Magnetic Air Car "does not violate the laws of energy conservation or the basic principles of thermodynamics"
When a news article about a new car starts with this line – "Vehicle currently in development requires no fuel, no external charging" – it makes us worry. We're not exactly big fans of vaporware made of unobtanium. So, it is with skepticism that we read about a new compressed air car being developed by the team at Club Auto Sport in Silicon Valley.
The car that Magnetic Air Cars is working on is an updated version of a compressed air powerplant vehicle from 1932. While details are not precisely spelled out, the Custer air car technology that underlies what Magnetic Air Cars is working on uses air-bearing turbochargers to create mechanical energy. The turbochargers run on cold compressed air, MAC's CEO Manual Parks told the Almaden Times last year, and the powerplant also uses "super-capacitors, earth friendly recyclable batteries, solar power, magnetic motors and magnetic generators to compress entrained ambient air." Another interesting bit of tech is the "air bearings, capable of obtaining revolutions as high as one million RPM." Luckily, Parks says that, "Our solution does not violate the laws of energy conservation or the basic principles of thermodynamics." Whew. Read more about it here.
[Source: Magnetic Air Cars via Inhabitat]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joe 7:19PM (10/01/2009)
I can follow the idea of using a turbo to create motion, that sounds ok. What I still can't figure out is their plan for compressing the air. It's never explained well.
They mention solar... Are they planning on running a compressor while parked/off regen? It seems like it would be more efficient to just charge a battery.
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skierpage 8:43PM (10/01/2009)
"How do they compress the air?"
Ask a simple question, get this bizarrely complicated answer:
"There is enough energy available through the use of super-capacitors, earth friendly recyclable batteries, solar power, magnetic motors and magnetic generators to compress entrained ambient air."
"magnetic motor/magnetic generator" sounds like any other permanent magnet electric motor/generator, but it's a usually a codeword for the awesome mysterious power of magnets to move things without losing any juice. In other words, perpetual motion machine!
What's so funny is the proof Manual Parks [sic] offers that it'll work is some guy allegedly made an air car travel 500 miles 75 years ago. So he hypothesizes that "Custer in 1932 may have used some type of magnetic motor and generator to heat the air until the tanks reached 200 PSI." Just like Nikolai Tesla did bizarre amazing things to pull electricity from the air!! The lost secret knowledge!!!
meme 2:02PM (10/02/2009)
I really think our schools need to teach students a lot better about magnetism, because often it seems that 90% of the pseudoscience out there has to do with magnets.
A magnet can be viewed as sort of a three-dimensional spring. You can capture energy falling into the potential energy well of a magnet, while you have to expend energy to leave it. An electromagnet turning on has to expend energy in building up its magnetic field proportional to the newfound potential energy of objects that can fall into its field.
And that, as they say, is that. There's nothing mystical about electromagnetism; it's quite well understood, and well tied to the other two well-understood fundamental forces (the weak force and the strong nuclear force). It's gravity that's the "odd man out", not electromagnetism. And it's not that we don't know how gravity behaves; we've studied it under countless conditions. It's that we don't know why it behaves the way it does; it's incredibly weak. I.e., you touch two strong magnets together and they'll stick like glue, but you push two boulders together, and their attraction to each other is nearly imperceptible. Gravity also has some unusual relativistic effects. But electromagnetism? Meh. It already fits neatly into physics and is very well understood.
wincros 7:22PM (10/01/2009)
Judging from their list they are using a battery to run a motor to run an compressor to power some sort of pressure operated engine. Uhhh. Why not use the electric motor to power the wheels and avoid the inevitable losses of the compressor and engine?
Actually their statement that they are using turbochargers to create energy IS in conflict with the basic principles of thermodynamics. This has all the earmarks of a scam.
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Rick 7:34PM (10/01/2009)
Why not use the electric motor to turn the wheels? because thats boring and doesn't involve magic and a million rpms. .... wouldn't you rather have a magic car?
polo 3:09AM (10/02/2009)
It sounds like the energy for the battery which runs the motor comes from the air compressor,which is different from what you said.
Jon 7:31PM (10/01/2009)
"Coming 2010 or sooner"
This seems a highly ambitious release date, especially as the diagram only shows a *concept* vehicle that could easily have been pulled from Google.
Probably a scam.
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Sean 7:53PM (10/01/2009)
This is a scam. The guy being interviewed either has no understanding of basic physics or is telling a bald faced lie.
"We believe our engineers have developed a solution for manufacturing air while the vehicle is in motion which may provide an unlimited driving range."
This group is full of it, but compressed air powered cars might work. It works for power tools. My money it on BEVs though.
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Mark Kiernan 8:08PM (10/01/2009)
The only way I see compressed air cars working is if you have a very high pressure tank and a compressor at home. You would loose a lot of energy while compressing the air for the car but if the car could run 500miles on a compressed charge then even if it isn't as efficient as a battery it might win converts due to the range.
Just saying like these guys that our car doesn't break any physics laws does mean that it will work.
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bombastinator 9:01PM (10/01/2009)
I love the thermodynamics bit. I can see the conversation now...
"It pays to be careful 'cause the last thing I sold DID violate the laws of thermodynamics, and let me tell you, the investors were not pleased."
"Then maybe you should worry about that million rpm you're talking about..."
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3PeaceSweet 4:12AM (10/02/2009)
RPM? You mean revolutions per month..
Whatever 10:12PM (10/01/2009)
Judging by how afraid of being labeled unscientific author of the article is, and how sarcastic some responses addressing something they admit they don't even know what it is, it seems like there is no difference between religious wackos and scientific wackos. Mention something outside of their belief system and they go apeshit.
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Thunderbuck 11:52PM (10/01/2009)
Don't confuse "science" with quackery (or out-and-out fraud... hard to tell here).
If they do believe in this goofy project, it's because they have no genuine understanding of science. And if they don't actually believe in it, they're lying con-men.
Chris M 2:40AM (10/02/2009)
Yep, it is often difficult to tell the difference between the delusional and the glib con artist, their spiels are often alike. The only real telling difference is the con artist carefully disguises his moneygrubbing to avoid scaring off the marks, but the delusional will come straight out and plead for investments to support their "wonderful idea" (which never quite works right, but they're sure that with enough testing and luck...)
polo 3:16AM (10/02/2009)
I gotta agree. Some of these twerps are ready to crucify and gut these people and they barely even comprehend whats being talked about, or on the other end *think* they know all there is to know and if some nobody is talking up something that hasn't been already invented they must be running a scam or trying to bring down the laws of physics.
Most new inventions are received as either ingenious or implausible..and the "ingenious" part almost always comes after the item is a finished, glossy product, ready for sale by phone or foot.
skierpage 6:09AM (10/04/2009)
"there is no difference between religious wackos and scientific wackos. Mention something outside of their belief system and they go apeshit. "
The difference is the scientific principles a) explain the physical world in precise detail and b) make testable predictions about the world. "Precise", "testable", "predictions" mean "involving numbers and math". Anyone who makes this phony comparison with religion has no idea how detailed the math is and how accurate the predictions are . Electromagnetic fields and thermodynamics are well-understood and our theories of them are spectacularly accurate at the scale of motors and engines; go read the Wikipedia articles on them to see a simplified account of their math.
Scientific revolutions do occur. Our understanding of electromagnetic fields has been revolutionized by the discovery of photons and quantum behavior. BUT, the new theory has to explain (again, mathematically) why the old one seemed to work! Quantum electrodynamics explains why Maxwell's field equations and classical Newtonian physics remain excellent approximations.
Paul 10:14PM (10/01/2009)
BINGO.... more 'magnet motor BS'
These guys are either retarded or fraudsters...(or both).. either way they're an embarrassment to the entire EV industry.
Just another variation of the magnet motor scam (ie. electric motors that claim to use no external power, just the force of permanent magnets on the rotor and stator LOL).
They're about a legit as cold fusion!
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polo 3:18AM (10/02/2009)
I guess you missed the part about the COMPRESSED AIR?
Paul 3:30AM (10/02/2009)
LOL here's a believer!
Errrrr... the air has to be "COMPRESSED" by mechanical means, it doesn't just compress itself does it!! I think you missed to bit where they quite clearly refer to "magnetic motors and magnetic generators to compress ambient air"
If you believe magnet motors actually generate power from thin air "requiring no fuel, no external charging", I've got a bridge I'd like to show you LOL.
ricardjorg 10:58PM (10/01/2009)
This really looks fake.. The whole system they describe looks too complicated to be efficient.. Whatever..
Anyway, why don't we see anything being done regarding real magnet motors that only use the magnetig energy to move, instead of electricity? Are they too weak to make a car run or something like that? If that's true, maybe they could use one of these running forever to create electric energy to charge a car battery right from inside the car.. Maybe the energy made isn't great either..
If any of you know something about magnetic motor news, say here
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