Skeptic Friends Network

Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?
Home | Forums | Active Topics | Active Polls | Register | FAQ | Contact Us  
  Connect: Chat | SFN Messenger | Buddy List | Members
Personalize: Profile | My Page | Forum Bookmarks  
 All Forums
 Our Skeptic Forums
 Pseudoscience
 My 4th grade Science project....
 New Topic  Topic Locked
 Printer Friendly Bookmark this Topic BookMark Topic
Next Page
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic
Page: of 3

Storm
SFN Regular

USA
708 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  10:04:47  Show Profile  Visit Storm's Homepage Send Storm a Private Message
My son came to me and said that next year he was going to have to make a Science project for the Fair.... So I said to him what do you think you would want to make..... His reply .. well how about something to do with ghosts... maybe a communication machine... Very interesting I thought... So we did some research on Thomas Edison's Spirit Communicator... So here is one website he found...

http://www.paranormalinvestigators.com/WhatIsEVP.htm

Well that is what we are going to do... Can't wait to for us to expirement... Imagine that Fair down here in the Bible Belt.... Hopefully they won't burn us at the Stake... Ya know mob mentality...

Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  10:58:33   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Storm

My son came to me and said that next year he was going to have to make a Science project for the Fair.... So I said to him what do you think you would want to make..... His reply .. well how about something to do with ghosts... maybe a communication machine... Very interesting I thought... So we did some research on Thomas Edison's Spirit Communicator... So here is one website he found...

http://www.paranormalinvestigators.com/WhatIsEVP.htm

Well that is what we are going to do... Can't wait to for us to expirement... Imagine that Fair down here in the Bible Belt.... Hopefully they won't burn us at the Stake... Ya know mob mentality...



For the sake of your son's education, I hope that by the time next year rolls around you've moved on to something less related to the paranormal/supernatural!
Go to Top of Page

Storm
SFN Regular

USA
708 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  11:33:40   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Storm's Homepage Send Storm a Private Message
Who says it has to be labeled that... My sons education will only be enhanced... I will open his mind to the many possibilities, then through evidence and contemplation he can make his own decisions...
What do you think an EVP means to me? How do you think I would define one? How do you?
Go to Top of Page

Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  11:37:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Storm
What do you think an EVP means to me? How do you think I would define one? How do you?


Well, since I don't know what EVP means at all, I have no idea how you would interpret it. Nor do I know how you define it. And of course, I'm in no position to define something about which I know nothing. Inform me.

And while you're at it, just how would you and your son go about doing this science project?
Go to Top of Page

Storm
SFN Regular

USA
708 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  11:49:37   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Storm's Homepage Send Storm a Private Message
originally posted by Cune

For the sake of your son's education, I hope that by the time next year rolls around you've moved on to something less related to the paranormal/supernatural!

Originally posted by Cune

Well, since I don't know what EVP means at all, I have no idea how you would interpret it. Nor do I know how you define it. And of course, I'm in no position to define something about which I know nothing. Inform me.

How could you then ask me to move on from something you know nothing about? You are a Skeptic right? Don't fall to the side of the Debunker...
See Cune... I doKnowsome things about EVP or Electric Voice Phenomenon... So start with the link I gave... Look beyond the Paranormal... Supernatural... It's possibilities can be thought of Scientifically... I have proposed this before.. with the decomposition of consciousness theory or ideas...
I too am a Skeptic on many things believe it or not... but my immediate reaction is not to debunk a paranormal or supernatural claim... but to investigate... rule out certain possibilities... try to reach conclusions... but there are always those anomolies...

How to make the Machine well that is another story.....
Go to Top of Page

David Mc
Skeptic Friend

USA
63 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  12:31:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send David Mc a Private Message
EVP has a movie out. "White Noise" (Michael Keaton)
There have been some recordings made. Most are questionable, yet some exsist that are good enough to spark curiousity.

Just some thoughts on the project. There are three ways I've considered to catch a better quality audio.

One, is to control the ambient noise. There might be an inexpensive software available to help filter it out and clean up any voices.

Another, is that if the EVP's are electromagnetic, the plastic cone cut out of cheap microphone would leave just the sensitive magnetic coil to pick it up.

The third is similar to the first, only cut the paper cone out of a small speaker and playback your control sound as a magnetic field near the mic. It might help pick up electomagnetic signals along with any auditory sound.

We won't know unless we look (or listen, in this case.)

Theoretically, you might not need a ghost around to test. If ghosts are disembodied souls then you're in luck. Your soul, or your son's is right there with you in it's handy "carrying case". So why not try a little acting and whip up an emotion or simply concentrate on thinking "louder", and repeat one word over and over.

Even if all you do is whip up a rythmic buzzing sound from all of that brain activity, he'll at least have something he can demonstrate.

Have fun.

Oh, and keep a camera handy. I want to see a picture of the teacher's face when he reads the materials list for the experiment. "... and then you need one ghost..."

Go to Top of Page

Siberia
SFN Addict

Brazil
2322 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  13:05:13   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Siberia's Homepage  Send Siberia an AOL message  Send Siberia a Yahoo! Message Send Siberia a Private Message
Electronic voice phenomenon.

"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa

"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
Go to Top of Page

beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard

USA
3834 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  13:44:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send beskeptigal a Private Message
quote:
The voices are the projections of the person recording


I interpret this to mean you think you hear something that isn't there, or once you define what you think you hear everyone else then thinks they hear the same. If the hypothesis is you alter the white noise with your thoughts then the choices of explanations are inadequate.

More:
quote:

The voices are the projections of the person recording

The voices are a form of residual haunting and not really a spirit entity; when a traumatic event happens on a site, the environment absorbs the energy associated with the event and merely replays the same events over and over.

The sounds are extra terrestrial in nature.

The sounds are from spirits who are attempting to contact the physical world; some EVPs are claimed to be answers to questions posed by the recorder.

The paper calls these theories, no they are hypotheses.

The idea is to design criteria to test the hypotheses. I only see that the study is going to make recordings and listen to the static.

Storm, do make this a learning experience for you and your son. When you get your white noise have different people listen to it without knowing what the others think it said. If they come up with different messages then have a second group listen and tell them ahead of time what to expect. In other words if one person hears "Come here" and another person hears "Go there" see if telling a listener what to expect causes them to perceive the message as expected.

That's about the most you can get from an experiment such as this. To prove the white noise has any other meaning except "sounds like xyz" will not be accomplished by this test.
Edited by - beskeptigal on 02/20/2005 13:53:46
Go to Top of Page

Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  14:26:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Storm
[How could you then ask me to move on from something you know nothing about? You are a Skeptic right? Don't fall to the side of the Debunker...
See Cune... I doKnowsome things about EVP or Electric Voice Phenomenon... So start with the link I gave...


Oops-- all I saw was "Thomas Edison's Spirit Communicator" and didn't see that your link ended with EVP. Thus, when you asked about it I didn't make the connection.

But since either way EVP has to do with ghosts, and since the proof for ghosts is nil (you can't even define what a ghost is besides using undefinable things like "energy"), my guess is that evidence for EVP=zero.
Go to Top of Page

R.Wreck
SFN Regular

USA
1191 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  14:51:57   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send R.Wreck a Private Message
quote:
beskeptigal wrote:

When you get your white noise have different people listen to it without knowing what the others think it said. If they come up with different messages then have a second group listen and tell them ahead of time what to expect. In other words if one person hears "Come here" and another person hears "Go there" see if telling a listener what to expect causes them to perceive the message as expected.



Nice try, but the fine investigators over at paranormalinvestigators.com got that covered:

quote:
Since human hearing ranges vary, it may be difficult for a group of listeners to agree upon a single conclusion for the content of an EVP.


Once again, even when they're wrong, they're right.

The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley

The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
Go to Top of Page

Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  15:54:12   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message
If your son has a competent science teacher, you are going to help him earn a nice fat F.

Good job.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
Go to Top of Page

Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 02/20/2005 :  18:05:19   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Dude

If your son has a competent science teacher, you are going to help him earn a nice fat F.
Only if the kid attempts to get it to work. A competent science teacher might enjoy a display titled "The Problems Associated with Acceptance of EVP Hypotheses." Include a mock-up of Edison's machine, with a write-up on why it shouldn't work. Etc.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
Go to Top of Page

Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 02/21/2005 :  00:34:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message
quote:
Only if the kid attempts to get it to work. A competent science teacher might enjoy a display titled "The Problems Associated with Acceptance of EVP Hypotheses." Include a mock-up of Edison's machine, with a write-up on why it shouldn't work. Etc.


Yeah, but this is Storm we are talking about. If I were betting, I'd bet that this "science" project won't go that route.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
Go to Top of Page

sumnihil
New Member

USA
39 Posts

Posted - 02/21/2005 :  01:38:54   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send sumnihil a Private Message
hi. new to forums, hate capital letters.

anyway, i'm glad to see storm and her son delving into the unknown for a fourth grade science project. while the results of the project are highly unlikely to either substantively prove or categorically disprove evp, i'm glad to see the kid working on an interesting--though unorthodox--theory in a scientific manner. you remember the last fourth grade science fair you were at? thirty desks covered in "how to make a volcano with baking powder and vinegar" and sunstarved plants rotting below a banner of "what color light helps plants grow best?" i would be thrilled out of my mind to walk up to a students desk and see a thorough, scientific examination of evp.

maybe that's just me. good luck storm.

all great truths began as blasphemies.
--g.b. shaw

yes, i am aware that i do not use capital letters. it is discrimination, and discrimination is wrong. period.
Go to Top of Page

Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9688 Posts

Posted - 02/21/2005 :  02:56:02   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by David Mc
Another, is that if the EVP's are electromagnetic, the plastic cone cut out of cheap microphone would leave just the sensitive magnetic coil to pick it up.
If the cone (whatever part of the microphone you mean by this) is plastic, it will have no impact what-so-ever with any electromagnetic waves in the radio-frequency, nor the coil. Coils are rarely used in today's microphones anyway.

quote:
Have fun.
I'm having fun already.
quote:

Oh, and keep a camera handy. I want to see a picture of the teacher's face when he reads the materials list for the experiment. "... and then you need one ghost..."


Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3

"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder.
Go to Top of Page

Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9688 Posts

Posted - 02/21/2005 :  03:20:54   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message
Actually, I've experienced EVP.

I was playing around with some electronic components, and I had made one of the most basic amplifier couplings one can ever make. (a BC548 transistor with a speaker on the collector-side and a 47kOhm resistor from +9V to the base for biasing (emitter to ground)).

Guess my surprise when I thought I heard an extremely faint voice coming from the speaker. And I hadn't even connected the input of the amp to anything!
Laying my ear against the speaker, there was no doubt. It was a voice!
I got excited and called my brother, and had him listen too. This was 20 years ago, so I doubt my brother will remember the episode.
Anyway, after some more listening I could hear that the voice was Russian. After some more listening I finally pieced it all together:
It was a long wave AM-radio transmission.
Maybe it was the music that gave me the final clue...

There are actually fake "Perpetuum Mobile" that operates on the principle of collecting the energy from long wave radio transmissions.

Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3

"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder.
Go to Top of Page
Page: of 3 Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
Next Page
 New Topic  Topic Locked
 Printer Friendly Bookmark this Topic BookMark Topic
Jump To:

The mission of the Skeptic Friends Network is to promote skepticism, critical thinking, science and logic as the best methods for evaluating all claims of fact, and we invite active participation by our members to create a skeptical community with a wide variety of viewpoints and expertise.


Home | Skeptic Forums | Skeptic Summary | The Kil Report | Creation/Evolution | Rationally Speaking | Skeptillaneous | About Skepticism | Fan Mail | Claims List | Calendar & Events | Skeptic Links | Book Reviews | Gift Shop | SFN on Facebook | Staff | Contact Us

Skeptic Friends Network
© 2008 Skeptic Friends Network Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.17 seconds.
Powered by @tomic Studio
Snitz Forums 2000