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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Actually, I'd like to take exception to that comment about Sam Barros Powerlabs and ask for some proof of of your statement.
I'm an Electronic Engineer myself, (although my experience is mainly in the Microprocessor field, which limits my ability to detect high-voltage/power electronics BS) and I've had a few browses around the PowerLabs site and nothing seemed particuarly false to me.
A little showy and gee-wow perhaps, but thats the nature of the toys he is playing.. Tesla Coils, Rail Guns etc are all like that.
I agree that a lot of peple out there who are selling "plans" to build something are often scammers, and the seller has not even got a prototype running before they start selling plans to all the suckers out there..
However you can see Video's of all of Sams projects actually working, along with detailed descriptions and enough information to make me accept that he generally seems to understand what he is talking about (as far as I can tell..)
Also, I have *personally* built *working* HF/HV Plasma Generators and some Laser power supplies from a book full of plans from "Information Unlimited" (Also known as Amazing devices, linked to in the second post), and can confirm that the information in the book I have is not bullshit. Some of their more far-out plans (Free Energy etc) might be pushing the envelope a bit, but at least
some
of their info is legit..
Can you support your claim that the PowerLabs site is full of bullshit and is ridiculed, or are you just venting sour grapes for some reason ? _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Thu Jun 09, 2005 11:56 am |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Ah yes, that would make sense..
Often, in order to appeal to a wider audience, one has to compromise on the "pure truth" to make it more palatable to what the uneducated expect it to look like.
A sad, but demonstratably true fact of life. - Look at how any TV show portrays things compared to the way they really are.. TV Cop shows, Soap Opera's, Indestructible Rambo's, yes, even Robot Wars..
Undoubtably, since PowerLabs is one of the better-known HV Experimenter sites, I have little doubt that Sam probably exaggerates some of his claims on occasion to appeal to the masses.. This no doubt earns him criticism from less-famous "purists" for not sticking completely to the facts.
Hell, I've even found the same thing in my day job of setting up Network Security systems..
Customer:
"So This firewall thingy you've installed is completely inpenetratable and unhackable, right ?"
Me (being completely truthful):
"Well, No, There is no such thing as an "unhackable" firewall, any more than you can build an "unsinkable" boat. What I can tell you, is that I do this for a living, and no-one has managed to penetrate one of my security systems *yet* which is a pretty good record since I've been doing this for quite a while now
now-worried Customer:
Oh , well, what if I'm the first ? What *more* are you going to do to stop that ?
Me:
(sigh)
or
Customer:
"So This firewall thingy you've installed is completely inpenetratable and unhackable, right ?"
Me (being "economical" with the truth):
Absolutely, guarranteed,
No-one can break
my
security
, Its the best there is !
Happy Customer
Which way would you go ?
Sometimes people *want* to be lied to so they can feel warm and fuzzy rather than the cold uncertain "no guarantees" of "real-life". Finding the right level to gloss over the uncomfortable truth without stepping over the line into "lies" is a tricky business..
People who throw rocks at those who have to appeal to the general public often forget that and bag them for not being completely truthful. I suspect Sam is probably in that position and has ruffled a few feathers by hyping his research up somewhat by the sound of things..
I'd still say his site is a long way from being full of bullshit, despite what the purists might think of his PR talents. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Thu Jun 09, 2005 6:28 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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It can be done, but it takes a *huge* magnetic field to do it over any reasonable range..
To blow up electronics, you generally need to exceed their rated voltages from point to point.
To do that from a distance requires an extremely strong, fast-changing magnetic field to generate a high voltage between two points on the metal tracks (or component leads).
Unless your circuitry has a few meters of wire that closely match the wavelength of the electromagnetic pulse (surprise, we're back on aerials again ), then any voltages developed will either be from a partial-wave, or a harmonic of the fundamental pulse frequency. which means they will be very low in strength/voltage. Thats why radio receivers need high gain amplifiers to detect the tiny voltages caused by the weak signals that a transmitter powered by a few AA batteries can put out..
Dump the energy from a largeish capacitor or magnetic coil into an antenna in a few microseconds and now you're starting to get in the ballpark.. Power your Transmitter with a small nuclear explosion and no problem, you will fry electronics for miles around..
At short range, if you want to verify that it can be done on a small scale, try just bringing some small inexpensive piece of electronics (like a $2 cheapy digital watch or something) close the ignition leads on a running car and you probably stand a good chance of it being killed by EMP..
Supposedly (It may be urban legend) back in the cold war days, the Russians had a squadron or two of fighter/bomber planes with with *no* solid-state/silicon electronics in them.. All electronic functions were performed by miniaturized valve technology. Valves arent permanently destroyed by EMP unlike Silicon, so the idea I presume was to have planes that kept fighting after a nuke got dropped nearby..
EMP *is* real, making it work over long ranges takes massive amounts of energy though.. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
Last edited by Spockie-Tech on Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:08 pm |
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