Kamran Khan starts the process of walking the media back from insanity…National security requirements in this case lead him to project Samar Mubarakmand as properly skeptic but take a look; Samar (chicken cloner..more on that later) interviews the inventor and he is now acting a bit skeptical..but not on the basis that this simply violates the first law of thermodynamics…NO! He doesnt bring that up. He is looking at strength of tubing and how much hydrogen is needed and safety concerns (he was initially ready to buy the notion, but had “safety concerns”, so like a good bureaucrat he is carefully walking back from the brink without admitting he was ever made a monkey)..he then tells the audience that proper testing is needed and not to get excited yet. YET? Moron, you are supposed to tell them to NEVER get excited about a perpetual motion machine.
Proper testing is needed only to find out HOW the trick is being played. THAT a trick is being played is known from the git-go. The PROCESS is ipso-facto impossible. THAT is the crucial point. ANY reasonably scientific person should have taken one look at the claim (“I am breaking down water to create hydrogen, burning hydrogen to recreate water, and I am getting extra energy out of this process to drive my car”) and recognized that this is a perpetual motion machine..its NOT possible, period!
That the head of the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR..where my mom worked for a while and where I learned organic chemistry from Dr Sheikh..a most rational man), the head of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), a team from National University of Science and Technology (correction: Shahid Saeed points out that NUST was name-dropped by Khairpur device inventor, not actually involved), engineers from the Pakistan Engineers Society, the father of the Islami bum, Dr AQ Khan (who even quoted Readers Digest in support of this nonsense), Dr Samar Mubarakmand (actual creator of the Islami bum?) and the ministry of science and technology didnt ask these elementary questions on day 1 and instead provided the “inventor” with rest houses and publicity and hoped this would solve all our energy problems...that is the problem here.
Charlatans are a dime a dozen in every part of the world. A sucker is born every minute. The media is frequently clueless about science. All this is par for the course. But in what country (that does not admit to being a banana republic) is one going to find PCSIR, PSF, Pakistan Engineering Council and so on, getting excited about a perpetual motion machine?
Take a look at this article: http://tribune.com.pk/story/384908/how-to-spot-the-crackpot–pseudoscience-in-pakistan/
Oh Lord.
About the chicken cloning. Dr Mubarakmand claims that the day he led the team conducting Pakistan’s nuclear tests at Chaghi, a pot of chicken was cooked. There was only a little chicken in it, but when they started eating, the chicken just kept refilling. Dozens of people ate and still the same amount of chicken was in the pot. it was like Jesus with his loaves and fishes.
I am not kidding.
If you have not had enough, check out this program:
At 8 minute mark, the Sindhi “scientist” (member of Pakistan Science Foundation) insists that many scientific theories were initially heresies. We should give engineer Waqar a chance to prove himself. Just after 20 minute mark the Sindhi journalist says he may be partially effective, lets promote him and he will improve. In short, not getting the point.
at 25-35 onwards, Sindhi Scientist put foot further in mouth.
I am praying to Allah on this blessed 15th of Ramadan that Dr Qadeer comes on TV again and defends Einstein Waqar one more time. Sounds implausible, but I do have real hope that he can be induced to do so. He has already provided us with much, but Allah, in his infinite wisdom may bless us with more. Please, allah, please. One more interview with Qadeer Khan.
One last time, just for laughs, please read the “analysis” (complete with paranoia about Americans and Oil barons using Zardari to undermine this great invention) AND the comments at our most respected deep-state website: http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/2012/08/01/swot-analysis-of-water-fueled-cars-a-new-dimension-to-reshaping-global-economy/#.UB1POaCwVLg
The NY Times has noticed http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/asia/boast-of-water-run-car-thrills-pakistan.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&seid=auto
The gift that keeps on giving has now snagged Ejaz Haider, intellectual extraordinary, supremo of the Jinnah Institute, visiting professor at the National Defense University. Oh yes. He is in.http://tribune.com.pk/story/418721/the-laws-of-thermostasis/
His point? LDL lowering drug did not work as expected. Science is sometimes wrong. Ergo, Waterkit. Maybe. Maybe not. But who are we to prejudge. A religious culture may be as rational as a secular one. Waterkit. Intellectuals. Thesaurus. YES. Not as great as Qadeer Khan putting his foot in his mouth (“i have examined the invention and it is feasible”) but from Ejaz Haider, this will do.
My objection? Ejaz sahib is operating outside his zone. He clearly does not understand the scientific landscape, its FAR FAR better established core (e.g. law of conservation of energy and laws of thermodynamics), its peripheral fuzzy applications (LDL lowering to prevent heart disease), difference between overturning the law of thermodynamics and being tripped up by the guess that all LDL lowering will turn out to be good, and last but not the least, the specific question here..the likelihood that the khairpur device is either a perpetual motion machines (unlikely to to such a level that one can flat out say ”impossible”) or represents successful cold fusion (not as unimaginable, but sufficiently remote that Occam’s razor can be wielded and simpler explanation of fraud preferred).
Meanwhile, Aga Waqar or some friend has posted “theoretical details” of the Khairpur Device: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?755plw6xumd6ort
This is one of those news items that is interesting even if not true:http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-17248-A-scientist-or-criminal-The-interesting-story-of-Agha-Waqar
“The News” claims that Agha Waqar, inventor of the waterkit (and supported by the local PPP MNA and more than one minister and given a rest house by the chairman of the Pakistan council of scientific and industrial research) is an ex-con, who is also an employee of the Sindh police, who seem to have lost track of him. As I said, interesting at every level.
As much as I’m usually willing to admit the wide existence of nutters at NUST – faujis excluded (who have a high %age of nutters obviously) – it’s fair to mention here that there was no presence of NUST faculty at any of the ‘demonstrations’ and that the guy lazily mentioned ‘NUST nay 50 laakh maangay hain water kit verify karnay ke’ just to give the impression that people with degrees and such were jealous and didn’t trust him (old Technician-Engineer grumbling). Pretty sure NUST BoD can sue him for defamation b/c from what I know – and can be sure about – he must never’ve even contacted them.
thanks..correction made
south asia has a proud tradition of nutters. who can forget the south indian fellows who made Retraction Watch history by ripping off Wikipedia creationism in submitting to physics and mathematics journals, the Sri Lankan guy who found arsenic
in groundwater without collecting any data or the many cricket players who have visited an orthopedic surgeon abroad only to return home and praise a local witchdoctor.
no question about it. Kamran Khan listed a man claiming to make electricity from Sand, another curing diabetes with sugar, etc etc…but the stunning thing here was the bankruptcy of official “scientific institutions”. I am sure there are thousands of science grads and engineers in Pakistan who could see this is a fraud, but why couldnt the damn chairman of PCSIR? the head of the Science Foundation, the father of the bum, the other father of the bum (and now all-round science supremo, making underground gas from coal in Thar). for God’s sake…
One thing u didn’t mention here is hamid Mir and Talaq Hussain peddling conspiracy theories of oils industry killing water car inventors
funny you say that. many ‘alternative’ nutritionists will cite Nobel laureate Bernardo Houssay (did he hang out with the Nobel laureate who pioneered the modern lobotomy?) and his coconut oil-and-sugar ‘interventions’ for Type II diabetics in the ’40s. You’re totally right about the unique nature of this case–it’s much easier to fool people when a system as complex as the human body is involved…this is just basic reasoning.
BTW dont they realize if the invention were really true middle east will be really screwed.
Good thought. I will tweet it right away..This watercar really COULD have saved the world..Thanks.
This is scientifically a non starter, a fiction and a sad story that most tend to believe.
”No process is possible in which the sole result is the absorption of heat from a reservoir and its complete conversion into work.”
Above is the second law of thermodynamics it is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system so as to result in the natural entropic dissolution of the system itself. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and explains the phenomenon of irreversibility in nature.
Because pure hydrogen gas is not found in free abundance on Earth, it must be manufactured by unlocking it from other compounds. Thus, hydrogen is not considered an energy source, but rather an “energy carrier.” Currently, what has been demonstrated the input of energy is greater than output. The laws of thermodynamics are basic postulates applicable to any system involving measurable heat transfer. The second law of thermodynamics declares that perpetual motion machines (of a certain type) are impossible. Lord Kelvin expressed the second law as “It is impossible, by means of inanimate material agency, to derive mechanical effect from any portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest of the surrounding objects. In sum, if a proper infinite-reservoir-like reference state is chosen as the system surroundings in the real world, then the Second Law predicts a decrease in X for an irreversible process and no change for a reversible process.
This expression together with the associated reference state permits a design engineer working at the macroscopic scale (above the thermodynamic limit) to utilize the Second Law without directly measuring or considering entropy change in a total isolated system.It takes a large amount of electricity to generate hydrogen by water splitting. As a consequence, most of the hydrogen manufactured today is derived from non-renewable sources such as coal and natural gas. Hydrogen production also involves a large amount of CO2 emissions. There is a potential to convert solar energy into an economical, carbon-free source for hydrogen with the help of an this alloy material if widely available, it could conceivably be used to make zero-emissions fuel for powering homes and cars and to heat homes.
The University of Kentucky-University of Louisville team demonstrated that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony (Sb) in gallium nitride (GaN) has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. When the alloy is immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the chemical bond between the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water is broken. The hydrogen can then be collected. University of Louisville and University of Kentucky researchers are currently working toward producing the alloy and testing its ability to convert solar energy to hydrogen.
It is impossible for an effect to be stronger than its cause (Aquinas, 1274).
It is impossible to produce work in the surroundings using a cyclic process connected to a single heat reservoir (Kelvin, 1851).
It is impossible to carry out a cyclic process using an engine connected to two heat reservoirs that will have as its only effect the transfer of a quantity of heat from the low-temperature reservoir to the high-temperature reservoir (Clausius, 1854).
If thermodynamic work is to be done at a finite rate, free energy must be expended.
btw, inventor sahib is now in prison (for past crimes, including robbery and illegal weapons possession) AND was an employee of the Sindh police who has not shown up for work for 2 years (a fact his superiors had not yet noticed).
for those who can understand Urdu, a TV report: http://www.awaztoday.com/News-Talk-Shows/27033/Agha-Waqar-accused-of-robbery.aspx
The so-called water car should have been obvious as a hoax to anyone who knows elementary science, but beyond that simple shortcut, how long should it have taken the minister of science and technology, the minister of religious affairs, the federal frigging cabinet (!!!), the PCSIR, the Pakistan Science Foundation or the various TV channels who did multiple shows with this guy, to find out who he was?
The fact that he was posted as personal assistant to the assistant inspector general of police and AIG sahib had no idea his PA was missing tells you a lot about the incredible efficiency of the Sindh Police…