Hello. My name is Steve Acworth, I am 59 years old (in 2006) and you are now reading a page within the folder of my web site. This is the only page on my horrendously voluminous site formatted as just a plain text document, which for my normally (admittedly perhaps over-flambouyant style) is rather unusual.
Trained in the 1960's as a lettering artist, silk-screen technician and stencil cutter (now a pretty much obsolete trade, thanks to computers), I went on to develop a substantial international reputation as an electric guitar technician and maker, supplying custom-built instruments and servicing, rebuilding and repairing many thousands of guitars to the rock and roll industry. If you've listened to virtually any pop music in the past thirty years, the chances are you've heard the results of my handiwork (entirely uncredited but that's OK).
My school education ended in 1965 and left me with 6 O-levels, including a Distinction in Mathematics and also a Distinction in A-level Art, not a promising indicator for any clear direction for any "normal" career (but at least I learned the basics of painting). Hence my credibility as a scientist is minimal - but I maintained a strong interest in science, subscribing to New Scientist Magazine all the way and avidly followed popular areas of development in matters of renewable energy. In recent years that has meant, mainly, Sonoluminescence, in all it's mystical finery.
This is something of a confessional, which I feel is necessary as a precursor to being taken seriously by those to whom I invite to my pages; (but don't go there yet!) - I have also been an avid UFO "nut" since childhood, being intrigued by the plausibility of life elsewhere in this enormous universe. This seems a reasonable area of curiosity to me for anyone with even a tiny amount of imagination at their disposal - a commodity of which I am "blessed" with a huge pile.
Discussion of the UFO phenomena is a sure-fire way to become entirely discredited by the majority of the serious scientific community. This, combined with my lack of qualifications in the area of Particle Physics has led to much derision, misunderstanding and even abuse from those I have approached in the serious scientific community, with a view to discussion of my hypothesis on Sonoluminescence (which I consider to be pretty thoroughly worked through).
Amongst the fun, art, guitars, music and purely conjectural junk on this site are a set of pages dedicated to the serious issue of the plausibility of a sustainable and non-polluting power source utilising chained Sonoluminescence - something which to date has not been achieved. It is my very close and strong association with music strings and their dynamic harmonic properties which led me to the hypothesis herein proposed.
I have pointed you to this page in the hope that you will take an unbiased look at what I am proposing; the cost of development for a prototype would, admittedly, run into perhaps a couple of million pounds (a drop in the ocean compared to the huge waste of funds directed constantly at CERN, for example, which has produced virtually nothing in tangible, useful terms) and I would not claim to be a sufficiently skilled engineer to accomplish the necessary work but I have provided working "drawings in the rough" that are very specific and which any scientific engineer could easily interpret into a workable jig for testing of the hypothesis.
Ironically, the entire concept depends on carbon, as you will see if you choose to take a tour of the step-by-step construction details. The following link will take you to the relevant part of my site. There are many opportunities to see what else is also here, should you be at all curious.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, even if you go no further.
Steve Acworth, June 3rd 2006.