Studies of Putative Human Bioenergy Using a Torsion Pendulum with a Metal Chain-Link Support instead of a Nylon Filament Support

Abstract

Earlier experiments have established that a torsion pendulum consisting of a steel mesh hemisphere suspended by a nylon filament above a human subject is capable of detecting and collecting data that may represent human bioenergy. Among the effects observed are a wide range of subject-induced rotational frequencies of the pendulum and displacement of the pendulum from its natural center of oscillation. The nylon filament support confers the properties of a simple harmonic oscillator (sho) to the pendulum. The resulting sho swings of the pendulum obscure smaller swings that correspond to subject effects on the pendulum. For this work, it was desired to modify the pendulum to reduce or eliminate the sho oscillatory swings. A proposed modification was to replace the nylon filament with a length of chain. The idea was that the chain would confer properties of an ‘energy well’ to the pendulum. Rotational forces exerted on the chain-supported pendulum would cause the chain to twist and thus rise up the side of the energy well. Ideally, the only restoring force would be the tendency of the twisted links to untwist, so as to drop back down to the bottom of the energy well. This strategy was successful. Control experiments in which the chain-supported pendulum was stimulated to rotational motion by air puffs showed a rapid deflection of the pendulum, which represented traveling up the side of the energy well. The deflected pendulum then immediately returned to its original position and remained there, with no sho oscillations being evident. This is consistent with the chain-link pendulum conforming to the characteristics of an energy well. The chain-supported pendulum was used to assess subject effects on the pendulum. The basic pattern of the subject effects resembled those obtained with a nylon filament-supported pendulum, except the large sho swings that are a feature of the filament-supported pendulum, were absent from the effects observed by the chain-supported pendulum. Thus, for the first time, the pattern of subject-induced effects could be observed, measured, and analyzed without being obscured by sho oscillations. Soon after the subject was seated under the pendulum, its rotational motion drove the pendulum rotational position up one side of the energy well, where it stayed throughout the experiment. This establishes that the force is a spiral force, which conforms to our earlier observations. The now-visible underlying subject-induced oscillations are nuanced and sophisticated and are reminiscent of the complexity of music or speech. Moreover, these oscillations encompass a range of very low frequencies, from less than 0.01 Hz to 0.15 Hz. The frequency amplitudes rise dramatically at the lowest frequencies, suggesting the existence of additional even lower frequencies; but if they exist, the current pendulum cannot detect them. The frequency amplitudes toward the upper end do not fade away completely, suggesting that what is observed represents what there is. These frequencies are much lower than what is detected by electrodes attached to the scalps of subjects which measure minute voltage fluctuations called ‘brain waves.’ These voltage-related brain waves range from 0.5-42 Hz. Low frequency humpback whale sounds, often attributed to being a means of long-range communication, range from 30-8,000 Hz. As far as we know, the low frequencies observed with the chain-supported pendulum are unprecedented. As of now, the nature and origin of the subject effects measured by the nylon filament and chain-supported pendulums are not known. Accumulating evidence argues that they are not merely subject-induced thermal convection currents, but some other form of energy that originates from the subject. As an energy of very low frequency, it could be expected to propagate over long distances, reminiscent of low frequency whale sounds. This article addresses these and other issues.