Any one else here think "potential energy" is a dodgy concept?
408353
so you think that energy can just be created and destroyed, then?
720017
Yes it does because the energy is alternate.
874708
I believe the concept exists.  I just don't know what it is.
85622
His system is a total hoax. But one hoax does not rule out ZPE all together. \n\nIn a quantum mechanical system such as the particle in a box or the quantum harmonic oscillator, the lowest possible energy is called the zero-point energy. According to classical physics, the kinetic energy of a particle in a box or the kinetic energy of the harmonic oscillator may be zero if the velocity is zero. Quantum mechanics with its uncertainty principle implies that if the velocity is measured with certainty to be exactly zero, the uncertainty of the position must be infinite. This either violates the condition that the particle remains in the box, or it brings a new potential energy in the case of the harmonic oscillator. To avoid this paradox, quantum mechanics dictates that the minimal velocity is never equal to zero, and hence the minimal energy is never equal to zero.\n\nBut if Zero-point energy refers to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic force fields that are present everywhere in a vacuum. That's energy in a Vacuum? Free Energy! Whoo Hoo! Right? Well obviously this hasn't happened. When I originally put together a Zero Point Energy page for this site, ZPE's promise to be a viable source of power was unclear at best. More recent knowledge in the area makes it clear that although ZPE does exist (maybe) it's probably not the kind of thing your going to power a car with let alone a StarGate. Current research points to the total amount of ZPE that is harnesable being very low, perhaps being zero. The rest of ZPE in the universe is by it's very definition not something you can tap into. If you are looking for more detail, there is a fairly readable page on the subject over at the Scientific American web site.  This is not to say that very very small amounts of power aren't just the thing in certain applications. Quantum Fields LLC is doing research toward using ZPE to power microscopic electro mechanical systems. So the field isn't dead yet, just don't expect to replace you car engine with a magic ZPE engine. So here a thing they are working on over at Quantum Fields, they call it a MEMS oscillator. No clue what it is or even if they have built a real one or not, but there you go...
273976
Look, energy is conserved, period.  It may be in the form of PE, KE, heat, etc., but it is always conserved.  My best guess is that whatever experimentalists you're thinking of probably neglected to consider heat effects of some other energy drain/source.\n\nBy the way, I think you now hold the record for the worst spelling and punctuation ever on Yahoo! Answers.
1124811
You are quite right that what is meant by the term energy is at best often ambiguous, and saying energy can convert from one form to another is unhelpful because it introduces "flavours" of energy. This confusion has historic origins - at one time, different forms of energy were thought to be different and it was not obvious that they were interchangeable of equivalent.\n\nThe easiest way to think of it is this.\n\nThere are two ways in which a particle can be said to have energy.\n\n1. it is moving (including vibrating)\nthis accounts for many of the things you think of as energy - heat is vibrating molecules, electricity is moving charge etc, and of course a speeding bullet has "kinetic energy"\n\n2. it is in a potential\nthis means it is being pulled by one of the forces of nature (gravity, electrostatic or strong nuclear) - if it "gives in" to this force it will accelerate (ie move) and have energy of type 1, and hence this is often called potential energy\nthis accounts for things like the energy in chemical bonds, nuclear energy, the energy in springs etc\n\nNow you can see that you can convert energy associated with moving to energy in a potential. For instance, if i fire a bullet in the air, first the chemicals in the explosive react. This means the electrons rearrange to have a little less energy in the potential created by the nuclei, and this energy is release. The released energy is converted to the energy of motion of the bullet. The bullet flies into the air against the force of gravity and it gain gravitational potential energy as it rises; it also slows down so it is losing kinetic energy.\n\nOne of the triumphs of science was to show that all of these energies are the same - i.e. that none is gained or lost.
498628
Mostly because of, well, just the way the world works, and the laws of physics and all that. All energy is conserved and simply "transformed" into different kinds of energy. It is never created or destroyed.\n\nSpeaking of petroleum and all of that as previous posters have mentioned - this is merely the converting of different elements or matter into energy. This is not really "creating" energy, because the potential energy is always there, latent in the given element. It simply cannot be "used" yet. I hope that suffices as a layman explanation.
701624
I have all the levels--I can teach many different kinds.\nYour energy chain is a nice idea...but...DID THE SICK PERSON ASK FOR IT?   Energy healing is changing and the old paradigms don't work anymore.  Healing has become very personal. People need to step into their own power and ask for help, not just passively accept it.  There are exceptions--babies, people in comas--of course, but for the most part, in the new energy, people must ask.
1074940
No. it is simply a concept.
226381
Energy exists in many different forms, such as mechanical, electrical or kinetic. It is an objective quantity present in the universe. The use of the word unpure, relating to it's quality, on the other hand, is a human construct, therefore pretty subjective. Energy just is, and therefore it seems strange that it should aquire any human subjective attributes. On the same lines, it therefore goes that there is no such thing as positive or negative energy, in the manner that esoterics might understand it.
1075529
never say never, perpetual motion is easy, though some say i'm so strange that i must be from another planet, maybe that's why i keep coming up with perpetual motion/over-unity/free energy devices!
163834
Apparently it is an attempt (a rather odd one in my opinion) to model the nucleus of the atom without the use of the strong and weak nuclear forces, which every particle physicist I'm familiar with (and that's a lot; I used to teach physics for a living) accepts as standard.
294555
did someone sleep in science class or do they not teach the laws of thermodynamics anymore, one of them states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. pick up a science book and read it some time.
967629
It is theoretically possible to make anything a gas (including that).  It would take way too much energy to do so though.
145763
Linmar--i want to propose MY personal theory, which cannot be scientifically proven in any publication to date.  I had a vision one evening after watching a show about spontaneous combustion victims.  One victim was a middle-aged man with a stump for an arm.  He described the event as a mild tingling with no pain, and much to his dismay, his hand and most of his forearm turned to ash.  \n\nUsing his experience, this isn't about fat burning, or too much oxygen, or even about oxidation as we know it.  The material in our bodies has stored chemical potential energy.  We have internal heat generation which keeps our bodies warm.  It is like a clock spring slowly unwinding.\n\nNOW, if you sped up this clock, relative to normal time-space, your energy would dissipate so rapidly, that the object WOULD turn to ash due to the release of heat.  If a human arm dissipates 10 watts every second for the lifetime of the arm, say 70 years, that equals 22*10^9 joules.  THAT"S A LOT OF ENERGY.  Now for instance, if for some reason a time-space continuum intersected with the man, if his arm actually was accidentally inserted into another dimension whose time constant was 100 times our speed, his arm simply aged and died.  All the energy that would have unwound in this time space over the course of 70 years, unwound in minutes or seconds.  If there are time-space defects and other dimensions, it makes sense that entropy may not unwind at the same pace in all spaces.  \n\nIt reminds me that the earth is travelling at thousands of miles per hour through space.  We have no perception of this at all.  But put a cosmic bed post by the earth, and have an impact, BAM!! Bye-bye earth.  I think it is the same thing.  For some unlucky reason, I beleive this particular man had an interdimensional event wherein the potential energy in his arm dissipated very quickly in that other dimension.  \n\nFood for thought--tell me whatchya think.
526499
Well, if you get something with the second to lowest potential energy in the world, that energy can go to the lowest potential energy thing in the world and that's it.  Otherthan that, no.  And there's nothing inherent in the material, unless you're talking about chemical reactions, in which case, I just don't know what those two things are.  I hope that's clear.
371118
It makes sense to me, because we do have an electrical energy field around us. I have tried the magnetic bracelet and didn't find any difference for myself, but my friends even bought a magnetic mattress pad and they swear by it-I think they affect different people differently. Some medicines work for some people, and don't for others. Some diets work well for some people, and not for others. I think this is the same case scenario. It's great that it's working!