmm. Well it’s quite obvious: the treadmill would be arrested and shot under the PATRIOT act (most likely for carrying a water bottle or farting), and everyone on board the plane would be taken off and searched. Then the plane would take off later, with the evil treadmill’s masterplan foiled. Yay!

No really. That is what would actually happen. I have a Physics Degree, so I know. For those of you who want to work it out for yourselves – here are some useful links:

Ps, 3 points to the first person who makes a video mashup of the Ok, Go! video and a plane trying to take off…