> The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.
So it sounds like, if this really works, it may have some impact on our general understanding of thermodynamics or the properties of Brownian motion?
If it works as described in the press release, this is a direct trip to Stockholm to pick the Nobel Prize. I can't read the research paper now.
My guess is that there is a temperature difference between the grapheme and the resistor. In that case it's a normal experiment, perhaps with some tweak, but not a groundbreaking experiment. The power generated by the device is tiny (not "unlimited"), and there are a lot of similar devices.
Sometimes the experiment is interesting in some niche (this experiment is related to tunnel microscopy) but this is totally overhyped.
If it works as described in the press release, this is a direct trip to Stockholm to pick the Nobel Prize.
There are too many PR announcements like that in the nanotechnology and battery areas. It's either Nobel Prize material or nothing, and you can't tell from the article.
No power numbers. Are they talking about generating a picowatt or something like that?
Somebody like EVworld should publish "1, 5 and 10 years ago today in energy announcements".
Most press release about batteries claim a x2 improvement in 5 years or something like that. If they were true perhaps you can get a Nobel, but you must wait in the queue for a few years. If you break the Second Law you can skip the queue and even the voting.
> No power numbers. Are they talking about generating a picowatt or something like that?
The figures in the research article claims ~1pW. I still can't get the research paper, but reading the information that is available, and some enlightening discussions in HN I guess they measured a ~1pW exchange of heat in the other side of the device (the "lamp" in the animation). But it is ~1pW in one direction and exactly the same amount in the other direction. There is no net energy flux or "useful" energy.
This may be an useful experimental result in the research branch they are working, but not "Limitless Power".
So it sounds like, if this really works, it may have some impact on our general understanding of thermodynamics or the properties of Brownian motion?