A patent that defies physics

The 6.960.975 patent granted by the US Patent Office to Boris Volfson, Indiana, is likely to cringe a few teeth on the side of physicists.

Contrary to the principle that an invention defying the laws of physics can not be patented (econology note: this assumption is wrong especially in the USA where many patents on perpetual motion, water engine or flying saucers have been filed!) , the US Patent Office (USPTO) has validated a system based on anti-gravity.

According to Robert Park, of the American Society of Physics, interviewed by the journal Nature, this shows that patent experts can be fooled by pseudo-science.

The patented device is a space vehicle that is propelled by a superconducting shield that distorts the curvature of space-time and counteracts the effects of gravity.

This principle of anti-gravity implies that there is an inexhaustible source of energy and that perpetual motion is possible. A machine driven by such a movement could run indefinitely without additional fuel. A hope forbidden by the laws of physics. (econology note: it would have been fairer to say “current physics”. The “physics” of not so long ago claimed that the heaviest than air could fly…).

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