Irish company Steorn made headlines around the world when it took out a full page advert in The Economist claiming to have developed a device that produced "free energy". Throughout early July, the company planned to display the device to the public for the first time. Professor Sir Eric Ash, electrical engineer and former rector of Imperial College London, visited the demonstration for the BBC News website.
I believe that Mr McCarthy is truly convinced of the validity of his invention. It is, in my view, a case of prolonged self deception - Eric Ash
A company called Steorn's been getting lots of press this week with its claim to have developed a machine that it claims produces "free, clean and constant energy", violating the law of conservation of energy along the way. It hardly seemed newsworthy since it essentially appeared to just be the latest iteration of something cold fusion that promises something radical but constantly fails to deliver. It's hardly surprising, then, to see Steorn postpone its demonstration indefinitely, apparently because excessive heat from TV cameras caused technical problems.
IT is the modern-day equivalent of turning base metal into gold - and Sean McCarthy believes he has it cracked.
A free and infinite supply of pure energy could be sitting right now in a secure area of an unprepossessing unit in the Docklands of Dublin. Mr McCarthy claims to have created a perpetual motion machine, a device that can produce at least as much energy as it consumes, so that once it has been set running it can continue indefinitely.
One of the basic principles of physics is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. However, an Irish company has challenged the worldwide scientific community to test a technology it has developed that it claims produces free energy. The company, Steorn, says its discovery is based on the interaction of magnetic fields and allows the production of clean, free and constant energy -- a concept that challenges one of the basic rules of physics.
It claims the technology can be used to supply energy for virtually all devices, from mobile phones to cars. Steorn issued its challenge through an advertisement in the Economist magazine this week .