Last fall, an Erie, Pennsylvania (USA) man claimed to have used radio waves to liberate hydrogen and oxygen from saltwater. In fact that’s exactly what he did; the real question at hand is one of thermodynamics. Namely did he use more energy than he obtained from the reaction?

Understandably, it’s very easy to be excited about this new discovery; it has the potential to revolutionize the world. Of particular note to the water industry is that this device would use the waste product of desalination operations around the world – highly concentrated salt water. This waste product contains so much salt that it is environmentally irresponsible to return it to the local ocean waters over concerns that the high concentrations of salt would alter the local seawater chemistry. To be able to actually use this waste product, let alone use it to power the societies around our world, would be wonderful.

The concept is not so far removed from another recent discovery, that radio frequencies can be substituted for catalysts in chemical reactions. In fact, many who have seen Mr. Kanzius’ work postulate that what is happening is that the sodium is acting in concert with the radio frequency generator to break the hydrogen-oxygen bonds. Lending believability to these assertions is the fact that the radio frequencies used by Mr. Kanzius are near a harmonic of sodium (13.56 MHz).

The national television networks, and many other news organizations have all carried this story and all show John Kanzius, the man who discovered of this phenomenon, ‘burning’ salt water. What Mr. Kanzius demonstrates in all of these news stories is that salt water, in the presence of radio waves, liberates a combustible gas. In addition to the layman’s version, Mr. Kanzius has met with Dr. Rustum Roy, Professor Emeritus at Penn State University, who is an expert on the structure of water. Dr. Roy confirmed through the use of independent glassware and water samples that Mr. Kanzius’ claims are true. The gases that are liberated are, indeed, hydrogen and oxygen; additionally a small amount of sodium appears to be consumed in the reaction, as well.

According to Dr. Roy, "I visited Mr. Kanzius’ lab in Erie, PA and confirmed for myself the demonstrations which he is seen performing in the original video clip from the Cleveland TV Station. In addition, Mr. Kanzius brought his relatively simple equipment to our (microwave) lab in the Materials Research Lab at Penn State for the day. He explained his work, and the process was demonstrated before some dozen senior faculty and research personnel from various departments using our personnel, chemicals and glassware."

"It is clear that Mr. Kanzius has demonstrated the ability to dissociate aqueous solutions of sodium chloride at normal sea water concentrations into hydrogen and oxygen. Of course, it is the hydrogen and oxygen (emerging from the water) which are being burned in the video, not the water or NaCl. He has not made any attempt as far as we know to obtain the data regarding the energy balance between input and output. Neither The Pennsylvania State University nor I have any contractual relationship with Mr. Kanzius as of this date*

That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Simply amazing. Now, though, it is time to put on the skeptic’s hat and ask the question hinted in Dr. Roy’s comments and posed at the beginning of this article: does Mr. Kanzius’ device use energy or produce energy? The radio waves are not free; they require energy to be produced. How much energy they require and how much energy is being produced lie at the crux of the discovery.

According to independent observers, the radio frequency generator consumes approximately 200W while in operation. Dr. Kanzius has commented that his discovery has, at a minimum, achieved unity (that is the energy in is equal to the energy out) and the lab at which it has been tested (APV in Akron, Ohio) claims that it exceeds unity - this would mean that it is a net producer of energy. If this is the case, it could be a revolutionary time in human history.

To validate this discovery, two things must be accomplished:
1. Allow others to reproduce the system from scratch
2. Use these ‘independent’ power cells to verify that the energy balance exceeds unity.

Mr. Kanzius has already approached the US Department of Energy (DOE) with his claims and no doubt they have suggested the same path to him. The US DOE has a vested interest in pursuing alternative energy resources and marrying promising inventions with critical seed funding to get the idea on solid ground. It will be interesting to follow this story in the coming months and see how it continues to develop. Good luck to Mr. Kanzius!

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