A very interesting press release appeared yesterday morning that was brought to our attention. A startup company, Gravitomagnetism, LLC, was granted a patent that enables it a multitude of applications ranging from energy generation to teleportation.
"Imagine one day having a wind-up watch-sized device that could power your entire house, your boat, your car and your airplane." - Michael Boyd, Gravitomagnetism, LLC
The patent in question, "Device and Method to Produce Gravitomagnetic Induction, Mass Spin-Valve or Gravitational Rectifier | (PDF), has the following items as major applications that could be utilized from this technology:
- Disk calibration (Approved in practice by USPTO)
- Energy generation (Approved in practice by USPTO) - One square meter would produce near 20 Megawatts/meter² (Concept only)
- Propulsion (Concept only)
- Teleportation of matter and/or energy (Concept only)
After reading through the entire patent, I needed a beer to recover from the copious bureaucratic sections of necessary fluff and vast complicated material.
We did some digging to further understand what exactly this was and found a post that appeared on Reddit's /r/Futorolgy and LinkedIn from a mysterious physicist claiming it could eventually usher in a Star Trek future.
As one Redditor put it:
So, in other words, this patent describes a device that can be built to produce energy from gravity, propulsion without propellant (using gravity, or antigravity), a means to convert matter into energy and back again without changing the original configuration of matter, or the ability to convert energy into another form and beam it to another location where it can be converted back into the original form.
So, in essence, yes. Star Trek.
The main application the patent seems to purport is for calibrating manufacturing equipment for disc drives, DVDs, tape drives, etc. This would help increase manufacturers throughput, yields, and effectively profits. Nonetheless, it is the other potential applications mentioned that are the most interesting.
With all the possibilities this technology could have, I wanted to know more about the direct potential of this invention, so I sought to track down the inventor, Michael E. Boyd.
Some brief research yielded me a seemingly antiquated email address and to my surprise, I heard back! We had an incredible discussion and I learned about the secretive startup he has been working on called Gravitomagnetism, LLC.
Given the incredible energy potential realized from the patent, he told me to imagine one day having a watch sized device that could power your entire house. The same device could easily be integrated into current Tesla vehicles (many other systems as well) and enable a mass adoption of electric vehicles due to greatly increased efficiency and lower costs.
Before we delve in further, it is important to note that this was tested using NIST verified equipment in its experiments to showcase the results as certifiable by the USPTO (ie. Lecroy LC920 Oscilloscope, Park Scientific AFM, etc.).
ENERGY GENERATION
"Power generation using gravitational induction as the power source."
The capabilities this patent purports are incredible and are in need of an easy quantification. It gives an example of scaling up the power density from the tested 40.9x40.9 µm² Nano-bump on the spinning disk which, "produces a 2 Volts signal times 16 mA DC current on the MR resistor or 0.032 Watts of power/40.9x40.9 µm²." It then states that if, "...a spinning disk sized large enough [scaled-up] to contain sufficient 40.9x40.9 µm² Nano-bumps to cover a surface area of one square meter would produce about 20 Megawatts/meter²."
Given from the patent that 1 square meter produces roughly 20 Megawatts/meter², we can estimate scaling up the great potential this has.
100 square meters produces roughly 2 Gigawatts/meter²
1 square meter produces roughly 0.02 Gigawatts/meter²
1 square meter produces roughly 20 Megawatts/meter²
These numbers are absolutely astounding! This would be truly remarkable if this system became a reality. To put this in perspective, 1 square meter area for a standard 15% efficient solar panel will produce 150 watts/square meter or 7 square meters will be required for 1kW power output.
So how does it work?
Very simply, a specially fabricated disk with nanobumps and nanopits that exhibit electromagnetic induction and gravitomagnetic induction is placed on a spindle, spun with very little energy to create the generation of gravitomagnetic energy. This is then scanned to show the amount of energy being created. Power is generated by both gravitational induction by bumps and anti-gravitational induction by pits on the spinning disk within the mass-valve spin rectifier. This allows for the device to still generate power regardless to the type of gravity field. The patent has many diagrams and renderings that help describe the math and physics presented throughout the patent.
Gravitomagnetic induction power supply equipment overview
If this tech gets properly commercialized and integrated with ultra / supercapacitors, it could enable an incredibly efficient global power grid, a power supply for everything, let smart devices never need to be charged, electric vehicles with continuous power needs provided on demand, and a whole lot more.
PROPULSION
"Transportation devices using mass-spin valve gravity rectification for propulsion"
The details regarding the mechanics for how this could create propulsion are slightly lacking. As in the only thing we could find in the patent that mentions it is the bold face words above. After talking with Boyd, he directed me to his site where a continuation patent application (PDF) goes into further detail.
The continuation explains that the way to create thrust is:
"To produce a direct propulsion source that incorporates the mass-spin valve’s gravitomagnetic induction fields will require the incorporation of a type of plasmonic thrust using what is called Surface Plasmon Polaritons, which requires certain system configurations i.e. tuning, and a certain linear velocity of the turning disk, preferably within the range of 1 to 13,000 RPM, to achieve the necessary harmonics."
An easier way of saying that is the invented method can create thrust by using "gravitomagnetic induction harmonized with plasmonics." The continuation further states that:
"Plasmon waves are carriers of energy and have the ability to travel resistance free, but because everything in the universe is constantly in motion there are characteristic Plasmon waves, where these wave states act as carriers of energy, i.e. the Plasmon quasi-particles, having the ability through the superposition of states (harmonics) to also act as a power amplifier, which enables the production of thrust needed for propulsion.
NASA even explored a certain degree of this type of harmonic propulsion concept back in the late 1970s.
Image: NASA, Field Resonance System
Not to mention, this could be utilized to create highly efficient power generation for futuristic propulsion systems as mentioned above in the Energy Generation section.
TELEPORTATION
"Teleportation devices using mass-spin valve gravity rectification that converts electromagnetism with mass-energy; using quantum entanglement; into electromagnetism; and back into mass-energy; so as to transport matter and energy to another distant location without alteration."
Quantum teleportation is a process by which quantum information (e.g. the exact state of an atom or photon) can be transmitted (exactly, in principle) from one location to another, with the help of classical communication and previously shared quantum entanglement between the sending and receiving location.
Image: Nature | DOI:10.1038/492022a
From quantum teleportation in space to the numerous advances we've posted on, the possibilities of this concept are exciting. Gravitomagnetic time can be set by using the spin stand and mass spin-valve to determine points of interest relative to Earth's gravitomagnetic time frame and reference frames for teleportation of matter. The mass-spin valve device has to be entangled at both locations to ensure successful transmission of the electromagnetic signals.
"There are characteristic plasmon waves, where these wave states act as carriers of energy, as in the above outlined quasi-particles, and have the ability to travel resistance free necessary to enable the teleportation of mass. The mass spin-valve device in combination with a specific type of Plasmon, which requires certain system configurations, and a certain linear velocity of the turning disk, to achieve the necessary harmonics to do teleportation. This requires a gravitomagnetic plasmonic transceiver at both ends to achieve teleportation which incorporates two mass-spin valve devices quantum entangled together along with two electromagnetic transceivers."
While we may not have to worry about the "Trouble with Transporters" yet, the very likely hood this presents of a practical and usable device is alluring.
LOOKING FORWARD
Boyd's secretive startup has been working behind the scenes to bring a device to commercialization and is preparing to enter the Angel and Seed funding stages. He said they had to effectively prove the application of the device to the patent office and used all the appropriate and verified equipment.
"The patent was written as simply as possibly, so once we get these continuation patent applications in place, we'll have a much meatier version and things can really take off for us." - Michael E. Boyd, Member of Gravitomagnetism, LLC
Boyd mentioned that this patent has also been applied internationally in Europe, China, and India to name a few.
In the meantime, we hope to see this concept become a reality and hopefully not another nonsensical patent down the drain. It will definitely be interesting to see what direction this startup will go given the purported vast capabilities. We are optimistic!
On another note, Michael Boyd is quite possibly the most eccentric and humorous physicist I have ever met. He published a paper a few years ago, "Theoretical implications of nano-scale quantum gravito-magnetism on the nature of our steady state universe", that takes a very interesting position on the possibility that the Big Bang theory is incorrect. He believes there "is a super massive black hole at the center of our universe; instead of the currently accepted theory that it is an expanding [emergent] hypersphere instead." To try and further understand the background of this concept, he presented me with the following.
Further Insight and Theory
Regarding Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and Gravity as the strong extra dimension, this summary may help readers to understand the invention in the context of quantum entanglement, time warps, and teleportation. Theoretical physicists Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali pointed out that prior to now, gravity had not been measured below a distance of about a millimeter. They coined the term ADD model which suggests there could be extra dimensions as large as a millimeter in diameter. In particle physics, this model is also known as the model with large extra dimensions, offers an alternative scenario to explain the weakness of gravity relative to the other forces. This theory requires that the fields of the standard model are confined to a four-dimensional membrane, while gravity propagates in several additional spatial dimensions that are large, when compared to the Planck scale.
Theoretical physics typically treats the Planck scale as the highest energy scale and all dimensional parameters are measured in terms of the Planck scale. In models of large extra dimensions, the fundamental scale is much lower than the Planck scale. This occurs because the power law of gravity changes. For example, assuming r is the distance between the gravitational induction sensor and the spinning disk; when there are two extra dimensions of size d, the power law of gravity is 1/r4 for objects with r << d and 1/r2 for objects with r >> d. This relationship suggests if we want the Planck scale to be equal to the next accelerator energy (1 TeV) we should take d approximately 1mm.
Scientists funded by the European Space Agency have measured the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic field for the first time in a laboratory. ESA, 2006
As suggested by ADD, gravity could be just as strong as the other forces, but only felt strongly at short distances.
Image: Rotating superconductive ring and accelerometer positions (all measures in mm) - "Experimental Detection of the Gravitomagnetic London Moment - arXiv"
Just as a moving electrical charge creates a magnetic field, so a moving mass generates a gravitomagnetic field. According to Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, the effect is virtually negligible. However, Tajmar and company successfully measured the effect in a laboratory. Their experiment involved a ring of superconducting material rotating up to 6,500 times a minute.
Effects of geometry on gravitational fields and time
The geometry of matter, or lack there of, causes a force field to be produced that can be measured. The reason gravitation is a direct tensor is because it has two components: one is the normal gravitational energy produced by the presence of matter's nucleus in the universe and the second is repulsive anti-gravity or dark energy that is produced by its absence. But the tensor for gravity is much stronger than anti-gravity, since the absence of mass produces only about 16% of the magnitude for the same volume (geometry). Another difference is that normal gravity is much stronger below 1 mm from matter than it is above that distance; as is the antigravity force. I found that for normal gravity above 1 mm, it is consistently linear with distance; while antigravity is ~0. That means the force is 1/r2 above 1mm and 1/r4 below 1 mm. That means gravity is still linear with distance within both regions of normal gravity spacetime. Antigravity on the other hand, is a third order force repulsive force tensor whose force fields are like that of balloon with their force field's strength being strongest at the membrane of the balloon and weak inside.
Regarding the gravitational temporal relation, both forms of gravitation experience the same amount of frame dragging as described in Einstein's General Relativity theory.
Doesn't that mean time must be the substance between gravitational energy and EM energy that makes up our existence?
Time must be a substance. That's because gravitational spacetime is produced by hole states of matter and electromagnetism spacetime (EM or light) is produced by electron states of matter. Quantum mechanics is built on EM spacetime; not gravitational spacetime. However, Special Relativity is built on EM spacetime while General Relativity is built on gravitational spacetime. The manifold of events in spacetime are a "substance" which exists independently of the matter within it. Special Relativity and General Relativity created a conundrum for Einstein insomuch that he tried unsuccessfully to resolve the two theories into one grand unified field theory.
My discovery is that while the speed of light is constant, that is not true for gravitation. It can be slower in speed and faster too. Einstein focused too much on the speed of light and not enough on the "holes" all around him (blackholes). That's where the gravitation is.
That "electromagnetism is in spacetime A", let's call that spacetime "{EM} spacetime". This is what Einstein's "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper (891-921) - On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" described, which reconciles Maxwell's equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics by introducing major changes to mechanics close to the speed of light. This later became known as Einstein's special theory of relativity (SR) (See Einstein 225-261 and Einstein 49). That "gravitation is in spacetime B" let's call that space-time "{G}space-time". This is what Einstein's General relativity (GR) describes. According to general relativity (Hilbert 92), the observed gravitational attraction between masses results from the "warping of space and time by those masses".
When I write about this "manifold of events in spacetime are a 'substance' which exists independently of the matter within it", this manifold of events in spacetime is this property that makes Time; as we measure it; the emergent (positive arrow of time). Therefore, time is a vector which direction depends on your position in our universe. This is created by a change of energy states between gravitation to electromagnetism and visa versa.