Debunking Dowsing
Science can turn you into a full-time skeptic (as my friends discover at some of the oddest times), but that’s not a bad thing. I’m sure that Smithsonian’s favorite skeptic, James Randi, has had plenty of cocktail conversations in which people try to convince him that they found the magic cure to all his ills, or some other form of woo. But then, he solicits this sort of thing—the James Randi Educational Foundation offers $1 million “to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.”
As the foundation notes: “To date, no one has passed the preliminary tests.”
In this video from the Amazing Randi, we can get a hint of the kind of person who applies for the $1-million-prize. This time it’s a dowser. Watch the video to learn how dowsing really “works.”
Maybe the guy should have watched the next video before submitting his claim. In it, a group of dowsers in the United Kingdom are subjected to a double-blind test of their dowsing ability. Will anyone pass the test?
(Hat tip to Bad Astronomy)
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Just watched this. I am in telecommunications construction, and I use a [single] copper wire about 18″ to 24″ long to “locate” underground wiring and pipes all the time. Telephone, power, gas, water, sewer etc. I have been doing it for years now, and have been proven time and again.
Didnt know it was some a real trick, much less some big inexplicable phenomenon. I figured it was simply something akin to an alinment in magnetic field.
I have taught many people to do it, there have been a few that couldn’t seem to make it work for them, but most pick up on it just fine.
Comment by E. Turner — February 24, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
In reference to the comment left by E. Turner: How does your dowsing rod know what you’re looking for? People claim that dowsing rods will locate water, power lines, precious metals, you name it. Think about it! Seriously! Sounds like wishful thinking to me, you “wish” to find copper wire and… presto, you find it. You “wish” to find a sewer line, and, well, you get my point.
A better explanation is the ideomotor effect and your knowledge of where buried sewers, copper lines, etc., should be found. If you see two manhole covers, you can assume that there’s a buried sewer pipe running bewteen them. You see a telephone pole and corresponding terminal block mounted on a structure and you can assume where the copper wire is buried between them.
James Randi has a $1M prize waiting for anyone who can prove that dowsing really works. Hundreds of people have tried to win this prize, all have failed when tested using a properly controlled scientific method.
Comment by S. Zinski — May 4, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
[...] dowsing rods for bomb detection. And we all should be aware how dowsing “works” [...]
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