Andrea Rossi's 'E-cat' nuclear reactor: a video FAQ

In January 2011 Andrea Rossi demonstrated a device that purported to develop 10 kW of power from a nuclear reaction. This video discusses its credibility, the investigations that have been done on the device, and its future prospects. The participants in this discussion, Brian Josephson and Judith Driscoll, are professors of physics, and materials science, respectively at Cambridge University. Mats Lewan's articles on the Rossi reactor can be found at http://bit.ly/CFnyteknik, while the Bushnell interview is at http://www.evworld.com/evworld_audio/dennis_bushnell_part1.mp3.

NB: the Wikipedia entry for 'Rossi reactor', cited in the video as a source of information regarding the reactor, cannot at this time (January 2012) be recommended as a reliable source, since the page concerned has been taken over by an editor group hostile to the reactor, resulting in a highly biased account of the history.

*** Subtitles in Italian and French are now available via the cc button; thanks to Irene Zreick of Focus Magazine for the Italian subtitles and Tonino for the French ones (caption text size can be altered by pressing the + and - keys).

A transcript of the discussion is available at http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1150242; except for the university's lead-in and lead-out, the video at that site is identical to this one.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Rossi reactor
• Focardi
• E-cat
• LENR
• cold fusion
• nuclear power
• energy

[Rumdumdecker]

Ironically, brilliant scientists know very little about proper microphone techniques.

[cogito2]

Note from channel owner: the above comment is rather off topic, but since the thread it initiated touches on significant issues (university funding, the rigidity of the scientific community), it seems worth retaining. Helpful advice on recording technique given separately from this comments list has been noted.

[cogito2]

@nbrado Yes, your quote above is indeed in the Kullander-Essen report dated 29 March 2011, but you draw the wrong conclusions from it. The other author, Sven Kullander, who is chairman of the Swedish Royal Society's energy committee, gave a lecture in Nov. where he stated his view that Rossi is *not* a fraud.

[nbrado]

@cogito2 Hanno Essen, associate professor of theoretical physics at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology and chairman of the swedish skeptic society viewed it. a lot of free energy sites band around that he validated it. of course they were too LAZY to actually read the report which states glaring holes in it with no access to parts of machine where stored energy can be kept. the believers believe what they WANT to believe but ignore the problems.

[cogito2]

@nbrado No outsider has recently looked at the device, and Rossi was cleared of a lot of the charges against him.

[nbrado]

@cogito2 Well for a start you should examine his criminal record. furthermore the 40 million euro clean up case from petrol dragon, then there is the Gold Tax VAT fraud which was huge in the UK also at the time with the wembley mob specializing in it. I would like to refer the swedish skeptics society who recently looked at device and said in their report with no access to central fuel unit and reactor container they could not validate. in fact nobody has been able to validate. skeptical I am.

[cogito2]

@nbrado A lot of this denigration has been manufactured by Rossi's enemies, and I am unaware of anything that actually proves fraud rather than making some people suspicious. The 'open spaces to hide stored energy' theory has been looked at by investigators and declared to be very doubtful when one looks into the details. But it is perfectly in order for you to be sceptical; indeed we should all take a sceptical attitude until such time as there is clear proof.

[nbrado]

Rossi has a very bad background, futhermore nobody has seen the central fuel unit or reactor core which leaves open spaces to hide stored energy. until such time any and all units are subjected to real scientific procedure and independent verification I would remain very skeptical of any claims made by Rossi. Why? he has a history of FRAUD!

[cogito2]

@Rumdumdecker It would be nice if you could get the scientific establishment to take the subject matter seriously just by producing the perfect video! The CBS 60 minutes programme with Robert Duncan a couple of years ago had absolutely no effect on people's attitudes.

[Rumdumdecker]

@cogito2 Fair enough, however I suggest that it would add a lot more credibility to subject matter as important as this if the presentation doesn't look "home made". I do support you efforts though.

[cogito2]

@Rumdumdecker Nothing to do with techniques, everything to do with equipment available in cash-strapped universities. While the music clip used was from a professional recording, the main recording used a dept. camcorder and its own dubious quality mic, added sound used a college computer with no socket for an external mic (!), and I believe the Bushnell clip was from a telephone interview. You'd like to donate funds for better equipment for our next video, perhaps?