John S. Kanzius (March 1, 1944 â€" February 18, 2009) was an American inventor, radio and TV engineer, one-time station owner and ham radio operator (Call Sign K3TUP) from Erie, Pennsylvania. He invented a method that, he said, could treat virtually all forms of cancer, with no side effects, and without the need for surgery or medication. He also demonstrated a device that generated flammable hydrogen-containing gas from salt-water-solution by the use of radiowaves. In the media this was dubbed "burning salt water". Both effects involve the use of his radio frequency transmitter.
Kanzius, self-taught, stated that he was motivated to research the subject of cancer treatment by his own experiences undergoing chemotherapy for treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died of B-cell leukemia with complications from pneumonia without seeing FDA approval and commercialization of his invention.
Cancer therapy
Kanzius RF Therapy is an experimental cancer therapy that employs a combination of either gold or carbon nanoparticles and radio waves.
The specific absorption rate for radio waves by living tissue in the proposed wavelengths and intensity levels is very low. Metals absorb this energy much more efficiently than tissue through dielectric heating; Richard Smalley has suggested that carbon nanotubes could be used to similar purpose. If nanoparticles were to be preferentially bound to cancer sites, cancer cells could be destroyed or induced into apoptosis while leaving healthy tissue relatively unharmed. This preferential targeting represents a major technical challenge. According to a presentation by Dr. Steven Curley, essentially all forms of cancer are potentially treatable using Kanzius RF therapy.
Kanzius built a prototype Kanzius RF device in his home, and formed Therm Med, LLC to test and market his inventions. The device was tested at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2005. As of 2007-04-23, preliminary research using the device at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has taken place and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center If federal approval is granted, testing on human patients may follow.
Water-as-a-fuel
Later in 2007, Kanzius claimed that the same radio frequency transmitter can also be used to generate a hydrogen-oxygen mixture dissociated from salt water. The discovery was made accidentally while he was researching the use of radio waves for desalination. Kanzius said that "In this case we weren't looking for energy, we were looking for something that might do desalination. The more we tried desalination, the more heat we produced, until we got fire".
Kanzius' Invention has been publicised on multiple local TV stations as a source of cheap energy. In a column in the journal Nature, Philip Ball pointed out that since water is created by burning hydrogen, it cannot be used as a fuel by generating hydrogen from water and then burning it. Such process requires providing an equal or greater amount of energy than is outputted. This observation is one of the foundation principles of the laws of thermodynamics. Kanzius acknowledged that this process could not be considered an energy source, as more energy is used to produce the RF signal than can be obtained from the burning gas and stated in July 2007 that he never claimed his discovery would replace oil, asserting only that his discovery was "thought provoking".
In 2007, Rustum Roy, a materials scientist at Pennsylvania State University,stated that "The salt water isn't burning per se, despite appearances. The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies". The temperature and flame color varies with water solutions and concentrations.
However, in 2008, in an article Kanzius co-authored with Rustom Roy and Manju Lata Rao published in Materials Research Innovations, they concluded that "It has been confirmed that polarised RF frequency radiation at 13.56 MHz causes NaCl solutions in water, with concentrations from 1 to over 30%, to be measurably changed in structure, and to dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen near room temperature. The flame is a burning reaction, probably of an intimate mixture of hydrogen oxygen and the ambient air. Most of the Na present in the solution, concentrates progressively â€" as measured â€" as the water is dissociated and burned".
The 2008 article also stated that the products of this dissociation were markedly different from those produced by electrolysis. It states "The gaseous effluents are obviously different from those obtained from electrolysis as they are produced mixed in situ simultaneously. Hence, the burning of these effluent gases should not be compared precisely with the burning of molecular hydrogen in air or the molecular oxyhydrogen mixtures".
See also
- Hydrogen production
- Electrolysis of water
- Laws of thermodynamics
- List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments
References
External links
- John Kanzius Cancer Research Official Web Site
- The Kanzius Project published by the Erie Times-News
- Florida Man Invents Machine To Turn Water Into Fire wpbf-TV
- Templeton, David (2007-09-09). "Salt water as fuel? Erie man hopes so". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2009-04-08.Â
- "Sending his cancer a signal" Los Angeles Times article (November 2, 2007)
- "The Kanzius Machine: A Cancer Cure?" 60 Minutes story
- Nature News disproves water as fuel Nature (journal) News article
