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Hydrino theory is a colloquial term for one aspect of a controversial new hypothesis of atomic chemistry and physics developed by Dr. Randell Mills, of BlackLight Power, Inc., termed "Classical Quantum Mechanics". The hypothesis has drawn skepticism from most observers.

Mills' hydrino hypothesis was inspired by a physics paper by MIT electrical engineering professor, Herman Haus. This paper used classical electromagnetism to model radiation arising from the free electron laser. Mills reasoned that if classical physics could model radiation of the free electron it should be able to model radiation and non-radiation of the bound electron in an atom.

The nonradiation condition

The starting point for Mills' theory is the condition of no radiation, derived from Maxwell's Equations. While a point-particle must radiate as it accelerates, an extended distribution of charge may accelerate without radiating if it satisfies the condition that the Fourier transform of the current-density function vanishes whenever its argument is lightlike (when it is synchronous with waves traveling at light speed).

This condition has a history of study throughout the 20th century, and was first formulated by G. H. Godeke in 1964, who noted its possible implications for quantum theory. He noted "Naturally, it is very tempting to hypothesize from this that the existence of Planck's constant is implied by classical electromagnetic theory augmented by the conditions of no radiation. Such a hypothesis would be essentially equivalent to suggesting a 'theory of nature' in which all stable particles (or aggregates) are merely nonradiating charge-current distributions whose mechanical properties are electromagnetic in origin." Godeke goes on to conclude "We certainly do not believe that this paper gives a sufficient foundation for hypothesizing a theory with such profound implications. Rather, we hope this paper wil serve as a foundation and as a stimulus for much further investigation of nonradiating distributions."

Another paper, published in 1984, was the result of a Reed College undergraduate thesis by Tyler Abbott and his advisor David Griffiths. This paper explored various charge/current configurations, such as infinite cylinders with longitudinal flow, infinite cylinders with solenoidal flow, and infinite planes. The thesis concludes that the physical consequences of the nonradiation condition are far from obvious.

The paper to which Mills responded, however, was put forward by his electrical engineering professor at MIT, Herman Haus, in 1985, titled "On the radiation from point charges." Here Haus gives an alternative derivation of the condition, and points out that Cherenkov radiation can also be explained by it.

The free electron

Confining himself to the observed properties of the electron and a boundary condition for radiation derived from Haus' paper, Mills arrived at a new model of the electron through application of classical theory. The CQM electron model holds that the electron is better described as an extended particle which in free space is a flat disk of spinning charge. The charge distribution holds itself together via a force balance of magnetic forces that act inwards, and outward centrifugal forces. Since the charge distribution is continuous, it may be treated as a surface charge.

The bound electron

According to CQM, when the electron is captured by a proton to form a hydrogen atom, it deforms into a sphere, called the 'orbitsphere', composed of a spherically-uniform, near-zero-thickness continuous distribution of current loops, and achieves a stable radius through force balance between the coulombic attraction of the proton and the outward centrifugal force of the moving current on the surface of the sphere. This sphere may act as a 'dynamic resonator cavity', able to absorb or emit discrete frequencies of radiation, giving rise to quantization and the basis for the excited states.

Superconductivity

According to CQM, superconductivity is not due to Cooper pairing but the extended nature of the electron. In a superconductive lattice, the electron forms "ribbons" of charge/current that are nonradiative according to the condition of no radiation established by Godeke/Haus.

Hydrinos

According to Mills, a specific chemical process he calls "The BlackLight Process" allows the bound electron to fall to an energy state below that of currently accepted quantum theory, at 1/integer that of the ground state radius. These below-ground hydrogen atoms are called 'hydrinos'. The mechanism consists of a non-radiative, resonant energy transfer between a hydrogen atom and a catalyst that is capable of absorbing a certain amount of energy. As the hydrogen atom shrinks it releases energy, and the total energy released for hydrino transitions is large compared to the chemical burning of hydrogen but less than nuclear reactions. The theoretical limit on orbitsphere radius is 1/137 the radius of the conventional ground state. Allegedly, limitations on confinement and terrestrial conditions have prevented the achievement of hydrino states below 1/30.

Dark matter

According to Mills, hydrinos are the bulk of dark matter. Unlike normal matter, hydrinos do not have excited states, i.e. they do not emit light, unless they are being formed or ionized. Over 90% of the visible universe consists of ordinary hydrogen, and according to this hypothesis the remaining matter in the universe (90% of the total mass of the universe) is hydrogen in stable states below that of the typical ground state.

The accelerating expansion of the universe

Randell Mills is on record, in print, for predicting that the universe is accelerating as it expands. According to CQM, matter, energy, and spacetime are all equivalent, interconvertible, and conserved. During pair production, when a photon transforms into a pair of massive particles, spacetime itself relativistically contracts, producing a gravitational field. And when matter is released as energy, spacetime expands (flattens out), effectively destroying the gravitational field. Mills predicts that the expansion of the universe is due to the some 400 billion billion suns that are releasing matter as energy, flattening spacetime. Mills derives the accelerative rate of the universe, the Hubble constant, and other astronomical parameters.

Alleged experimental evidence of hydrinos

The website of BlackLight Power Inc., founded by Mills to develop hydrino technology, lists following claimed phenomena:

• Formation of plasmas in gas cells with input energies far below that required to form such plasmas.
• Spectral lines from gas cell plasmas which match the CQM predictions for hydrino transitions.
• Detection of excess heat from plasma cells using water bath calorimetry.
• New chemical compounds said to have been formed from hydrino hydrides (ie a hydrino which has captured another electron to form a negative hydride ion) which show unusual properties and structure.
• Molecular diHydrino gas formation and detection.
• Spectral lines from the sun's corona said to derive from hydrino transitions, also said to be the cause of the higher temperatures of the corona relative to the sun's surface contrary to scientific expectations.
• A proposed explanation for "dark matter", a mysterious mass not visible but forming 95% of the universe with observable gravitation effects. CQM argues that hydrinos, or lower energy hydrogen comprises this "dark matter".

Mills and collaborators have published studies in which they claim only hydrino theory can adequately explain the experimental results obtained. Mainstream scientists have called into question the quality of these experiments, and maintain that the results can be explained by conventional physics.

Reactions to the hypothesis

1991

On April 26, Bob Park, professor of physics and former chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, wrote sarcastically:

It comes from shrinking the hydrogen atoms! This is done by getting the atoms into a state BELOW the ground state. If the shrunken atoms are deuterons, of course, they may fuse from time to time, which explains why cold fusion results are erratic. This remarkable discovery was made by Randy Mills, MD Harvard Medical School, '86 and will be published by Fusion Technology in August.

1996

A NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I study was conducted at Rowan University, led by mechanical engineering professor Anthony Marchese, to investigate the so-called BlackLight Process for use in spacecraft propulsion. The team spent some time replicating results obtained by BlackLight, Inc., such as the observation of line broadening and excess heat (although the final report stated "Additional studies are required to rule out all other possible explanations other than 'excess power' for these observations.").[1] Due to time and instrumentation contraints, they were unable to evaluate the feasibility of the BlackLight Rocket. In addition, the group consulted with BlackLight, Inc., and in some cases borrowed their equipment, so the independence and impartiality of these results is called into question. A Phase II study has not been conducted.

Late 1990s

BlackLight establishes a 53,000-square-foot advanced chemical facility in Cranbury, New Jersey to expand their staff and research efforts. Previously the company had been much smaller and located in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania.

1999

Michael Jacox, assistant director of Texas A&M's Commercial Space Center for Engineering and a nuclear engineer, quoted by Erik Baard in the December 22-28 Village Voice [2]:

Researchers at other well-known government labs also say they are afraid to speak on record about their interest in Mills's work. One said that he plans to visit BlackLight Power on his vacation time. Jacox says his team found in the materials 'an anomaly that we could not explain with conventional theory but that we could explain with Randy Mills's theory. That does not necessarily validate the Mills theory, but gosh.'

2000

In a Space.com article on May 23, Douglas Osheroff, Nobel Prize winner and professor of physics at Stanford University, is quoted saying:

[Mills] may be creating compounds with unusual properties. This is obviously a rather clever guy, and he may be onto something, but he seems to think it's more fundamental than it really is.

Furthermore, Osheroff remained certain that hydrinos were a 'crackpot idea'.

On October 27 Bob Park wrote a follow-up:

Mills has written a 1000 page tome, entitled,"The Grand Unified Theory of Classical Quantum Mechanics," that takes the reader all the way from hydrinos to antigravity (WN 9 May 97). Fortunately, Aaron Barth (not to be confused with Erik Baard, the Randy Mills' apologist), has taken upon himself to look through it, checking for accuracy. Barth is a post doctoral researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Institute, and holds a PhD in Astronomy, 1998, from UC, Berkeley. What he found initially were mathematical blunders and unjustified assumptions. To his surprise, however, portions of the book seemed well organized. These, it now turns out, were lifted verbatim from various texts. This has been the object of a great deal of discussion from Mills' Hydrino Study Group. Mills seems not to understand what the fuss is all about.

2002

Erik Baard wrote an article for the December 6th Village Voice in which the opinions of Anthony Marchese, Rowan University mechanical engineering professor, and James Viccaro, editor of the Journal of Applied Physics, were solicited. Marchese said, "Something interesting, something unexplained is happening in those cells." James Viccaro defended his decision to publish Mills' paper in the then upcoming issue:

His paper underwent formal review and was accepted for publication based on review. The findings are quite interesting and the reviewers found them relevant to the field, I'm actually kind of interested to see what happens now, when the news hits.

2004-2005

A study by Jonathan Phillips of the University of New Mexico, in association with Mills, concluded that certain plasmas exhibited phenomena best explained by hydrino theory (Water bath calorimetric study of excess heat generation in resonant transfer plasmas, J. Appl. Phys. 96, 3095 (2004)). A critical comment pointing out flaws in the experiment, and advancing alternative explanations, was published in response by A.V. Phelps of the University of Colorado (J. Appl. Phys. 98, 066108 (2005)), with a reply from Phillips (J. Appl. Phys. 98, 066109 (2005)).

Andreas Rathke of the European Space Agency published an evaluation that appeared in the New Journal of Physics. He concluded:

We found that CQM is inconsistent and has several serious deficiencies. Amongst these are the failure to reproduce the energy levels of the excited states of the hydrogen atom, and the absence of Lorentz invariance. Most importantly, we found that CQM does not predict the existence of hydrino states!

However, Phillips has defended Mills, asserting that since Rathke is "attempting to 'map' [Classical Quantum Mechanics] onto the framework of [Standard Quantum Mechanics]", "all equations in the Rathke critique of the CQM model are misrepresentations and thus do not constitute a valid criticism".

Rick Maas, a chemist at the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) who was a specialist in sustainable energy sources, and Randy Booker, a UNCA physicist, are "left under no doubt," according to The Guardian of the accuracy of Mills's claims. "All of us who are not quantum physicists are looking at Dr Mills's data and we find it very compelling," Maas said. "Dr Booker and I have both put our professional reputations on the line as far as that goes." [3]

2006

Blacklight Power announces it has so far raised over $50M in venture capital.

External links

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Advocacy

• Black Light Power, Inc., corporate website.
• The Hydrino Study Group HSG website
• HSG Forum is a groups forum for pro/con discussion of hydrino hypothesis.
• http://www.rexresearch.com/millshyd/millshyd.htm
• http://www.keelynet.com/energy/hydmills.htm

News

• Quantum Leap, The Village Voice, December 22-28, 1999. — The original Village Voice article by Erik Baard
• The Alchemists Of Energy, Forbes Magazine, May 15, 2000. — Excerpts from Robert L. Park's book Voodoo Science, ISBN 0195147103
• Press Clips by Cynthia Cotts, The Village Voice, May 16, 2000 — in which she comments on the Forbes article
• Academics Question The Science Behind BlackLight Power, Inc., The Harvard Crimson, May 17, 2000
• Hydrogen result causes controversy, Physics Web, August 5, 2005
• Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head, The Guardian, November 4, 2005
• Blacklight Power gets $50M; but is it profound, or utter nonsense? SiliconBeat, January 4, 2006
• Energy Play Draws Money and Ire The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2006.

Web Archive

Web Archive of BlackLightPower "Introduction for the Layman" [4]

Note: This link is an archive of BlackLightPower Inc's website from January 1998.

References

• Mills. Randall L., "Classical Quantum Mechanics," Phys. Essays 16 4, 433-498 (December 2003).
• Haus, H. A., On the radiation from point charges," Am. J. Phys. 54 12, 1126 (December 1986).
• Godeke, G.H., "Classically Radiationless Motions and Possible Implications for Quantum Theory," Phys. Rev. 135, 1B (July, 1964).
• Abbot, T.A., Griffiths, D.J., "Acceleration without radiation," Am. J. Phys 53 (12) (December, 1985).
• Rathke, A., 'A critical analysis of the hydrino model, New J. Phys. 7 127 (2005).
• Lieb, E. H. "Quantum mechanics, the stability of matter and quantum electrodynamics," Preprint math-ph/0401004 (2004).
• Marchese, A. J., Jansson, P., Schmalzel, J. L., The BlackLight Rocket Engine NIAC Phase I Final Report (May 1 – November 30, 2002).