physics

Viktor Petrik

Viktor Petrik is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Viktor Petrik rather than just read about it. In short: Viktor Ivanovich Petrik (Russian: Виктор Иванович Петрик; born 1946) is a Russian businessman. He claims to have made many scientific breakthroughs that he markets through his company, Goldformula.

Key takeaways

Viktor Petrik belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Viktor Petrik to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Viktor Petrik from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Viktor Ivanovich Petrik (Russian: Виктор Иванович Петрик; born 1946) is a Russian businessman. He claims to have made many scientific breakthroughs that he markets through his company, Goldformula. Mainstream scientists dismiss his inventions as pseudoscience. Petrik gained notoriety in Russia during the scandal, dubbed Petrikgate, related to the involvement of politicians in promotion of Petrik's pseudo inventions.

Early life Viktor Petrik was born in 1946 in Zhytomyr, Ukrainian SSR. Petrik attended Leningrad State University and received a degree in psychology in 1976. He later worked in the export business. In the 1980s, he spent time in prison for fraud and extortion. After his release, he started a laboratory and worked on several inventions. In the early 1990s, according to rumors, he became friends with Vladimir Putin, then a city official in Saint Petersburg. In December 2004, he visited former U. S. President George H. W. Bush in Texas and discussed his technology for cleaning groundwater. Petrik lives in Saint Petersburg.

Inventions Petrik claims to have invented several groundbreaking devices. Some of these include a cell that generates electricity when breathed upon, a filter that turns radioactive waste into potable water, a device that extracts rhenium from scrap material, and a compound which turns light into electricity. He also claims to have discovered a method of producing silicon from fertilizer. Petrik does not claim to be a scientist. Instead, he maintains that he makes discoveries while in a state of self-hypnosis. He is adamant that all of these discoveries are scientifically sound. He claims that the filter he invented uses nanotechnology to clean water. He has received a $2.6 million grant from the Russian state-founded nanotechnology company Rusnano to continue his nanotechnology experiments. However, Eduard Kruglyakov, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences pseudoscience commission, stated that he examined Petrik's technology with high-powered equipment and found no trace of nanotechnology. Kruglyakov maintains that "[Petrik] hasn't discovered anything." In addition, a Russian nuclear agency has tested Petrik's radioactive waste filter and found it inadequate. Petrik counters that the test was poorly designed. Upon the presentation of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their graphene related experiments, Petrik claimed that he was the first person to describe how to produce graphene and deserved a share of the prize. Novoselov disputed Petrik's claim. In 2010, Petrik sued two Russian newspapers for defamation after they ran articles about him. He won a judgment against them in which they were ordered to run a retraction and pay damages to him. However, the settlement awarded him significantly less than he had sought. The papers have since insisted that their reports were accurate.

Patents The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued two patents to Viktor Petrik. United States Patent 7842271 is for "Mass production of carbon nanostructures", with an issue date of November 30, 2010. United States Patent 7128881 is for "Configurations and methods for water purification", with an issue date of October 31, 2006.

Politics Petrik has close ties with many Russian politicians, particularly members of United Russia. Boris Gryzlov, the former Speaker of Russia's State Duma (the lower house of parliament), is a staunch defender of Petrik's work. Gryzlov has claimed that criticism of Petrik is modern-day obscurantism. Gryzlov collaborated with Petrik for a filter which they claim is capable of turning radioactive waste into potable water. Petrik states that Gryzlov has participated in many of his experiments and they share a common patent on a "Method of cleaning liquid radioactive waste". Petrik has named one of his filters after Russian politician Sergei Shoigu and used the logo of United Russia political pary on other filters. Shoigu and United Russia have requested Petrik cease using their names in his marketing.

References

External links Goldformula company site Water Freedom Revolution

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Viktor Petrik

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Viktor Petrik claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Viktor Petrik before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Viktor Petrik ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Viktor Petrik

In research: Viktor Petrik appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Viktor Petrik in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Viktor Petrik is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, Businesspeople from Saint Petersburg, Criminals from Saint Petersburg, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Viktor Petrik outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Viktor Petrik in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Viktor Petrik means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Viktor Petrik out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Viktor Petrik in simple terms?

Why does Viktor Petrik matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Viktor Petrik?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Viktor Petrik.