Scientist Mark Sullivan of San Antonio, Texas invented an electric generator that uses the “spin of the earth to produce cheap, renewable energy and desalinate brackish water.” Sullivan boldly claims that his Sullivan Generator can also produce gold. Sullivan pitched his 100 ft. tall generator (he had a rendering of it) on Shark Tank in 2012 and was laughed off the show. Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary memorably asked Sullivan how long he would be “visiting earth.”
[Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products — New List]
After the show aired, a discussion on Reddit asked scientists if Sullivan was a nut case. 29 people chimed in to say yes. Aelendel explained: “There is gold in the ocean. You can’t efficiently extract it just like that. If you could, it would be done using solar power to evaporate the water. Note that people DO this – but only to produce salt.” Dylankw explains further: “Some friends and I began discussing what we have called The Magic Gold Shitting Sea Water Energy Making Machine (patent recently acquired by Veridian Dynamics) and we have come up with a few numbers. For one, he is correct. You CAN gather gold from the ocean. Unfortunately, the ratio of gold to salt (something that was conveniently never mentioned) is about 1:875,000,000.”
