Frequently Asked Questions

This page answers the questions most often asked about neutrinos and neutrinovoltaic technology — briefly, with a pointer to the detailed account.

About the particles

What is a neutrino? An elementary particle with no electric charge and a very small mass. It takes part only in the weak interaction and therefore passes through matter almost unimpeded. More on the page Neutrino.

How many neutrinos are around me? About 65 billion solar neutrinos cross a square centimetre of your skin every second. Added to these are neutrinos from the Earth's interior, from nuclear power stations and from space.

Are neutrinos dangerous? No. Precisely because they hardly interact at all, they deposit practically no energy in the body. Over an entire lifetime, statistically about one single neutrino interacts with an atom of your body.

Where do they come from? From the sun, from the atmosphere, from nuclear reactors, from the Earth's interior, from supernovae and from the Big Bang. Solar neutrinos are by far the most numerous.

Do neutrinos have mass? Yes. Neutrino oscillation proves it, and its discovery was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2015. How large the mass is is still being measured — KATRIN has narrowed it to below 0.45 electronvolts. See neutrino mass.

Are neutrinos faster than light? No. A measurement in 2011 suggested so but rested on an error in the timing.

Can neutrinos be shielded against? No, and that is the actual point. A neutrino crosses a wall of lead several light-years thick. This is why detectors sit deep underground — not to keep neutrinos out, but to keep everything else out.

About neutrinovoltaic technology

What is neutrinovoltaic technology? An approach to obtaining electric current from fluxes that pass constantly through matter — particle momenta, cosmic muons, electromagnetic fluctuations and thermal motion. Its basis is a multilayer structure of graphene and silicon.

Isn't that a perpetual motion machine? No, and the Neutrino® Energy Group stresses this itself. A perpetual motion machine creates energy from nothing. Here energy is drawn from an existing external source — just as a solar cell creates nothing but converts sunlight.

Where can I buy such a device? Nowhere at present. The group lists its projects expressly as being in development and marks the figures named as design targets.

What is the difference from photovoltaics? Photovoltaics needs light and delivers nothing at night. The comparison is on the page Photovoltaics in comparison.

What about betavoltaics or thermoelectrics? These are established, related methods with different sources. See betavoltaics and thermoelectrics.

Is the energy taken from the neutrinos? The name suggests so, but what is meant is the sum of several channels. Among them the neutrinos are the most vivid example of an omnipresent flux. More on the page energy harvesting.

About the patent and the group

Is there a patent? Yes, the international application WO2016142056A1. What such a number proves and what it does not is set out there in detail.

Who is behind the undertaking? The Neutrino® Energy Group, an international association led by Holger Thorsten Schubart.

What is the master equation? The formal description of the approach. See the master equation.

Are there independent verifications? The group itself points out that independent verification of its performance figures is pending. The underlying physics, by contrast — neutrinos, graphene, the ratchet effect — is published in peer-reviewed journals and discussed there.