The scientific method usually follows this:
1) Ask a question
2) Do your research
3) Construct a hypothesis
4) Experimental Setup/Test it
5) If the outcome does not uphold the hypothesis, modify the hypothesis.
6) Send out data and maybe get a beer (I do not condone underage drinking or drinking while driving, just to clear it up).
Asking a question is simple, it's like asking, "Is my house haunted?"
Done.
Doing your research. People might just think that they'd have to sift through town records of mass killings and suicides, but no you may have to look at other things.
Like, that door just closed. Is it because of air pressure or because of a ghost?
You'd have to like, set up really sensitive detectors around your house. Like ones that can predict air pressure, temperature inside and outside (especially if the "cold room" has an open window), maybe you'd have to acquire a sample of the wooden frame your house is made of (figure out the materials, find what makes them tick, or creak in these cases).
It's not easy, but hey if ghosts actually exist and it's a repeatable experiment that employs the scientific method, oh boy oh boy.
That work won't've gone to waste.
Construct a hypothesis, after your research you may come up with one of these two possibilities: it's haunted, or it's not haunted.
Even if it's not haunted, it probably won't hurt to try it out anyways. Financially it will, however.
If there's a third option, like, "it's haunted sometimes but ghosts shuffle in and out of houses like a demonic merry-go-round", uh, well then. I have nothing to say about that, but it sounds amazing.
Experimental Setup/Test it. Now this is difficult I reckon since using orbs to detect them is a bit flawed. It could very well be dust or moisture or even bugs. Orbs pretty much (to my understanding) occur when light is reflected off a small object. This happens in dark places with the flash on, since the flash which is on top of the lens, can easily brighten whatever is in front of it and have that reflected light come back to the lens as orbs.
Note: People are convinced that any camera can see ghosts. I myself am, regrettably, willing to accept that (at least, willing to believe that it is applicable to at least any commercially sold modern camera). So I am simply gonna research how a typical modern camera may work, as the aspects of a camera affected may be simply the lens and the film.
But wait, maybe ghosts can appear (albeit pretty damn rarely if we don't address this) if the flasher is not near the lens, or at least, not reflecting light towards the lens?
It's a long shot, and I don't understand cameras much, but after watching a video called "How Does a Camera Work?" on YouTube by Allversity, (Disclaimer: Didn't watch the entire video, I'm bad at paying attention), I figure that the fact these orbs appear mean a presence of light, photons, although we also need to understand film. I mean, I guess basically it's a material that interacts with photons to leave a chemical impression on it [the material not the photons, photons are elementary particles, not chemical canvasses].
(Research done here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS1FmgPVLqw)
According to a Wikipedia page on photographic film (Sorry, sorry, I know, I used wikipedia, my art/social studies teacher from middle school would be very disappointed in me, sorry Mr. S.):
"This creates an invisible latent image in the emulsion, which can be chemically developed into a visible photograph. In addition to visible light, all films are sensitive to ultraviolet, X-rays and high-energy particles."
So logically, ghosts emit light, or photons. At least, they emit non-visible light (otherwise perhaps we would not need to use cameras to see ghost orbs). Infrared, or ultraviolet (hopefully not though!) How that may work, I may cover later.
If you want to find some ghost orbs anyways, well, simple. The first (and maybe best) step is to clean the environment. Completely. Get rid of the furniture. Sinks, fridges, beds, couches, window blinds, everything. Everything apparently, and this is one of those things where I curse the universe, attracts dust. Oh, especially electronics. They just love them. That being said, dust your camera before you enter the orb room, but don't wait a while (dusting things apparently results in more dust being attracted).
(Research on dust done here: http://www.pagespersonalcleaning.net/household_dust.htm)
There are also bugs to deal with. Completely isolate the room. Remember, this isn't a room anymore. It's a freaking lab. Like that one guy who used lead and uranium to get the age of the Earth and said that the lead in our hair will contaminate the whole damn lab (he said damn).
Of course there are also EVPs. Not just photographs. The problem with them is that they may pick up some radio waves from nearby stations. In that case, say, what if before an investigation we cover the house in a conductive material that absorbs and reflects radio waves?
(Research concerning radio waves done here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-block-radio-waves/)
It'd have to be completely covered. Like, a house literally made of aluminum, or some extremely conductive material like copper (which has one electron in its valence shell so apparently it's called a free electron that can be pushed through the metal apparently.
(http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/CDA/16plus/copelech2pg2.html)
Here's advice, an EVP detector, or spirit box, is actually pretty bad. I mean, the words have great capacity to be misinterpreted. A good example of misinterpreting words, is like sounds that to one person sounds like "Must distrust Grunkle" and to another as "Trust this rust until".
(Research done here: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/05/14/ghost-box/)
The basic premise of these things, I believe, is that since ghosts manifest energy they manifest energy to speak.
Why?
Well, if ghosts were to "communicate", how exactly? I'll make a post about what I think about ghosts (don't take my word for it, DTMWFI) and guess how they can communicate. For now, let's say that they do communicate via radio waves. How do radio waves work? How does wireless communication work?
(Research done here: http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/communications/1-how-is-data-put-on-radio-waves.html)
Basically what they say is for AM, they modify the Amplitude (A for Amplitude) to encode a signal. For FM, they modify the Frequency (F for frequency, now AM and FM makes sense to me!)
In my unprofessional opinion, or just my unprofessional conclusion, since radio signals deplete in power over distance, since the ghost is like, right next to you, maybe it shouldn't be so damn quiet. EVPs on TV honestly sound like angry whispering. Also this seems like an awfully convoluted way to say stuff. Like, do all ghosts just master radio waves when they enter the afterlife? Perhaps there's a different way. Maybe they can't speak but they use something else to communicate.
People say that they can hear ghost children laughing sometimes.
Could it be worth it to look into this?
I'll do it later. Could require more knowledge on the human brain. I'll brush up on that later.
Regardless, if these ghosts are electromagnetic energy or fluctuations in the electromagnetic field (which to my knowledge, I believe means that they are rising "peaks" in the electromagnetic field that permeates all of space), maybe they use energy regulation to communicate. These might be people after all. They might be smart. Not smart in terms of knowledge, but smart in terms of cunning and stuff.
Perhaps get an EMF detector, oh, that reminds me. EMF detectors, ghost hunters love these stuff. If you want a safe experiment, in a separate room from the orb room (could be unnecessary but never bad to be too careful), take out copper wires.
No conductive material whatsoever.
Mind you, even the sewage pipes and pipes in your house can carry electrical currents and in turn a magnetic field (Moving charges make magnetic fields, thank you Faraday, I hope I got the principle right). Same for above ground and underground power lines.
Note: Electromagnetic fields are basically magnetic fields (I think/hope otherwise I am not ready for physics in a year or so). Accelerating charges such as electrons make magnetic fields, and a changing magnetic field can create a current in a conductive material.
(Research done here: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/ScIT/InformationStorage/faraday/magnetism_a.html#Faraday)
So therefore, maybe I also need to research magnetic fields and perhaps how photons deal with that (All I know for the electro- bit is that electrons are involved, or at least charged particles.)
Note: I forgot what I was thinking before this but now (I was on YouTube), what if, the ghosts are moving magnetic fields which induces an electrical current in EMF detectors? Then again, why should that be the case? There's a medium near my house. Never visited them, maybe they can give insight. If they're legitimate of course. How I determine that, I'll burn that bridge when we get there.
Note: I just remembered, and I'm hope I'm right when I say this. If I'm not, just kindly tell me in the comments or whatever. String theory deals with multiple dimensions, everyone knows that. Why? I asked this question on Reddit a long time ago (and miraculously) someone told me. I mean, then again, this is freaking REDDIT. Not exactly Encyclopedia Britannica, y'know?
But I guess it makes sense. More dimensions to account for more forces (I asked the mathematics behind this but it's too much for my high school mind), and apparently it works by strings vibrating in these higher dimensions (basically interactions in these higher dimensions I think results in these forces), resulting in a manifestation of forces.
Perhaps ghosts are excitations in the electromagnetic field since they might vibrate or exist in higher spatial dimensions?
Note: Higher spatial dimensions are apparently hidden I think, hidden in the sense that they're like rolled up. I think there's debate between whether or not these dimensions are big or small, I dunno. I think the common consensus is that these dimensions are small. I think they're called Calibi-Yau manifolds. This is crossing into territory in which I've no idea how to navigate. Again, if I get more knowledge, I'll update this with a possible future post on what ghosts are in general. In retrospect, I shouldn't've made this post so early. Anyways, there are other ways you can figure out how to make an experiment uncontaminated by external factors. I may update more scenarios later. It's 1:17 AM, okay? Cut me some slack.
Now to test it. Unfortunately, I suppose ghosts are unpredictable. For some reason people claim they are active at night. But however, remember, if they were human, then they must obey some form of psychology. Perhaps if they're territorial, the fact you're in the house will be like attracting a gargantuan angry momma bear to a man covered in honey that kidnapped her cub. Depending on the spirit, that's NOT a bad analogy! I hope it is though. Here's to hoping spirits really can't do shit.
Or maybe, simply asking them to come out to play will work. Of course, if ghosts actually exist in a higher spatial dimension they probably won't hear you since as far as I'm concerned, air molecules are bound to our three dimensions.
But be careful, the action of getting spirits to come to you might contaminate the experimental setup depending on the method. For example, waltzing into the "orb room" and yelling at the ghost might A) get dust inside the room, or B) get a concerned neighbor to call the cops on the suspicious activity in your house/lab.
The rest is pretty simple, in the orb room, turn on the lights, and aim a camera straight to the opposite wall. It's probably best if you have a perfect camera-shaped hole in the room to stick your camera in.
Dust comes from somewhere though so eradicate the spawnpoint.
I'm probably getting more vague now but I've been going at this for at least one and a half hours (2:39 AM now). It's amazing I've lasted this long.
EMF detector will detect and record energy fluctuations in the EMF room over time. Graph it and see if there are any peaks. Call the power company or something and check if they got a power surge all of a sudden, check all potential electrical sources. See if they suddenly started generating too much or too little electricity (the low peaks of perceived non-spiritual presences could be just a lower power output, and the "high" peaks could be just the normal electromagnetic fields.
Before experiment, compare EMFs emitted by electrical devices such as lights and power outlets). Besides, spirits might communicate via electromagnetic fluctuations. But then again that's purely a guess doesn't really uphold.
So now you've got your experiment set up. YAY, collect the da-
OH WAIT MOTHERHECKER.
There's a CONTROL group. Remember that? Did I mention it? I hope.
Basically you set up the exact same setup preferably RIGHT next to the haunted house (so that power surges/outages from the power company are picked up by both houses). Same devices, at the same locations. Same architecture. Same everything.
It'll probably be easier to buy a graveyard with the bodies still in it, build a house above that, and build the exact same house next to the graveyard. One house will definitely be haunted and one house will definitely NOT (Unless ghosts are like invasive species).
Compare data between the two houses. If they match, well, either both houses were haunted (unlikely) or neither houses are haunted (likely).
I know that if people try this probably multimillion dollar project over and over again, results will come up as null over and over again. Easy to get daunted. That's why I'm typing about it, and not doing it. If it works and the haunted house gets more activity, boom, house haunted, ghosts may exist.
I feel like I'm overlooking something huge though. Maybe more experimental groups? If you recognize it, comment, or I might realize it first. I think I'm done?
Haha, no I'm not.
Honestly, we have no idea what ghosts even are. Things people use to detect ghosts are pretty faulty, and unreliable at most times. Again, know the enemy and know thyself and in a hundred battles thou shalt never be in peril.
Any questions or suggestions or corrections, kindly tell me in the comments.
1) Ask a question
2) Do your research
3) Construct a hypothesis
4) Experimental Setup/Test it
5) If the outcome does not uphold the hypothesis, modify the hypothesis.
6) Send out data and maybe get a beer (I do not condone underage drinking or drinking while driving, just to clear it up).
Asking a question is simple, it's like asking, "Is my house haunted?"
Done.
Doing your research. People might just think that they'd have to sift through town records of mass killings and suicides, but no you may have to look at other things.
Like, that door just closed. Is it because of air pressure or because of a ghost?
You'd have to like, set up really sensitive detectors around your house. Like ones that can predict air pressure, temperature inside and outside (especially if the "cold room" has an open window), maybe you'd have to acquire a sample of the wooden frame your house is made of (figure out the materials, find what makes them tick, or creak in these cases).
It's not easy, but hey if ghosts actually exist and it's a repeatable experiment that employs the scientific method, oh boy oh boy.
That work won't've gone to waste.
Construct a hypothesis, after your research you may come up with one of these two possibilities: it's haunted, or it's not haunted.
Even if it's not haunted, it probably won't hurt to try it out anyways. Financially it will, however.
If there's a third option, like, "it's haunted sometimes but ghosts shuffle in and out of houses like a demonic merry-go-round", uh, well then. I have nothing to say about that, but it sounds amazing.
Experimental Setup/Test it. Now this is difficult I reckon since using orbs to detect them is a bit flawed. It could very well be dust or moisture or even bugs. Orbs pretty much (to my understanding) occur when light is reflected off a small object. This happens in dark places with the flash on, since the flash which is on top of the lens, can easily brighten whatever is in front of it and have that reflected light come back to the lens as orbs.
Note: People are convinced that any camera can see ghosts. I myself am, regrettably, willing to accept that (at least, willing to believe that it is applicable to at least any commercially sold modern camera). So I am simply gonna research how a typical modern camera may work, as the aspects of a camera affected may be simply the lens and the film.
But wait, maybe ghosts can appear (albeit pretty damn rarely if we don't address this) if the flasher is not near the lens, or at least, not reflecting light towards the lens?
It's a long shot, and I don't understand cameras much, but after watching a video called "How Does a Camera Work?" on YouTube by Allversity, (Disclaimer: Didn't watch the entire video, I'm bad at paying attention), I figure that the fact these orbs appear mean a presence of light, photons, although we also need to understand film. I mean, I guess basically it's a material that interacts with photons to leave a chemical impression on it [the material not the photons, photons are elementary particles, not chemical canvasses].
(Research done here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS1FmgPVLqw)
According to a Wikipedia page on photographic film (Sorry, sorry, I know, I used wikipedia, my art/social studies teacher from middle school would be very disappointed in me, sorry Mr. S.):
"This creates an invisible latent image in the emulsion, which can be chemically developed into a visible photograph. In addition to visible light, all films are sensitive to ultraviolet, X-rays and high-energy particles."
So logically, ghosts emit light, or photons. At least, they emit non-visible light (otherwise perhaps we would not need to use cameras to see ghost orbs). Infrared, or ultraviolet (hopefully not though!) How that may work, I may cover later.
If you want to find some ghost orbs anyways, well, simple. The first (and maybe best) step is to clean the environment. Completely. Get rid of the furniture. Sinks, fridges, beds, couches, window blinds, everything. Everything apparently, and this is one of those things where I curse the universe, attracts dust. Oh, especially electronics. They just love them. That being said, dust your camera before you enter the orb room, but don't wait a while (dusting things apparently results in more dust being attracted).
(Research on dust done here: http://www.pagespersonalcleaning.net/household_dust.htm)
There are also bugs to deal with. Completely isolate the room. Remember, this isn't a room anymore. It's a freaking lab. Like that one guy who used lead and uranium to get the age of the Earth and said that the lead in our hair will contaminate the whole damn lab (he said damn).
Of course there are also EVPs. Not just photographs. The problem with them is that they may pick up some radio waves from nearby stations. In that case, say, what if before an investigation we cover the house in a conductive material that absorbs and reflects radio waves?
(Research concerning radio waves done here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-block-radio-waves/)
It'd have to be completely covered. Like, a house literally made of aluminum, or some extremely conductive material like copper (which has one electron in its valence shell so apparently it's called a free electron that can be pushed through the metal apparently.
(http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/CDA/16plus/copelech2pg2.html)
Here's advice, an EVP detector, or spirit box, is actually pretty bad. I mean, the words have great capacity to be misinterpreted. A good example of misinterpreting words, is like sounds that to one person sounds like "Must distrust Grunkle" and to another as "Trust this rust until".
(Research done here: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/05/14/ghost-box/)
The basic premise of these things, I believe, is that since ghosts manifest energy they manifest energy to speak.
Why?
Well, if ghosts were to "communicate", how exactly? I'll make a post about what I think about ghosts (don't take my word for it, DTMWFI) and guess how they can communicate. For now, let's say that they do communicate via radio waves. How do radio waves work? How does wireless communication work?
(Research done here: http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/communications/1-how-is-data-put-on-radio-waves.html)
Basically what they say is for AM, they modify the Amplitude (A for Amplitude) to encode a signal. For FM, they modify the Frequency (F for frequency, now AM and FM makes sense to me!)
In my unprofessional opinion, or just my unprofessional conclusion, since radio signals deplete in power over distance, since the ghost is like, right next to you, maybe it shouldn't be so damn quiet. EVPs on TV honestly sound like angry whispering. Also this seems like an awfully convoluted way to say stuff. Like, do all ghosts just master radio waves when they enter the afterlife? Perhaps there's a different way. Maybe they can't speak but they use something else to communicate.
People say that they can hear ghost children laughing sometimes.
Could it be worth it to look into this?
I'll do it later. Could require more knowledge on the human brain. I'll brush up on that later.
Regardless, if these ghosts are electromagnetic energy or fluctuations in the electromagnetic field (which to my knowledge, I believe means that they are rising "peaks" in the electromagnetic field that permeates all of space), maybe they use energy regulation to communicate. These might be people after all. They might be smart. Not smart in terms of knowledge, but smart in terms of cunning and stuff.
Perhaps get an EMF detector, oh, that reminds me. EMF detectors, ghost hunters love these stuff. If you want a safe experiment, in a separate room from the orb room (could be unnecessary but never bad to be too careful), take out copper wires.
No conductive material whatsoever.
Mind you, even the sewage pipes and pipes in your house can carry electrical currents and in turn a magnetic field (Moving charges make magnetic fields, thank you Faraday, I hope I got the principle right). Same for above ground and underground power lines.
Note: Electromagnetic fields are basically magnetic fields (I think/hope otherwise I am not ready for physics in a year or so). Accelerating charges such as electrons make magnetic fields, and a changing magnetic field can create a current in a conductive material.
(Research done here: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/ScIT/InformationStorage/faraday/magnetism_a.html#Faraday)
So therefore, maybe I also need to research magnetic fields and perhaps how photons deal with that (All I know for the electro- bit is that electrons are involved, or at least charged particles.)
Note: I forgot what I was thinking before this but now (I was on YouTube), what if, the ghosts are moving magnetic fields which induces an electrical current in EMF detectors? Then again, why should that be the case? There's a medium near my house. Never visited them, maybe they can give insight. If they're legitimate of course. How I determine that, I'll burn that bridge when we get there.
Note: I just remembered, and I'm hope I'm right when I say this. If I'm not, just kindly tell me in the comments or whatever. String theory deals with multiple dimensions, everyone knows that. Why? I asked this question on Reddit a long time ago (and miraculously) someone told me. I mean, then again, this is freaking REDDIT. Not exactly Encyclopedia Britannica, y'know?
But I guess it makes sense. More dimensions to account for more forces (I asked the mathematics behind this but it's too much for my high school mind), and apparently it works by strings vibrating in these higher dimensions (basically interactions in these higher dimensions I think results in these forces), resulting in a manifestation of forces.
Perhaps ghosts are excitations in the electromagnetic field since they might vibrate or exist in higher spatial dimensions?
Note: Higher spatial dimensions are apparently hidden I think, hidden in the sense that they're like rolled up. I think there's debate between whether or not these dimensions are big or small, I dunno. I think the common consensus is that these dimensions are small. I think they're called Calibi-Yau manifolds. This is crossing into territory in which I've no idea how to navigate. Again, if I get more knowledge, I'll update this with a possible future post on what ghosts are in general. In retrospect, I shouldn't've made this post so early. Anyways, there are other ways you can figure out how to make an experiment uncontaminated by external factors. I may update more scenarios later. It's 1:17 AM, okay? Cut me some slack.
Now to test it. Unfortunately, I suppose ghosts are unpredictable. For some reason people claim they are active at night. But however, remember, if they were human, then they must obey some form of psychology. Perhaps if they're territorial, the fact you're in the house will be like attracting a gargantuan angry momma bear to a man covered in honey that kidnapped her cub. Depending on the spirit, that's NOT a bad analogy! I hope it is though. Here's to hoping spirits really can't do shit.
Or maybe, simply asking them to come out to play will work. Of course, if ghosts actually exist in a higher spatial dimension they probably won't hear you since as far as I'm concerned, air molecules are bound to our three dimensions.
But be careful, the action of getting spirits to come to you might contaminate the experimental setup depending on the method. For example, waltzing into the "orb room" and yelling at the ghost might A) get dust inside the room, or B) get a concerned neighbor to call the cops on the suspicious activity in your house/lab.
The rest is pretty simple, in the orb room, turn on the lights, and aim a camera straight to the opposite wall. It's probably best if you have a perfect camera-shaped hole in the room to stick your camera in.
Dust comes from somewhere though so eradicate the spawnpoint.
I'm probably getting more vague now but I've been going at this for at least one and a half hours (2:39 AM now). It's amazing I've lasted this long.
EMF detector will detect and record energy fluctuations in the EMF room over time. Graph it and see if there are any peaks. Call the power company or something and check if they got a power surge all of a sudden, check all potential electrical sources. See if they suddenly started generating too much or too little electricity (the low peaks of perceived non-spiritual presences could be just a lower power output, and the "high" peaks could be just the normal electromagnetic fields.
Before experiment, compare EMFs emitted by electrical devices such as lights and power outlets). Besides, spirits might communicate via electromagnetic fluctuations. But then again that's purely a guess doesn't really uphold.
So now you've got your experiment set up. YAY, collect the da-
OH WAIT MOTHERHECKER.
There's a CONTROL group. Remember that? Did I mention it? I hope.
Basically you set up the exact same setup preferably RIGHT next to the haunted house (so that power surges/outages from the power company are picked up by both houses). Same devices, at the same locations. Same architecture. Same everything.
It'll probably be easier to buy a graveyard with the bodies still in it, build a house above that, and build the exact same house next to the graveyard. One house will definitely be haunted and one house will definitely NOT (Unless ghosts are like invasive species).
Compare data between the two houses. If they match, well, either both houses were haunted (unlikely) or neither houses are haunted (likely).
I know that if people try this probably multimillion dollar project over and over again, results will come up as null over and over again. Easy to get daunted. That's why I'm typing about it, and not doing it. If it works and the haunted house gets more activity, boom, house haunted, ghosts may exist.
I feel like I'm overlooking something huge though. Maybe more experimental groups? If you recognize it, comment, or I might realize it first. I think I'm done?
Haha, no I'm not.
Honestly, we have no idea what ghosts even are. Things people use to detect ghosts are pretty faulty, and unreliable at most times. Again, know the enemy and know thyself and in a hundred battles thou shalt never be in peril.
Any questions or suggestions or corrections, kindly tell me in the comments.
Jesus Christ that took forever. Like, 1.167 hours.
ReplyDeleteNote: I did NOT work on these sections in order first to last. I'm impatient.
ReplyDeleteFun fact, this post opened about... 22 new tabs in my browser.
ReplyDelete