Thomas Valone, Integrity Research Institute, April, 2007 Amazon.com webpage link

 

Why are there no books on the market that explain the history, basic science, recent discoveries, and the usefulness of zero point energy for electricity and propulsive force? Especially now that we recognize the need for a new, clean, renewable energy source, Zero Point Energy, The Fuel of the Future has just been published and is destined to become an instant classic. Authored by a former community college physics and engineering teacher, it is the first book designed for the general public, with lots of visuals, on the most intriguing subject in physics today: quantum fluctuations from zero point energy.

 

What is zero point energy? It is the lowest state of energy in the universe but still enough to keep helium a liquid, even at microdegrees of absolute zero. It also gives rise to the mysterious Casimir force, also called van der Waals forces, that keeps geckos stuck to any surface. Most importantly, it also causes nonthermal noise in lots of electronic circuits which this author claims can be rectified by special diodes that have no bias voltage to surmount. Zero point energy is also becoming the leading candidate for dark energy (see story #6 about Dr. Christian Beck in Future Energy eNews April 16, 2007 archives).

 

The book is full of pictures, like all of the famous scientists responsible for the history of zero point energy, inventions that use zero point energy, effects and magic tricks. It also has a good collection of reference articles in the Appendix to prove how exciting the emerging field really is, including a short essay to show how magnetism is related to zero point energy. At 238 pages, the book is a sizable contribution to the field.

 

Amazon.com and all other major book distributors (Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Gazelle) sell it. Integrity Research Institute also has online ordering available.

 

Note: Review copies of this book are still available for a limited time.
Email iri@erols.com with postal address or fax request on letterhead to 301-513-5728.

 

Review by journalist Jeane Manning from Atlantis Rising, June, 2007

 

When Los Alamos national laboratory physicist Peter Milonni wrote a book entitled, The Quantum Vacuum, and Academic Press published it in 1994, engineering physicist Thomas Valone decided it was time to do his own Ph.D. thesis on the topic Milonni’s book dealt with -- zero point energy. Dr. Valone did write his Ph.D. thesis on the feasibility of using zero point energy to do useful work. He more recently decided to write a separate book to make the information accessible to the layperson. That’s the first installment of my summer reading -- Valone’s new book Zero Point Energy: The Fuel of the Future. Its premise is that soon we’ll be able to use ZPE (his shorthand for zero-point energy) to power cars and houses. His book is indeed welcome. We might not easily follow the formal language of the Milonni book, such as his passage regarding fluctuations of the quantum vacuum “…the coupling of the dipole oscillator to the electromagnetic field has a dissipative component, in the form of radiation reaction, and a fluctuation component, in the form of zero-point (vacuum) field; given the existence of radiation reaction, the vacuum field must also exist in order to preserve the canonical commutation rule and all it entails.”

 

In contrast, aside from mathematical terms the language of Valone’s latest book is conversational. “…the fluctuations of ZPE must be imprinted on your mind. To me, this is the key to an energy solution. Just like a refrigerator or heat pump forces heat to go in one direction only, this ‘rectification’ of heat can also be applied to non-thermal fluctuations.” In Milonni’s text and elsewhere, Valone finds clues for the would-be engineers-of-the-vacuum whom Valone addresses. For example, Milonni explains that “quantum noise” can be amplified. Valone predicts that amplifying spontaneous emissions will be an important tool for the vacuum engineer to use when a circuit component such as a diode is chosen to convert ZPE to electricity.

 

Why is it called zero point energy? That name came about because scientists discovered that it’s impossible to freeze anything so solidly that its molecules become absolutely still. Even scientists were to cool a substance down to absolute zero Kelvin, the atoms of the substance’s molecules would still be jittering. Some source of energy is jostling everything all the time. If they pump everything out of a container – substance, gases and any heat energy – as the temperature approaches absolute zero the only thing left in the container will be a vacuum and zero point energy. Valone says scientists have come within microdegrees of the absolute zero point of temperature. One experiment involves cooling helium to within one degree of absolute zero. Helium’s molecules retain some kinetic energy – enough to keep helium in the liquid state instead of freezing solid. Only ZPE can account for the energy that prevents helium from freezing.

 

Scientists speak of the “physical vacuum” when they refer to the sea of energy that fills all space and is the background out of which our every atom is formed. Its energy density is estimated to exceed that of nuclear energy. Vacuum? Physics theory and many experiments prove it’s not empty; energetically it’s a plenum not a vacuum. ZPE could relate to the old ether-theory, Valone speculates. In that nineteenth-century concept of ether, also spelled as aether, light travels by moving through a medium called the ether, just as sound travels by rippling through water or air. The famous Michelson-Morley experiment of early in the 20th century convinced scientists the ether doesn’t exist, but Valone points out that their experiment has been countered by E. W. Silvertooth ("Experimental Detection of the Aether", Speculations in Science & Tech, V10 N1, p. 3-12) and other scientists with improved accuracy. Can we get ZPE to do useful work for us? That’s the question everyone wants to see answered, from interested bystanders to inventors of magnetic motor/generators. So I eagerly turned to Valone’s appendix chapter entitled “Is Permanent Magnetism Connected with Zero Point Energy?" He indicates that permanent magnets (magnetized materials, as opposed to electromagnets) can indeed be a source of energy for the future. The “magnetic gradient” is an untapped potential energy source just like other gradients we depend on for energy. His examples include the thermal gradient in heat pumps, the voltage gradient in wall sockets, the gravity gradient in hydroelectric power plants, and the pressure gradient in water pipes.

 

We haven’t commercially perfected any magnetic-gradient machines that work continuously, Valone says, but he cites several promising patents give a template for what such a motor or generator would look like. As a patent expert he helped draft the patent for a complex multi-rotor motor design by Russian scientists Roschin and Godin. Years ago the duo had been inspired by the work of John Searl of England. Searl’s story appeared recently in Atlantis Rising and I earlier wrote about Roschin and Godin. Valone’s magnetism piece introduces the argument that the spin and orbital motion of an electron is closely coupled to nuclear energy states, which also include rotation. What does that have to do with zero-point energy? If your science teacher explains the magnetic property of permanent magnets to you, the topic of spin alignment comes up. A material is magnetized when the direction of spin is no longer random; the spins are lined up. Valone says “Not only have we shown that the proton spin derives from the vacuum field… but that the atom itself is deriving energy from the vacuum ZPE field. Futhermore…it is a well-known fact in quantum mechanics that the electron and the nucleus exchange energy and depend upon each other in an intimate fashion, acting as a coupled system of oscillators.”

 

Moving up from the submicrosopic world of proton spins, Valone concludes that we can now understand the pathway ZPE travels as the energy source sustaining all energy states of the atom, including electrons’ spin. Up in the macroscopic world, the magnetic field of a permanent magnet – totally dependent on the aligned spin of electrons – is thus shown to be sustained by the vacuum ZPE field, Valone states. “Therefore as totally permanent magnet motors, generators and actuators become commercialized, it will no longer be a mystery as to where the energy is coming from. Furthermore, these magnet-powered devices cannot be mistaken for perpetuum mobiles.” Meanwhile in Amsterdam, an expert on another proof for the ability of the ZPE to do work – the Casimir force – teaches about a twisting force called quantum electrodynamical force which also depends on ZPE. Valone cites a 2006 posting (pdf) by Dr. Ianuzzi and says the Dutch physicist refers to an experiment running at Harvard University. Valone admits that skeptics claim ZPE can do nothing useful, but his book cites many indications that ZPE can be converted to produce electricity. Scientists have found that space is rich with activity -- perhaps from what they call virtual particles -- and full of energy. What they call the physical vacuum vibrates and fluctuates. Vibration and fluctuation are the essence of ZPE, Valone says. The branch of science called quantum mechanics predicted vacuum fluctuations. In the language of the Star Wars films, it’s a disturbance in the Force, Valone adds. “It may be our primitive 20th century upbringing that stops us from putting a paddlewheel in this sea.”