Thoraiya DyerCrazy Crystal People Part 1
July 27th 2008 23:51
Crazy Crystal People Part 1: Using Scientific Jargon To Pretend It’s All Legitimate
Everyone likes to think that crystals are magical. They’re shiny. They come in lots of different colours. Some of them form geometric shapes that appeal to us.
There’s nothing wrong with collecting rocks that look purdy.
But why do so many people think that crystals can heal them? More specifically, who gave the makers of Salt Lamps permission to use words they clearly don’t understand in an attempt to trick gullible, uneducated folks?
If we can stretch our minds back to basic chemistry, we recall that substances come as solids, liquids and gases.
Says chemistry.co.nz,
“Crystals are solids that form by a regular repeated pattern of molecules connecting together. In some solids, the arrangements of the building blocks (atoms and molecules) can be random or very different throughout the material. In crystals, however, a collections of atoms called the Unit Cell is repeated in exactly the same arrangement over and over throughout the entire material.”
Here’s a crystal that we come across every day:
What is it?
A humble hunk of plain salt, or sodium chloride. You eat it every day – you probably eat more than is good for your blood pressure (but it tastes sooo gooood!)
Now, you may not have previously considered the tiny white crystals sprinkled on your steak or caking your Smiths crisps to be particularly magical.
But according to mountainvalleycenter.com, ( Really Long Link )salt has amazing properties:
“Halite crystals mined from the foothills of the Himalayas are still pure and untouched by pollution…When the core of halite is hollowed out, and a light bulb placed inside, the result is a release of negative ions into the atmosphere. (A negative ion is an electronically charged molecule made up of oxygen. A positive ion in the air is produced by cars, factories, heavy machinery, smoke, dust, soot and other pollutants and has lost its electrons.) Negative Ions clean the air of dust, pollen (grass, weed and tree pollen), dust mites, animal dander and mold spores.”
“Negative ions have known benefits, and may provide relief from sinus, migraine headaches allergies and hay fever, reduce the severity of asthma attacks, enhance the immune system, increase alertness, increase work productivity and concentration, increase lung capacity and reduce susceptibility to colds and flu.”
I’m laughing so hard I barely know where to start. Underneath the laughter lies outrage: How dare these people use words that they think sound impressive without even knowing what they mean?
I’ll start with “a negative ion is an electronically charged molecule made up of oxygen”.
Sorry, but a negative ion is any atom or molecule that has more electrons in its electron shell than protons in its nucleus. We’ve all seen the little depiction of an atom as a nucleus (positively charged) with little electrons (negatively charged) whizzing around it.
Scrape some electrons off, and presto! You get a positively charged particle. Bung some extra ones on, and, huzzah! A negatively charged one.
So, the assertion that “A positive ion in the air is produced by cars, factories, heavy machinery, smoke, dust, soot and other pollutants and has lost its electrons” sure is interesting.
Can you see how it’s impossible to produce a positive ion without also producing a negative ion? It follows that if cars, factories and heavy machinery are producing positive ions, they are also producing negative ions, the magical source of health and happiness.
Negative ions actually can reduce the incidence of airborne disease, by cleaning up bacteria, as discussed here Really Long Link ) by Penn State’s department of architectural engineering, but they mention some pretty heavy essential equipment. Ions must be generated by a pulse ionisation field
Can a light bulb inside a lump of salt produce effective concentrations of negative ions?
Niels Jonassen, or Mr Static ( Really Long Link ) says No.
“…in the 1930s, it was rather common in Germany to treat a variety of ailments, such as asthma, bronchitis, and other airways-related problems, by letting the patients (apparently) inhale negative ions. Some of the administrants of these treatments, usually medical practitioners, reported rather astonishing results. At a certain point in these experiments, somebody had the good sense to ask a real expert to examine the ionizers to find out what they were actually doing. The all-time-ever expert on atmospheric electricity, Hans Israël, agreed to do this.4 Years later, I heard Hans Israël summarize his investigation. It appeared that the ionizers used by some of the doctors with the most beneficial results did not even contain a high-voltage supply; that is, they did not produce ions at all.”
Awww, no ions!
Mr Static also points out,
“Ions do not live forever. They recombine with oppositely charged ions, they combine with aerosol particles, and they plate out on surfaces… to keep a high ion concentration in a given volume, ions have to be constantly produced.”
As for the so-called “known benefits” of negative ions, aside from reducing the number of pathogens in the air (which is only really beneficial in a hospital or infectious disease control situation):
“Let us assume that most people will agree that the air at a mountaintop deserves to be called fresh. Now, it just so happens that this air is rich in positive ions, the concentration being maybe 3–4 times greater than at sea level. The freshness and the positive ions have nothing to do with each other. The freshness could be caused by the air being unpolluted and cool, and the high positive-ion concentration is simply a result of the electrode effect.
Let us also assume that most people will find that during a thunderstorm (before the rain sets in) the air may be considered less than fresh, maybe even stuffy. This same air is rich in negative ions. The stuffiness might be explained by high humidity and other thermophysical factors, and the high negative-ion concentration is simply an effect of the strong negative field from the base of the thundercloud to the ground.”
Thank you, Mr Static.
I was going to leave it here, but I can’t resist commenting on the “increased lung capacity” claim.
From ezinearticles.com, we have the following:
“You can change the capacity of your lungs to a certain point. But before I go too far into the details, let's learn a little bit about the lungs in general.
Facts About Lung Volume (capacity):
* Average human lungs hold about 5 liters of air
* Volumes can vary with height and age
* Total lung capacity depends on person's age, height, sex, weight and degree of physical activity
* Females tend to have 20-25% lower capacity than males
* Tall people tend to have more lung capacity then shorter people
* Heavy smokers have less lung capacity
* Altitude affects lung capacity
Tip #1 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Do challenging cardiovascular activities - As you progress, the workouts become more challenging, your lung capacity will increase so that your body can get more oxygen from the air.
Tip #2 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Train at higher altitudes
Frankly, this isn't something most people can do all the time but it's a well known fact that runners who are serious will train for a time period at higher altitudes before a race. Their lung capacity will be larger at higher altitudes because there is less pressure from the atmosphere. Once they come down to sea level, they have a larger overall lung capacity for a short period of time.
Tip #3 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Don't smoke
These 3 tips will help you increase your lung capacity.”
No mention of negative ions!
I guess I won’t be wasting $60 on that salt crystal lamp after all. It looks nice, but that’s pretty much all it’s good for.
Everyone likes to think that crystals are magical. They’re shiny. They come in lots of different colours. Some of them form geometric shapes that appeal to us.
There’s nothing wrong with collecting rocks that look purdy.
But why do so many people think that crystals can heal them? More specifically, who gave the makers of Salt Lamps permission to use words they clearly don’t understand in an attempt to trick gullible, uneducated folks?
If we can stretch our minds back to basic chemistry, we recall that substances come as solids, liquids and gases.
Says chemistry.co.nz,
“Crystals are solids that form by a regular repeated pattern of molecules connecting together. In some solids, the arrangements of the building blocks (atoms and molecules) can be random or very different throughout the material. In crystals, however, a collections of atoms called the Unit Cell is repeated in exactly the same arrangement over and over throughout the entire material.”
Here’s a crystal that we come across every day:
What is it?
A humble hunk of plain salt, or sodium chloride. You eat it every day – you probably eat more than is good for your blood pressure (but it tastes sooo gooood!)
Now, you may not have previously considered the tiny white crystals sprinkled on your steak or caking your Smiths crisps to be particularly magical.
But according to mountainvalleycenter.com, ( Really Long Link )salt has amazing properties:
“Halite crystals mined from the foothills of the Himalayas are still pure and untouched by pollution…When the core of halite is hollowed out, and a light bulb placed inside, the result is a release of negative ions into the atmosphere. (A negative ion is an electronically charged molecule made up of oxygen. A positive ion in the air is produced by cars, factories, heavy machinery, smoke, dust, soot and other pollutants and has lost its electrons.) Negative Ions clean the air of dust, pollen (grass, weed and tree pollen), dust mites, animal dander and mold spores.”
“Negative ions have known benefits, and may provide relief from sinus, migraine headaches allergies and hay fever, reduce the severity of asthma attacks, enhance the immune system, increase alertness, increase work productivity and concentration, increase lung capacity and reduce susceptibility to colds and flu.”
I’m laughing so hard I barely know where to start. Underneath the laughter lies outrage: How dare these people use words that they think sound impressive without even knowing what they mean?
I’ll start with “a negative ion is an electronically charged molecule made up of oxygen”.
Sorry, but a negative ion is any atom or molecule that has more electrons in its electron shell than protons in its nucleus. We’ve all seen the little depiction of an atom as a nucleus (positively charged) with little electrons (negatively charged) whizzing around it.
Scrape some electrons off, and presto! You get a positively charged particle. Bung some extra ones on, and, huzzah! A negatively charged one.
So, the assertion that “A positive ion in the air is produced by cars, factories, heavy machinery, smoke, dust, soot and other pollutants and has lost its electrons” sure is interesting.
Can you see how it’s impossible to produce a positive ion without also producing a negative ion? It follows that if cars, factories and heavy machinery are producing positive ions, they are also producing negative ions, the magical source of health and happiness.
Negative ions actually can reduce the incidence of airborne disease, by cleaning up bacteria, as discussed here Really Long Link ) by Penn State’s department of architectural engineering, but they mention some pretty heavy essential equipment. Ions must be generated by a pulse ionisation field
Can a light bulb inside a lump of salt produce effective concentrations of negative ions?
Niels Jonassen, or Mr Static ( Really Long Link ) says No.
“…in the 1930s, it was rather common in Germany to treat a variety of ailments, such as asthma, bronchitis, and other airways-related problems, by letting the patients (apparently) inhale negative ions. Some of the administrants of these treatments, usually medical practitioners, reported rather astonishing results. At a certain point in these experiments, somebody had the good sense to ask a real expert to examine the ionizers to find out what they were actually doing. The all-time-ever expert on atmospheric electricity, Hans Israël, agreed to do this.4 Years later, I heard Hans Israël summarize his investigation. It appeared that the ionizers used by some of the doctors with the most beneficial results did not even contain a high-voltage supply; that is, they did not produce ions at all.”
Awww, no ions!
Mr Static also points out,
“Ions do not live forever. They recombine with oppositely charged ions, they combine with aerosol particles, and they plate out on surfaces… to keep a high ion concentration in a given volume, ions have to be constantly produced.”
As for the so-called “known benefits” of negative ions, aside from reducing the number of pathogens in the air (which is only really beneficial in a hospital or infectious disease control situation):
“Let us assume that most people will agree that the air at a mountaintop deserves to be called fresh. Now, it just so happens that this air is rich in positive ions, the concentration being maybe 3–4 times greater than at sea level. The freshness and the positive ions have nothing to do with each other. The freshness could be caused by the air being unpolluted and cool, and the high positive-ion concentration is simply a result of the electrode effect.
Let us also assume that most people will find that during a thunderstorm (before the rain sets in) the air may be considered less than fresh, maybe even stuffy. This same air is rich in negative ions. The stuffiness might be explained by high humidity and other thermophysical factors, and the high negative-ion concentration is simply an effect of the strong negative field from the base of the thundercloud to the ground.”
Thank you, Mr Static.
I was going to leave it here, but I can’t resist commenting on the “increased lung capacity” claim.
From ezinearticles.com, we have the following:
“You can change the capacity of your lungs to a certain point. But before I go too far into the details, let's learn a little bit about the lungs in general.
Facts About Lung Volume (capacity):
* Average human lungs hold about 5 liters of air
* Volumes can vary with height and age
* Total lung capacity depends on person's age, height, sex, weight and degree of physical activity
* Females tend to have 20-25% lower capacity than males
* Tall people tend to have more lung capacity then shorter people
* Heavy smokers have less lung capacity
* Altitude affects lung capacity
Tip #1 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Do challenging cardiovascular activities - As you progress, the workouts become more challenging, your lung capacity will increase so that your body can get more oxygen from the air.
Tip #2 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Train at higher altitudes
Frankly, this isn't something most people can do all the time but it's a well known fact that runners who are serious will train for a time period at higher altitudes before a race. Their lung capacity will be larger at higher altitudes because there is less pressure from the atmosphere. Once they come down to sea level, they have a larger overall lung capacity for a short period of time.
Tip #3 for Increased Lung Capacity:
- Don't smoke
These 3 tips will help you increase your lung capacity.”
No mention of negative ions!
I guess I won’t be wasting $60 on that salt crystal lamp after all. It looks nice, but that’s pretty much all it’s good for.
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