| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 382.1 | dawn of the plasmoids... | SSDEVO::ACKLEY | | Mon Jun 15 1987 14:03 | 27 |
| Jacques Vallee says that most UFO sightings begin with the
sighting of a light or luminous object. UFO's so often are
reported to materialize and dematerialize that a lot of
investigators have decided that UFO's are something that is
normally invisible that may give off visible light under certain
conditions. The term "plasmoid" refers to structures made
of plasma, such as ball lightning or the human aura. Recent
UFO investigators have concluded that many UFO phenomena can
be attributed to living plasmoids with a limited animal-like
intelligence.
Trevor James Constable in his book "The Cosmic Pulse of Life",
explores the plasmoid theory in detail, with infra-red photographs
and forays into the theories of Wilhelm Reich, Ruth Drown and
others.
My own investigations have convinced me that the immortal
human spirit is a plasmoidal creature in symbiosis with the
physical body.
I think this area may open up incredible vistas of knowledge
and technology in upcoming years. If we can develop instruments
to detect or communicate with plasmoids (other than the nervous
system of a medium or sensitive) then we may learn a whole lot
more about the spirit world, and establish scientific validity
for concepts that are now valid only in a religious or
non-scientific realm.
Alan.
|
| 382.2 | Swamp Gas | FLOWER::JASNIEWSKI | | Mon Jun 15 1987 14:21 | 6 |
|
1. Swamp gas.
2. Local atmospheric ionization caused by geophysical
stress in rocks; large scale piezo-electricity.
JJJ
|
| 382.3 | lighting 101 | INK::KALLIS | Hallowe'en should be legal holiday | Mon Jun 15 1987 14:43 | 48 |
| Re .0, .1:
Many paranormal phenomena indicate some form of manifestation of
light, ranging from ghosts through various manifestations to angles
and higher. The Will-O'-the-Wisp is manifested by tiny blue flames.
There are many things, some in this world and some apparently sopmewhat
outside it that are associated with light.
Given that, let's start at fundamentals. Something is "luminous"
if it shines by self-generated light. Thus, the sun is luminous;
the moon and planets aren't (since they shine by reflected sunlight).
Light-generation can be caused by heat (if something's hot enough,
it glows), by oxidation (fire), by phosphoresence (light generated
by other radiation), by luminescence (chemical generation of light)
and through electrical stimulation (a glowing substance, such as
neon in a neon sign). Actual light generation can be caused by
a combination of the above, too.
Light-emitters can be solid (an ingot of steel in a steelmill),
liquid (lava seen at night), gaseous (a sodium-vapor lamp) or "plasma"
(the sun).
These are _physical_ light sources. There may be metaphysical ones,
about which more below.
Plasmas, plasms, ignoids, etc.
------------------------------
A plasma has been designated as a "fourth state" of matter with
features and characteristics unlike the three better known ones
(solids, liquids, gases). It tends to be electrically conductive,
and apparently, under certain circumstances >may< be self-contained
in a metastable state. Because of that uncertainty, and for purposes
of this Conference discussion, luminous items like ball lightning
are being called ignoids.
Some metaphysicians offer something else - plasms. These are fluidlike
"secretions" of stuff, generally in the form of "ectoplasm." The
spirit mediums popular in the 1920s and 1930s often specialized
in manifestations in which seance participants have seen "ectoplasm";
however, in many cases, the ectoplasm has proven to be fake (the
stage magicians Houdini and Dunninger have written extensively on
this). Ectoplasm (and any associated "plasm"s) is brought up so
that there can be no confusion between a plasm and a plasma. Ectoplasm
manifestations often glowed.
Steve Kallis.
|
| 382.4 | Sources please. | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Mon Jun 15 1987 17:23 | 19 |
| RE: .1
Many of the theories of ball lightning hypothosize that it is consists
of plasma, but this has not, to my knowledge, been confirmed.
Although there is a great deal of electromagnetic activity and even
some emited ions in the vicinity of the human body, I know of no
reproducable evidence (and unlike parapsychological phenomena, this
claim, if correct, would indicate highly reproducible results) which
shows an identifiable permanant plasma surrounding the human body;
much less which demonstrates its identity to the aura which some
sensitives can detect. This of course is a statement of my ignorance.
If there is evidence for either of these points, please give me
a pointer of some kind, I'm interested. It is, of course, perfectly
reasonable for this to be a not-yet-proven theory.
Is this in "The Cosmic Pulse of Life"?
Topher
|
| 382.5 | Nits. | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Mon Jun 15 1987 18:48 | 90 |
| RE: .3
RE: definitions. Pretty good off the top of your head Steve but
not quite right. The following is from the CRC Handbook of Chemistry
and Physics.
Page F-101
*Luminescence* -- Light emission by a process in which kinetic
heat energy is not essential for the mechanism of excitation.
-Electroluminescence- is luminescence from electrical discharges
-- such as sparks or arcs. Excitation in these cases results
mostly from electron or ion collision by which the kinetic energy
of electrons or ions, accelerated in an electrical field, is
given up to the atoms or molecules of the gas present and causes
light emission. -Chemiluminescence- results when energy, set
free in a chemical reaction, is converted to light energy.
The light from many chemical reactions and from many flames
is of this type. -Photoluminescence-, or -florescence-, results
from excitation by absorption of light. The term -phosphorescence
is usually applied to luminescence which continues after excitation
by one of the above methods has ceased. Compare -incandescence-.
Page F-97
*Incandescence* -- Emission of light due to high temperature
of the emitting material. Any other emission of light is called
-luminescence-.
(I added the "- ... -" brackets for clarity).
I should add that although "the light from ... many flames is"
chemiluminescent, the light from ordinary, everyday flames (e.g.,
a candle) is incandescent.
Although gases can show luminescence your example isn't correct.
If you really wish to seperate a plasma from a gas then the light
emitting substance in gas-discharge tubes, including neon, mercury
vapor and sodium vapor lamps is a low-densisty plasma. A good example
that I am sure of is a bit hard to come by. Generally when there
is enough energy to glow visibly, there's enough to ionize the gas.
My best bet would be gas lasers, such as a helium-neon laser, where
the frequency is produced explicitly from bound-electrons changing
energy levels.
Plasmas vs. plasms
I think that it is important to emphasize this distinction. One
of the reasons (not the only one) that I don't like the fourth state
of matter label for a plasma is that it seems to imply as radical
a difference between it and a gas as betweeen a gas and a liquid,
and the physical differences are much more minor. This invites
extrapolations which lead to the confusion between what you term
plasms and plasmas.
A plasma has pretty much the same physical properties as a gas,
except that it is electrically conducting. In the presence of a
source of electrons it is unstable -- in the sense that it turns
into a gas unless energy is put into it to keep them separate.
It expands more energetically than an un-ionized gas when uncontained.
Under really extreme conditions of heat and pressure plasmas will
fuse to form other substances. Electrically conducting fluids,
whether gaseous, liquid, or suspended solids, have interesting and
useful properties which are just starting to be used for practical
purposes (ever seen a mercury electric motor? Its a cute toy.)
A plasma is less different from a gas than a metallic solid is from
a vitreous (glassy) solid, for example.
Plasmas are not more refined than an ordinary gas. They cannot
freely penetrate solids. Although they require energy to create
and to maintain in the presence of electrons they are manifestations
of ordinary matter not energy in any meaningful, everyday sense.
Their electrical conductance makes them manipulatable by electric and
magnetic fields, and able to create electric and magnetic fields. This
opens the possibility that with sufficient energy input (which might be
in the form of their own chemical reactions or recombination with
ambiant electrons -- for a while) there may be stable, self-contained,
self-organized plasma forms. These would be very sensitive to any
electrical or magnetic activity in their region. Traditional physical
theory indicates that the lifetime of such a plasma, unless it is
very diffuse, should be measured in micro- to mille-seconds. Ball
lightning strongly suggests that conditions exist where that time
can be "upped" to seconds or even a few minutes. One can imagine much
longer time, but, under earthly conditions this requires going really
far out beyond anything known about plasmas.
Topher
|
| 382.6 | what is an aura, if not a plasmoid? | WORM::ACKLEY | alan the plasmoid | Tue Jun 16 1987 11:17 | 61 |
| RE .4:
No, "Cosmic Pulse of Life" does NOT claim that the aura
is a plasmoid, that was my own assumption. I assume that if the
spirit survives death of the animal body, the surviving portion
must have some physical essence. Since ghosts have been photographed
using the infra-red techniques (I don't have that reference handy)
I assume that the aura must have something in common with plasmoids
of other types.
There may be quite a range in the types of invisible material
that we have not yet explored. Electrical plasmas, as in ball
lightning may not cover the whole range necessary to describe the
phenomena.
Rudolf Steiner believed that there were three or four "ethers",
and that each person has three separate auras, each made of a
different ether. He said that one aura was aquired by plants
in evolving past the mineral stage. A second aura was aquired
by animals (this second aura is said to give us the ability to
feel emotions). The third aura he called the "ego body", and
was thought to be the seat of consciousness.
Given the many accounts of astral travellers being able to
walk through walls, I must hypothesize that one or more of the
above mentioned aura structures MUST have this ability, after
all the auras have interpenetrated the physical body.
These auras may be more akin to standing wave structures,
rather than electrical particals, as in ball lightning.
Given the wave of UFO contactees who are recieving "telepathic
communications", and the similarity this has to traditional
mediums communicating with spirits, can we assume that some
UFO's have something in common with invisible spirits?
My own world view assumes the existence of a wide variety
of invisible life forms that have not yet been explored by
science. While I don't yet know exactly what substance these
forms are made of, I suspect that eventually some of this
will be verified, and these life forms will be found responsible
for various phenomena:
1) symbiosis with more solid life forms, aiding in
healing, perception....
2) lights in the sky and various physical "UFO" traces
3) legends of elementals + nature spirits
I doubt that ball lightning, in particular is "alive" in any
sense of the word, and obviously the use of the word "plasmoid"
conjures up something different in each of our imaginations.
When a Kirlian photograph is taken of a leaf with the corner
sliced off, the aura of the sliced off portion appears in the
picture. The latent pattern of the veins and cells appears in
this aura. What is this a photograph of? The photography
process electrifies the aura so that it can be photographed,
similar to the way a cell might be stained for observation.
I persist in believing that understanding luminous phenomena
in the atmosphere will be enhanced by progress in biology and
research into the nature of the aura.
What should I call the aura, if it is not a plasmoid? To
appear in the Kirlian photograph it must have some sort of
physical existence.
alan.
|
| 382.7 | | ERASER::KALLIS | Hallowe'en should be legal holiday | Tue Jun 16 1987 12:02 | 80 |
| Re .6:
> ... I assume that if the
>spirit survives death of the animal body, the surviving portion
>must have some physical essence. Since ghosts have been photographed
>using the infra-red techniques (I don't have that reference handy)
>I assume that the aura must have something in common with plasmoids
>of other types.
Alan, a couple of points here. I don't know the citation of ghosts
being photographed using infrared light (except for one _very
questionable_ book called _The Supernatural_), but if there was
no doubt about such pictures, they should be readily available.
"Physical essence"s of souls needn't mean any form of matter we're
ordinarily familiar with. Finally, you say that the aura "must
have something in common with plasmoids of other types," by which
you have in effect _defined_ the aura as a plasmoid. Whether it
is or not is the question, not the answer.
> There may be quite a range in the types of invisible material
>that we have not yet explored. Electrical plasmas, as in ball
>lightning may not cover the whole range necessary to describe the
>phenomena.
Granted. But your (probably unconscious) assumption is that all
"invisible material" can be defined as plasmas/plasmoids.
> Rudolf Steiner believed that there were three or four "ethers",
>and that each person has three separate auras, each made of a
>different ether. He said that one aura was aquired by plants
>in evolving past the mineral stage. A second aura was aquired
>by animals (this second aura is said to give us the ability to
>feel emotions). The third aura he called the "ego body", and
>was thought to be the seat of consciousness.
This is akin to the belief in the multiplicity of souls in a human
by the ancient Egyptians; that makes it neither true nor false;
just a belief.
> Given the many accounts of astral travellers being able to
>walk through walls, I must hypothesize that one or more of the
>above mentioned aura structures MUST have this ability, after
>all the auras have interpenetrated the physical body.
Again, you've defined the auras as something independent from but
interpenetrating "the physical body." Thus, your reasoning is based
on something you've defined: assume for a moment that an aura is
a _necessary part_ of a living being (aura and spirit may not be
the same thing), then the whole "interpenetrating" argument goes
out the window.
> My own world view assumes the existence of a wide variety
>of invisible life forms that have not yet been explored by
>science. While I don't yet know exactly what substance these
>forms are made of, I suspect that eventually some of this
>will be verified ...
Agreed. There may be many invisible life forms [there are already
billions of types, if one includes bacteria. :-)]. What substance(s)
these may be made from, if they exist, is an open question.
> What should I call the aura, if it is not a plasmoid? To
>appear in the Kirlian photograph it must have some sort of
>physical existence.
Call it an aura. Or coin some neutral term (e.g., "biofield,"
"vitaforce," or "essence") until we have a better handle on it.
President Lincoln once asked someone, "If you call the tail of a
dog a leg, how many legs does a dog have?"
The person answered "Five."
Lincoln responded, "No, it has four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't
make it one."
The same may hold true for plasmoids. :-)
Sterve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 382.8 | Aura, Plasma and Plasm. | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Tue Jun 16 1987 13:06 | 37 |
| RE: .6
Without questioning the existance of the human aura, I can and do
question that the Kirlian process allows us to photograph it. This
has been discussed in another note somewhere. It has been demonstrated
to a pretty high degree of reliability that Kirlian photography
represents a form of chrona discharge combined with, for some of
the effects, chemical reactions between sweat and the photographic
emulsion. That is in Kirlian photography electricity is put into
the subject and then photographed coming out. It comes out in
interesting and potentially useful ways which relate to the chemical,
and electrical properties of the skin at every point -- but not
of anything "radiated" beyond the skin (except perhaps for some
local, chemically doped humidity).
Plasmas simply do not interpenetrate solid matter. There may be
plasma beings (though I doubt it) but they would then be unable
to interpenetrate solid matter. The substance of the aura and of
the soul, given that they have a substance in a meaningful sense,
(a radio broadcast is certainly real but can not be said to have
substance [excepting All Things Considered, of course :-)] in any
useful sense of the word), and given the properties you suppose
*have* to be something else -- lets call it plasm.
If you really want to identify plasm with something known (but
undetected) to science you might consider "shadow matter" currently
a hot topic of scientific theorizing. Shadow matter is matter which
interacts with other shadow matter with forces analagous to the
ones we know, but are uninfluenced by the weak, strong, and
electromagnetic forces. The only common ground is gravitational
forces. Shadow matter easily interpenetrates ordinary matter, and
some have proposed that up to 90% of the mass of the universe may
be in the form of shadow matter. The major problem which must be
overcome in any theory using shadow matter is how such matter interacts
with the physical body at all.
Topher
|
| 382.9 | Ghost of a story | DONNER::LAFOREST | Make Love, Not War | Tue Jun 16 1987 16:10 | 27 |
| I won't begin to talk about plasmoids, plasma or any of the other
possible causes of luminious phenomenon. I will, however, tell
about an experience a group of us had.
About 12-13 years ago I read in National Geographic magazine
about a cemetery near Silver Cliff, Colorado that had tombstones
that glowed in the dark. The article never came up with a reason
for the phenomenon but did show some pretty interesting pictures.
Well, the camping club that we belonged to happened to be camping
near Silver Cliff shortly after I read the article and we decided
to go over there and see for ourselves if they really did glow.
After driving to the cemetery (it was a perfect night, light rain
and occasional lightning) we went in, women, children and all.
Well, we found that not only did the tombstones glow, but that the
glow would drift between them and between us. I must admit that
I became somewhat aprehensive when my tennis shoes began to glow.
No one present that night felt any kind of 'presence' or got the
feeling of anything unusual being present.
This particular cemetery has also been featured on the old 'You
Asked For It' TV series, but no explanation for the glow has ever
been decided upon. Would any of you like to venture a guess as
to the cause?
Ray
|
| 382.10 | Neat! | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Tue Jun 16 1987 16:20 | 8 |
| That's a "good'un". Thanks for telling us.
I could make a whole bunch of different guesses, but without a lot
more information I'd be talking through my hat. I'll check some
references to see if I can find anything, but I wouldn't bet on
it (my Fortean science library is not that extensive).
Topher
|
| 382.11 | Well, I'll talk through my hat.... | ELMO::STAFFON | | Wed Jun 17 1987 12:22 | 15 |
| Well, I am going to venture my guess on it on the basis of the old
SAT idea: go with your first guess!
The first thing that entered my mind was the "presence" of phosphorus!
I believe you said some of the "glow" got on your sneakers, correct?
I am pretty sure that phosphorus is transferable, so to speak.
The reason I think this, is that phosphorus is present in the ocean
and it is the wierdest thing to see....patches of glowing sand and
there is no moon light present! A good conversation piece when
the beach party starts to get dull!!
I would like to see the cemetary! That phenomena puts the sand
on the Cape to shame!!
-Leigh
|
| 382.12 | from .9: | ERASER::KALLIS | Hallowe'en should be legal holiday | Wed Jun 17 1987 12:33 | 20 |
| Re .11:
> Well, we found that not only did the tombstones glow, but that the
> glow would drift between them and between us. I must admit that
> I became somewhat aprehensive when my tennis shoes began to glow.
> No one present that night felt any kind of 'presence' or got the
> feeling of anything unusual being present.
This does not sound like phosphorous. That should be a steady glow,
not a motile one. Further, the "phosphorous" of the sea is actually
the result of microorganisms in the sea that can luminesce when
stimulated: the effect is most pronounced in the wake of large ships
going through the water at speed.
This might not be "supernatural" not "paranormal," but even if it
in neither of those, it surely sounds damned interesting!
I echo Topher's thanks for sharing this. It is indeed a "good 'un."
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 382.13 | More specifically... | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Wed Jun 17 1987 12:34 | 17 |
| RE: .11
There is phosphorus in the ocean (along with practically all the
other elements at some level of concentration or another) but it
does not explain (at least directly) the glowing patches of sand.
They are due to phosphorescent plankton. I am not sure whether in
this case it is chemiluminescence or florescence. While they are
alive it is chemiluminescence. Many compounds of phosphorus have
florescent phosphorescence (you know -- like the glow in the dark
teeth you can by at the 5 and dime which you "charge up" under a
light) and could be the source of the plankton's glowing.
One of the guesses I would have made if I was going to talk through
my hat (which I guess I'm doing now) would be luminescent moss or
fungii, or their spores. These are not that uncommon.
Topher
|
| 382.14 | Luminescent Fungi | NATASH::BUTCHART | | Wed Jun 17 1987 13:26 | 7 |
| Has anyone ever seen the Jack O'Lantern fungus? It's one of those
that glows (would it be chemiluminescence?). I've seen them in
the daylight, and promised myself to come back after dark to see
if I could "catch it in the act", but haven't remembered to do so
once it actually got dark and I got sleepy.
Marcia
|
| 382.15 | ...glowing things ... how spooky! | ERASER::KALLIS | Hallowe'en should be legal holiday | Wed Jun 17 1987 16:17 | 16 |
| Re .14:
No, I haven't. Has it another name?
Glowing fungi have been the cornerstone in a wide number of reports
of Strange Things in the Night. I recall reading about 20 years
ago a report that people had been claiming they saw strange, softly
glowing things floating through a section of woods on dark, moonlerss
nights. Some researchers finally went to the area (after first
thinking that the reports were "old wives' tales") and determined
that there _were_ such things. However, they captured one and
discovered that it was an owl who was covered with luminous spores
from some sort of fungus that grew on/in a tree that it (and other
owls) lived in. [Owls, of course, fly virtually silently.]
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 382.16 | Doesn't have a common other name that I know of | NATASH::BUTCHART | | Thu Jun 18 1987 10:03 | 14 |
| Re: .15
I have the Latin name for it somewhere in an article on mushroom
hunting. The Jack O'Lantern is one of the poisonous fungi and while
it will not kill you, you may wish you _were_ dead after 3 days
of the the heaves and the trots. The reason that this article
mentioned it in particular is because it bears some resemblance
to the chanterelle, a gourmet delicacy among mushrooms.
I had read in the Encyclopedia Brittanica when I was a child about
luminescent fungi, and the Jack O'Lantern was one of the species
mentioned. Always wanted to see one actually glowing in the dark!
Marcia
|
| 382.17 | I've seen them | SSDEVO::YOUNGER | I haven't lost my mind - it's Backed-up on tape somewhere | Thu Jun 18 1987 22:36 | 8 |
| I've seen the Jack O'Lantern fungus growing along the Long Trail
in Vermont, when it got too dark for me too quick and I hadn't yet
found an appropriate campsite.
They are quite interesting.
Elizabeth
|
| 382.18 | Looked up the Jack-O-Lanturn. | PBSVAX::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Thu Jun 25 1987 18:26 | 13 |
| RE: .16
I was in the library so I looked up the Jack O'Lantern fungus in
the Brittanica. Here's what it said (in the Ready Reference entry
on Agoricales, i.e., gill fungi which includes mushrooms):
"Among the 250 species of the cosmopolotan genus Clitocybe, C.
Illudens, the jack-o-lantern fungus, grows in clusters, is
orange-yellow, has gills on the underside of the cap, and glows
in the dark when young. Poisonous, it is found in the woods on
tree stumps in summer and autumn."
Topher
|