Observations placeholder

THE METAL-BENDERS” by PROFESSOR JOHN B. HASTED

Effects produced on various electronic components – resistors and capacitors – have been studied elsewhere; in my own experiments I have exposed Zener diodes and field effect transistors to the action of subjects.

The ‘characteristic’ of a Zener diode is the dependence of current in which it passes upon the voltage V applied to it the function l(V). In a certain voltage range there is normally a fairly sudden increase in current with increasing voltage. This is sensitive to the level of impurity atoms in the depletion layer of the crystal, so that there is a good physical basis for the electrical detection of crystallographic change. On the other hand, it could be that a change in the l(V) characteristic was attributable to a change in one or the other junction.

A minicomputer (Digico Micro l6) has been used to generate a 1024 bit staircase voltage lasting a period of seconds. This is applied to a Zener diode in series with a stabilised resistor, the voltage across which is monitored and the information stored in the computer. Both digital-to-analogue and analogue-to-digital converters are used.

A characteristic (A) is shown on a visual display unit and if necessary recorded on chart or on punched paper tape.

A second characteristic (B) is measured after an interval of 4 minutes, without any exposure to the psychic. Within the computer, B is subtracted from A; since they should be identical, the result B – A is a horizontal line, I = 0 at all V. However, there is some noise in the measurement system, which is manifested as a series of spikes along this line. The number of these can be made a small fraction of the total bit number 1024. Each spike is l0 mV in magnitude. The number or number density of spikes is measured.

After this preparation a 4-minute exposure of the Zener diode to the psychic is made. Only the Zener diode is shown to the subject; the stabilised resistor is screened from view so that any effect on it should be minimized. The computer is not operating during the exposure. The Zener diode is temperature-stabilised by immersion within a transparent plastic bag in ice water 0° C. In similar experiments on a held effect transistor this was found to be unnecessary, since the sensitivity of the characteristic to temperature variation is apparently smaller.

After the 4-minute exposure a new characteristic (C) is measured and the difference C – B displayed. If the exposure has given rise to any variation of the characteristic, then instead of the horizontal line there will be a step or a series of steps. We do not expect a smooth curve because the instrumentation is incapable of recording any change smaller than l0 mV (except in terms of frequency of spikes); the effects we have found have only been of the order of tens of millivolts.

The exposure of Zener diodes and later of field effect transistors to Willie G. and to adult healer Dr Melvin Cann has produced some small but possibly real effects. Table 16.1 summarises the conclusions of the experiments.