blobrana wrote:
There are also implications that they maybe are `tapping` into the latent vacuum energy that exists in all space... (as seen in the film).
This is basically the infinite energy of space-time that the physicists `renormalize`....
No, they are definitely on no account tapping in to the zero point energy. You can't tap into zero point energy, that's why it's called 'zero point' :-). If what the researchers are reporting is true
and reproduced, they have 'just' managed table-top, but otherwise very ordinary nuclear fusion. In any case, let's first see whether people are able to reproduce the results. So far, the only other experiment failed to do so. The authors of the original paper claimed the reason was 'a calibration error' in the detector of the other research group, which is a pretty lame and unconvincing argument no matter how you look at it.
The story gets quite interesting when you consider that it is the second paper on the subject from the original authors, and that their first paper was found flawed
precisely because of a calibration error(!!). Admittedly, not in the detector, but in the blank tritium sample they used to compare the reaction medium with. Somehow I get the feeling there's quite a lot of bad blood around... :roll:
