"Recent technological advancements have allowed Simon Fraser University SFU Physics professors John Bechhoefer and David Sivak to create an operational information engine, exploring its potential to harness unused molecular energy. (ScitechDaily, Tapping Into Nature’s Invisible Energy Source: Scientists Push an Information Engine to Its Limits)
"Their research, supported by the Foundational Questions Institute, has not only provided insights into improving energy efficiency but also expanded our understanding of biological motors. The team’s findings, which highlight the possibility of converting molecular motion into usable work, could revolutionize energy utilization and engine design. (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.com" (ScitechDaily, Tapping Into Nature’s Invisible Energy Source: Scientists Push an Information Engine to Its Limits)
This is writing about previously theoretical engine systems. That is becoming possible because researchers made a prototype of the engine. That uses unusual chemical bonds. Those systems can harness energy more effectively than existing engines.
And maybe those systems are possible in the future. There is a full-scale prototype of an information engine. That can revolutionize energy production. And if full-scale systems are possible, they will revolutionize the energy sources.
We use chemical compounds and chemical bonds as energy sources. But we use only a couple of natural compounds. Nature is full of chemical compounds, and we could use all those compounds as energy sources. And when a chemical compound burns it doesn't create energy. It releases energy that is stored in chemical compounds.
The world is full of energy that we don't use. One version of those energy storages that we don't use is molecular bonds that connect atoms into an entirety called a molecule. The molecular bonds involve very high energy levels. But the problem is that we use a limited number of molecules or chemical compounds as fuel.
Or we use some molecular bonds like hydrocarbons. When we put those molecules into heat, that thing cuts the hydrocarbon molecules, and that's why things like gasoline release energy while burning.
The fact is that also other molecular bonds involve energy. Theoretically, researchers could create systems that harness energy from things. Like chemical bonds of water. Or even from the air. The system must just cut those chemical bonds, and that thing releases energy.
We can release hydrogen from the water molecules using electricity. And then, the hydrogen reacts with that oxygen, which turns those gases back to the water. That technology is a well-known process. But it's harder to create a machine that cuts the chemical bonds and then returns the hydrogen and oxygen to the water molecules.
Theoretically, developers can create a layer. That travels between hydrogen and oxygen and separates those atoms, and then, the quantum vacuum could pull those atoms back together. The problem is that this process should deliver more energy than it produces to be effective.
In the same way, it is possible to cut chemical bonds between other atoms and molecules. So, that means, theoretically, humans can create a propeller that cuts the oxygen-atom bonds. And that could make it possible to create an engine that uses air as the fuel. But practical solutions are harder to make.
There is introduced a model where the system releases oxygen and hydrogen in the vacuum, where those atoms impact with a higher power. There is the possibility that if the propeller rotates fast enough, it can form a vacuum. The engine cuts the molecular bonds between the atoms. And maybe that can happen by using infrared radiation. Then the propeller makes a vacuum between those atoms. After that, this thing pulls particles back together.
https://scitechdaily.com/tapping-into-natures-invisible-energy-source-scientists-push-an-information-engine-to-its-limits/
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