• Lobby

  • Superpower or physics?

Thanks for the reply guys. I am by no means attempting to deceive anyone. I did some searchng before I posted and found nothjng and hence the post. I am just as curious as everyone else. Thanks all!
Jad, we are not doubting your intentions, but come on we are supposed to be geeks. Dont take the easy route, dont just take the easy route, if this thing is of your interest then you should observe it closely, examine it, interpret it and come up with a scientific explanation. It maybe just another trick
I hope that oneday a super power arises and heal amputees :)
He's probably scamming people, so let's say it's magic
6 months later
Just an update, since I saw that person and he is still practicing what he's doing. Did a little more research, its called "Water Dowsing" in case anyone is interested.
neither superpowers nor physics ... it's probability

You said "in our village" ... It may just be that your village is rich in water, and he makes use of this
5 days later
vlatkozelka wroteneither superpowers nor physics ... it's probability

You said "in our village" ... It may just be that your village is rich in water, and he makes use of this
He actually freelances in a lot of places now, and is paid to do it and he has a very high success rate, so regardless of what's written above, he is doing his thing and is growing exponentially now.

I don't see why everyone here is mocking me or him, it was just a question I asked and I don't think it's necessary to have such intentions or approaches while replying. I'm not here to entertain myself with this post, I just asked a question. What's more wrong are the reactions i'm getting rather than the question I'm asking.

There is an explanation out there that may be true or not, and had I read about it before I posted than I wouldn't have brought this post up, it's called "Dowsing" in case anyone is interested.

Thanks, and thank you to those who actually replied with good spirit.
jad594 wrote
vlatkozelka wroteneither superpowers nor physics ... it's probability

You said "in our village" ... It may just be that your village is rich in water, and he makes use of this
He actually freelances in a lot of places now, and is paid to do it and he has a very high success rate, so regardless of what's written above, he is doing his thing and is growing exponentially now.

I don't see why everyone here is mocking me or him, it was just a question I asked and I don't think it's necessary to have such intentions or approaches while replying. I'm not here to entertain myself with this post, I just asked a question. What's more wrong are the reactions i'm getting rather than the question I'm asking.

There is an explanation out there that may be true or not, and had I read about it before I posted than I wouldn't have brought this post up, it's called "Dowsing" in case anyone is interested.

Thanks, and thank you to those who actually replied with good spirit.
I'm always intrigued by these things that have no scientific explanation yet many people swear by them. I remember when I was a kid our neighbors used such a person and they dug a pit where he pointed and water was there.

I did a bit of wiki reading on dowsing and it says "Dowsing is considered a pseudoscience, and there is no scientific evidence that it is any more effective than random chance." yet the success stories you shared with us and which I've heard before say otherwise.

Now if we were discussing the persons who claim they can find gold underground, then I'd say yeah that's a complete scam because they never find any and it's just a scheme to make money from uneducated people, but if those who claim they can find water were not successful enough, then they'd be labeled the same way as the "gold-explorers".

Anyway, I studied in Engineering, I truly believe in science, but yes this is something that makes me question how real/fake it is versus how successful it is.
18 days later
Superpower? Definitely not. Physics? Absolutely yes. As you said it is commonly known as water dowsing, but another commonly used name is ideomotor effect. It is used with an object that has high level content of liquid like an egg or a coconut, or using 2 L shaped rods or a pendulum. It is heavily done in farming cultures like India and African countries. It requires some practice, but by flexing your muscles in a specific manner, the coconut or egg will topple to the side once you step on an area with groundwater underneath. Here is a link to a Youtube video where the presenter shows how to topple the coconut or egg to detect groundwater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fDprYQQNW4.

If I were you, I'd get myself a coconut and train next to a well. Once I get good at it, I do it free of charge just to mess around with that guy.

[Edit] By the way, the reason for the toppling motion is electric charge distribution in one's body, the coconut/egg/L rods/pendulum, and the terrain with or without water. When a terrain has water, your body's motion above the terrain give rise to static electricity, which goes into the object in one's hand. In case of the egg or cocount, it topples the object over. In case of L rods or pendulum, they deflect. Another Youtube video for L rod water dowsing is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3LhnrFrrEw [/Edit]
mesa177 wroteSuperpower? Definitely not. Physics? Absolutely yes. As you said it is commonly known as water dowsing, but the scientific name is ideomotor effect. It is used with an object that has high level content of liquid like an egg or a coconut, or using 2 L shaped rods or a pendulum. It is heavily done in farming cultures like India and African countries. It requires some practice, but by flexing your muscles in a specific manner, the coconut or egg will topple to the side once you step on an area with groundwater underneath. Here is a link to a Youtube video where the presenter shows how to topple the coconut or egg to detect groundwater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fDprYQQNW4.

If I were you, I'd get myself a coconut and train next to a well. Once I get good at it, I do it free of charge just to mess around with that guy.
Are you being serious? the only physics i see is gravity and his muscle movement. The ideomotor effect is not related to physics.
DNA wrote
mesa177 wroteSuperpower? Definitely not. Physics? Absolutely yes. As you said it is commonly known as water dowsing, but the scientific name is ideomotor effect. It is used with an object that has high level content of liquid like an egg or a coconut, or using 2 L shaped rods or a pendulum. It is heavily done in farming cultures like India and African countries. It requires some practice, but by flexing your muscles in a specific manner, the coconut or egg will topple to the side once you step on an area with groundwater underneath. Here is a link to a Youtube video where the presenter shows how to topple the coconut or egg to detect groundwater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fDprYQQNW4.

If I were you, I'd get myself a coconut and train next to a well. Once I get good at it, I do it free of charge just to mess around with that guy.
Are you being serious? the only physics i see is gravity and his muscle movement. The ideomotor effect is not related to physics.
I should have mentioned the static electricity part. And yes I'm dead serious. Makes for a very neat trick. Edit added to the post.
I am no scientist but i would say apart from how he gets the egg to move he comes into the site already sure of whether there is water or not.. He probably gets to that decision based on previous attempts, geography and knowledge of the area and luck.. The problem itself has only two outcomes so he already has a 50 percent chance of being right and if he has some scientific background and knows about the geology of the region he might already be aware of th answer or at least it will boost his odds, and if he is always consulted he will probably know the region and could do a well informed guess which with his already high odds can mean he has an 85 to 90 percent to be true... Not to mention he will probably make up for any bad calls with his silver tongue like most con artistd do... So the guy never loosrs
@Mesa - Thanks for the info! Also watched the video's, very informative.

@Zickar - Considering his extremely high success rate and in areas to which he's never been, I would have to respectfully disagree. "Not to mention he will probably make up for any bad calls with his silver tongue like most con artistd do... So the guy never loosrs" <-- No need to make assumptions my friend, especially those which aren't true.
That's really funny. RIP physics
@mesa i though you are trolling at first from what i know you are an engineer, what they are claiming has no scientific proof as an engineer you should be able to tell me how ground water would induce static electricity on a human above the surface which is electrically neutral i need physics, Posting indian videos doesnt support what you claim.
Sorry if I offended you jad in anyway.. Apparently you have more info than me on this matter so probably you can figure this out
Lol I don't recall saying I was offended or I took any of it personal. Trust me, it's not THAT important to me, just a thought in the back of my head.