OT: Expert fail

[Tim+]

Dunno where they found this “expert” to debunk these “electric rocks” but I think his theory that the sparks being produced in the first video are static electricity is simply ludicrous. Since when did a static electric spark produce an arc strong enough and sustained enough to leave burn marks?

Seems much more likely to me that a low voltage high current source (welding set) or other external power source is being used with a conductive ore.

The LED demonstration is clearly sleight of hand and he does get that right at least.

Tim

[Theo]

It's not clear the 'expert' is referring to this particular video, rather than commenting on other videos he's seen. The piece has been cut together by somebody else and we don't know which videos he's referring to.

Yes - you don't make the 'rock' glow red hot through static. Although I'm not sure what kinds of ores are sufficiently conductive to carry enough current.

Agreed, although it could be possible to set up an electrochemical cell with two dissimilar metals and an electrolyte (the classic electrodes in lemon or potato). The current might be enough to light an LED. I'm not sure if skin moisture would be enough, but (dirty) water could be. Of course none of that is on camera.

It is also possible that the videos are demonstrating conductivity (ie XYZ ore is conductive enough to make sparks when connected to a welding set), and the internet has taken them out of context to suggest the rocks are sources of electricity.

Don't believe what you see on the internet, essentially.

Theo

[alan_m]

Radioactive waste being dumped in the Congo?

[ARW]

Lou said it was a welder set - and she is a trained welder.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Since Thor invented lightning?

We are made of radioactive waste.

>

[Tim Streater]

Yes. all the elements that go to make any planet or living creature were created in stars and distributed by supernova explosions.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not Quite all,. IIRC hydrogen just appear spontaneously in a big bang

Ain't nuthin' more natural than a fusion bomb.

[Tim Streater]

Around a few mins after the BB and for a few mins conditions were right for fusion. So we ended up with 75% hydrogen and 25% helium, plus a smattering [1] of lithium & beryllium. That's it. Everything else was made in stars (up to iron) as the Sun is doing today or in supernova explosions (all elements heavier than iron).

[1] I've not been able to discover what a "smattering" is in this context.

[Clive Arthur]

<snip>

Copper pyrite (sulfide) is certainly conductive. Probably other sulfides too.

(I worked in a copper mine for a few weeks once.)

[John Walliker]

Gold ore is also conductive in some directions. I have a piece in front of me, complete with veins of gold, that was presented to my grandfather who was the village policeman in a gold mining town as a retirement present.

John

[soup]

Lou?

[John J]

Thanks - you've just filled in a missing piece of a mental jigsaw. I grew up next to a chemicals works where copper pyrites were brought in by river barge to be burned in the lead chamber acid plant. I remember one of the towers (can't recall if it was glover or Gay-Lussac?) had a flue which poured out a noxious yellow fume. Not nice when the wind blew towards the village.

[Brian Gaff]

I did not see this, but in some places you get strange purple lights near storms in and around certain rocky outcrops. Scientists are still trying to find out why. Indeed they will openly admit that lightening strikes are not a simple to explain as one might think. I'm sure we have all played with a Tesla coil as a lad, often called a violet wand? Brian

[ARW]

My partner of the fairer sex.