Mercury-based technology: Difference between revisions

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Probably a scam.

== Mercury vortex engine ==

A device that can supposedly generate [[anti-gravity]] using rotating mercury. In its modern form the term may first have been used by Professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal in a book called ''Vimāna in Ancient India'' (1985), a study of references to flying machines in ancient Hindu literature and legends.<ref>https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vimana-ancient-india-dileep-kumar-4691566692</ref> and by David Hatcher Childress in, for instance, ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000) and ''Atlantis and the Power System of the Gods'' (2002).<ref>https://illuminanet.tripod.com/id4.html</ref><ref>Childress, David Hatcher. ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000). Pages 171-177. https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_autor_hatcherchildress.htm#Books-Treaties</ref>

A device that can supposedly generate [[anti-gravity]] using rotating mercury.

=== ''Samarangana Sutradhara'' ===

The idea may come from ''Samarangana Sutradhara'', an 11th-century Indian treatise on architecture. Chapter 31 of the book discusses machinery and automata, discussing their operation in terms of the four elements and aether, but suggesting that mercury may be an element in its own right.<ref name="Cardiff">{{cite journal |last1=Salvini |first1=Mattia |title=The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=January 2012 |volume=22 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S135618631100085X |url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1344377/The-Samaranganasutradhara-by-Mattia-Salvina,-Mahidol-University.pdf |access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref> The author says he has personally seen most of the devices he describes in use, but does not specify which ones. The list includes two wooden aircraft, referred to as "vimanas": a "light" one shaped like a huge bird and a "heavy" one shaped like a temple.<ref name="Baroda">{{cite book |last1=King Bhojadeva of Dhar (attrib.) |editor1-last=Sastri |editor1-first=T. Ganapati|title=Samarangana Sutradhara |date=1927 |publisher=Baroda Central Library |location=Baroda |page=introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.345259/page/n5/mode/2up |access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref> Both types contain a fire chamber which heats a container of mercury, somehow causing the aircraft to rise from the ground.

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This was discussed in [[George Adamski]] and [[Desmond Leslie]]'s 1953 book ''Flying Saucers Have Landed''. They suggested that this might be the means of propulsion of UFOs.<ref name="AdamskiLeslie" />

The idea was taken up by [[Bill Clendenon]]. After extensive research he believed that he had discovered how the mercury vortex engine worked, and in ''Mercury: UFO Messenger of the Gods'' (1991) he discussed his design, his numerous sightings of UFOs, and the strange interactions he had had (after revealing his theory) with Adamski, other UFO ~~researches~~, and [[Men In Black]] who he believed to have been [[alien]]s.

The term 'mercury vortex engine' may first have been used by Professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal in a book called ''Vimāna in Ancient India'' (1985), a study of references to flying machines in ancient Hindu literature and legends.<ref>https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vimana-ancient-india-dileep-kumar-4691566692</ref>

Leslie and Adamski's idea was taken up by [[Bill Clendenon]]. After extensive research he believed that he had discovered how the mercury vortex engine worked, and in ''Mercury: UFO Messenger of the Gods'' (1991) he discussed his design, his numerous sightings of UFOs, and the strange interactions he had had (after revealing his theory) with Adamski, other UFO researchers, and [[Men In Black]] who he believed to have been [[alien]]s.

[[David Hatcher Childress]] discusses the mercury vortex engine in, for instance, ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000) and ''Atlantis and the Power System of the Gods'' (2002).<ref>https://illuminanet.tripod.com/id4.html</ref><ref>Childress, David Hatcher. ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000). Pages 171-177. https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_autor_hatcherchildress.htm#Books-Treaties</ref>

=== ''Die Glocke'' ===

Descriptions of the alleged Nazi superweapon ''[[Die Glocke]]'' are similar to the description of a mercury vortex engine in that they involve rotating a metallic liquid, although the liquid was supposedly not mercury but 'a purplish, liquid metallic-looking substance that was supposed to be highly radioactive, code-named Xerum 525'.

=== Mercury ion engine ===

The 'mercury ion engine' developed by NASA is sometimes cited as proof that the mercury vortex engine works, but it is rather different. The mercury ion engine used electricity to ionise mercury vapour and accelerate it out of the rear of the vehicle, propelling it in the same way that a rocket is propelled. A vehicle that left a trail of mercury vapour as it flew would obviously have drawbacks for use on Earth, suggesting that if the mercury vortex engine existed this was not it. The use of mercury turned out to have another drawback - the mercury vapour tended to condense and build up on the outside of the spacecraft. NASA switched to other substances such as xenon for later ion engines.<ref>https://www.nasa.gov/history/glenn-contributions-to-deep-space-1/</ref>

== Energy generator ==

Vague claims circulate that it is possible to use mercury to generate electricity, sometimes involving putting a mercury-filled sphere on a high tower to extract electricity from the atmosphere.

==References==

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Probably a scam.
 == Mercury vortex engine ==
-A device that can supposedly generate [[anti-gravity]] using rotating mercury.  In its modern form the term may first have been used by Professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal in a book called ''Vimāna in Ancient India'' (1985), a study of references to flying machines in ancient Hindu literature and legends.<ref>https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vimana-ancient-india-dileep-kumar-4691566692</ref>   and by David Hatcher Childress in, for instance, ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000) and ''Atlantis and the Power System of the Gods'' (2002).<ref>https://illuminanet.tripod.com/id4.html</ref><ref>Childress, David Hatcher.  ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000).  Pages 171-177.  https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_autor_hatcherchildress.htm#Books-Treaties</ref>
+A device that can supposedly generate [[anti-gravity]] using rotating mercury.
 === ''Samarangana Sutradhara'' ===
 The idea may come from ''Samarangana Sutradhara'', an 11th-century Indian treatise on architecture.  Chapter 31 of the book discusses machinery and automata, discussing their operation in terms of the four elements and aether, but suggesting that mercury may be an element in its own right.<ref name="Cardiff">{{cite journal |last1=Salvini |first1=Mattia |title=The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=January 2012 |volume=22 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S135618631100085X |url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1344377/The-Samaranganasutradhara-by-Mattia-Salvina,-Mahidol-University.pdf |access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref> The author says he has personally seen most of the devices he describes in use, but does not specify which ones. The list includes two wooden aircraft, referred to as "vimanas": a "light" one shaped like a huge bird and a "heavy" one shaped like a temple.<ref name="Baroda">{{cite book |last1=King Bhojadeva of Dhar (attrib.) |editor1-last=Sastri |editor1-first=T. Ganapati|title=Samarangana Sutradhara |date=1927 |publisher=Baroda Central Library |location=Baroda |page=introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.345259/page/n5/mode/2up |access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref>  Both types contain a fire chamber which heats a container of mercury, somehow causing the aircraft to rise from the ground.
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 This was discussed in [[George Adamski]] and [[Desmond Leslie]]'s 1953 book ''Flying Saucers Have Landed''.  They suggested that this might be the means of propulsion of UFOs.<ref name="AdamskiLeslie" />
-The idea was taken up by [[Bill Clendenon]].  After extensive research he believed that he had discovered how the mercury vortex engine worked, and in ''Mercury: UFO Messenger of the Gods'' (1991) he discussed his design, his numerous sightings of UFOs, and the strange interactions he had had (after revealing his theory) with Adamski, other UFO researches, and [[Men In Black]] who he believed to have been [[alien]]s.
+The term 'mercury vortex engine' may first have been used by Professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal in a book called ''Vimāna in Ancient India'' (1985), a study of references to flying machines in ancient Hindu literature and legends.<ref>https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vimana-ancient-india-dileep-kumar-4691566692</ref>
+Leslie and Adamski's idea was taken up by [[Bill Clendenon]].  After extensive research he believed that he had discovered how the mercury vortex engine worked, and in ''Mercury: UFO Messenger of the Gods'' (1991) he discussed his design, his numerous sightings of UFOs, and the strange interactions he had had (after revealing his theory) with Adamski, other UFO researchers, and [[Men In Black]] who he believed to have been [[alien]]s.
+[[David Hatcher Childress]] discusses the mercury vortex engine in, for instance, ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000) and ''Atlantis and the Power System of the Gods'' (2002).<ref>https://illuminanet.tripod.com/id4.html</ref><ref>Childress, David Hatcher.  ''Technology of the Gods'' (2000).  Pages 171-177.  https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_autor_hatcherchildress.htm#Books-Treaties</ref>
 === ''Die Glocke'' ===
 Descriptions of the alleged Nazi superweapon ''[[Die Glocke]]'' are similar to the description of a mercury vortex engine in that they involve rotating a metallic liquid, although the liquid was supposedly not mercury but 'a purplish, liquid metallic-looking substance that was supposed to be highly radioactive, code-named Xerum 525'.
 === Mercury ion engine ===
+The 'mercury ion engine' developed by NASA is sometimes cited as proof that the mercury vortex engine works, but it is rather different.  The mercury ion engine used electricity to ionise mercury vapour and accelerate it out of the rear of the vehicle, propelling it in the same way that a rocket is propelled.  A vehicle that left a trail of mercury vapour as it flew would obviously have drawbacks for use on Earth, suggesting that if the mercury vortex engine existed this was not it.  The use of mercury turned out to have another drawback - the mercury vapour tended to condense and build up on the outside of the spacecraft.  NASA switched to other substances such as xenon for later ion engines.<ref>https://www.nasa.gov/history/glenn-contributions-to-deep-space-1/</ref>
 == Energy generator ==
 Vague claims circulate that it is possible to use mercury to generate electricity, sometimes involving putting a mercury-filled sphere on a high tower to extract electricity from the atmosphere.
+==References==
+{{Reflist}}