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(How) Do divining rods work?

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I think some people in this thread still believe the Earth is flat.

Expected less stupid on a tech enthusiast site.

Either that, or very elaborate troll, 10/10.
 
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flotsam1 said:
Divining rods DO work. For years, I have used a couple of pieces of bent wire coat hanger to find underground pipes and conduits. Many times, I have found buried services which have not been located by sophisticated equipment or have been wrongly indicated on drawings. It does not seem to matter what the pipe material or content is. It does not seem to matter if I am wearing rubber-soled shoes or other footware with electrical insulating properties. It does not seem to matter if a trench was dug and, after consideration, the pipe was laid elsewhere and the trench was backfilled. It does not matter if the work was completed fifty years ago. My theory is that the dessicated material at the surface of the earth has, by natural process, been laid in a general orientation with the magnetic poles. In addition, the atmosphere is mainly composed of ionized gases. The dessicated materials, sea water and other surface materials are mostly ionized compounds and, as such, are like little magnets. So, you could illustrate this phenomonum by drawing lines parallel to longitudinal lines on the earth's surface. The lines will deviate from the parallel, due to the deviation of the earth's magnetic field, as shown on marine charts. The ionized compounds in the atmosphere, adjacent to the ground will orient themselves roughly parallel to the lines of longitude. If you then dig a trench, you will disturb this natural rythm and cause an electromagnetic potential, in the soil, from one side of the trench to the other. In reaction, the immediately adjacent atmospheric compounds must reorient themselves to align with this anomaly. The human body is polarized. There are quite strong differences in polarity between one side and the other. When you walk across a disturbance while holding a bent rod in each hand, the abrupt interaction between your polarity and the disturbed properties of the air and soil adjacent to the backfilled trench causes the rods to turn. Ususlly the rods consistently turn towards each other but, in some cases, consistently turn away from each other. I am a retired Professional Engineer and I would have no hesitation in demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique to any of the sceptics. So, while I know it does not work for some, it will for most. Initially, when I witnessed someone using this technique, I was derisive. I soon became a convert. Since then, I have chosen unknown areas, worn blind folds, avoided indications which could initiate preconception and tested the system time and again so that now I can say without any hesitation: Divining rods DO work.
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Look, 100's of people have made the exact same claim you're making. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM who had their ability tested were found to have zero ability.
 
Best way to test is to get someone to locate all your stuff using the rods. Then call for an actual cable locate, see if they mark the same spots.

Now if the guy doing the locate shows up with divining rods... doh!
 
sao123 said:
The other day at work, we needed to find several buried empty 4 inch PCV conduits which go between several of our buildings on our complex.

One of the structural engineers who was assigned to the project had these 2 L shaped rods which he called divining rods. he held them loosely in each hand, and then would walk a straight line, and when he walked over top of this empty conduit they would turn and straighten pointing opposite parallel directions showing the lay of these underground conduits.

He reliably located several underground gas lines, water lines, sewage pipes, and the empty counduits we were looking for, and i know he wasnt cheating, because, this guy was only ever here a few times before... no blueprints, no outside knowledge, some of these things were installed 15 years ago.

it ovbiously worked, as we found that where he marked the location, he was within inches of the spot.

Looking it up on the internet, all i can find is a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo... it isnt magnetism, as PVC isnt magnetic. How are these rods able to locate such underground features so reliably.
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I know they work, I've used this method to find buried communication cables on the airport, water pipe plastic or iron or a penny all it takes is patience and concentration (while walking) not to grip the rods , (wire, brass welding rod whatever you happen to be using) too tight as that inhibits them from freely turning in your hands. Keeping them parallel to the ground and your hands 90 degrees from the ground (straight up) prevents turning bias. You can find conduit runs in a concrete floor or in the ceiling . I started using this method in 1967 . Try it it comes in handy when you don't have the $1,000.00 cable finder , besides there is no battery's to buy. DBent
 
DBent said:
I know they work, I've used this method to find buried communication cables on the airport, water pipe plastic or iron or a penny all it takes is patience and concentration (while walking) not to grip the rods , (wire, brass welding rod whatever you happen to be using) too tight as that inhibits them from freely turning in your hands. Keeping them parallel to the ground and your hands 90 degrees from the ground (straight up) prevents turning bias. You can find conduit runs in a concrete floor or in the ceiling . I started using this method in 1967 . Try it it comes in handy when you don't have the $1,000.00 cable finder , besides there is no battery's to buy. DBent
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There's a million dollars waiting for you if you're right.
 
A local prospecting store sells these things alongside legitimate prospecting equipment. I can't help but think that if they worked REALLY well, the shop owners wouldn't have to mess around running a small shop. Wouldn't they just take their sticks and go find the motherlode?
 
Zeldak said:
A local prospecting store sells these things alongside legitimate prospecting equipment. I can't help but think that if they worked REALLY well, the shop owners wouldn't have to mess around running a small shop. Wouldn't they just take their sticks and go find the motherlode?
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The Economic Argument.

If I was a privately-owned or publicly-owned company, I sure wouldn't want to be wasting thousands, millions, or billions of dollars on expensive equipment to find the underground stuff I'm looking for. I'd throw a few dollars at a few fancy magical sticks and be done with it.
 
sao123 said:
The other day at work, we needed to find several buried empty 4 inch PCV conduits which go between several of our buildings on our complex.

One of the structural engineers who was assigned to the project had these 2 L shaped rods which he called divining rods. he held them loosely in each hand, and then would walk a straight line, and when he walked over top of this empty conduit they would turn and straighten pointing opposite parallel directions showing the lay of these underground conduits.

He reliably located several underground gas lines, water lines, sewage pipes, and the empty counduits we were looking for, and i know he wasnt cheating, because, this guy was only ever here a few times before... no blueprints, no outside knowledge, some of these things were installed 15 years ago.

it ovbiously worked, as we found that where he marked the location, he was within inches of the spot.

Looking it up on the internet, all i can find is a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo... it isnt magnetism, as PVC isnt magnetic. How are these rods able to locate such underground features so reliably.
Click to expand...

You will find some who will swear on the bible that divining rods work. And some who only think its a bunch nonsense. If divining fits in your belief structure then who could say that its not true and vice versa. If you went back in time, say 300 -400 hundred years ago and proclaimed one day man will fly like a bird in a machine then you would have been burned at the stake.
 
silicon said:
You will find some who will swear on the bible that divining rods work. And some who only think its a bunch nonsense. If divining fits in your belief structure then who could say that its not true and vice versa. If you went back in time, say 300 -400 hundred years ago and proclaimed one day man will fly like a bird in a machine then you would have been burned at the stake.
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We still can't make men fly like birds in a machine...
 
silicon said:
can you provide a link to the double blind test?
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How many would you like?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing (Scientific Appraisal section)
http://www.skepdic.com/dowsing.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...tiscience-kills-dowsing-edition/#.U0LkWahdVuA
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/debunking-dowsing-5028261/?no-ist

Edit: Be sure to read past mentions of the Betz study that seems to imply a certain dowsing success rate to find analyses of the validity of that study.
 
DSF said:
How many would you like?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing (Scientific Appraisal section)
http://www.skepdic.com/dowsing.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...tiscience-kills-dowsing-edition/#.U0LkWahdVuA
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/debunking-dowsing-5028261/?no-ist

Edit: Be sure to read past mentions of the Betz study that seems to imply a certain dowsing success rate to find analyses of the validity of that study.
Click to expand...

Real science speaks the truth, usually, and I agree that dowsing is largely bunk. But and this is a big but, you will find many who really believe it.
 
sao123 said:
The other day at work, we needed to find several buried empty 4 inch PCV conduits which go between several of our buildings on our complex.

One of the structural engineers who was assigned to the project had these 2 L shaped rods which he called divining rods. he held them loosely in each hand, and then would walk a straight line, and when he walked over top of this empty conduit they would turn and straighten pointing opposite parallel directions showing the lay of these underground conduits.

He reliably located several underground gas lines, water lines, sewage pipes, and the empty counduits we were looking for, and i know he wasnt cheating, because, this guy was only ever here a few times before... no blueprints, no outside knowledge, some of these things were installed 15 years ago.

it ovbiously worked, as we found that where he marked the location, he was within inches of the spot.

Looking it up on the internet, all i can find is a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo... it isnt magnetism, as PVC isnt magnetic. How are these rods able to locate such underground features so reliably.
Click to expand...

The divining rods have nothing to do with it. It is they guy himself. He could do the same trick with 2 hammers, a bicycle with the turning of the steer or anything else. Now how he does it, that is open for debate.
 
silicon said:
Real science speaks the truth, usually, and I agree that dowsing is largely bunk. But and this is a big but, you will find many who really believe it.
Click to expand...

You can find people that believe just about anything, they are called voters. But reality does not care one whit about belief.
 
silicon said:
Real science speaks the truth, usually, and I agree that dowsing is largely bunk. But and this is a big but, you will find many who really believe it.
Click to expand...

The fact that some people believe it works has nothing to do with its validity. It isn't largely bunk, it is totally bunk.
 
All the smart tech people and no one knows how divining rods work? It's easy, so you grab it by the shaft, stroke up and down until it shoots water out the end. I've been doing it everyday since I was a kid.
 
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This is probably the single most disappointing thread I've read on this forum 🙁

"I saw someone use rods and find something" /= proof

"Some buried things generate magnetic fields" does not explain why one should supposedly use coat-hangers, pvc pipe, or even wood as detection devices over sophisticated scientific instruments.

And unless I've missed it, none of the believers in the rods has addressed why multi-national gas and oil firms ignore the rods, but your local 'old timer' farm hand has supposedly mastered them 😉

Sheesh...

EDIT:

slag said:
But it does work, just not reliably and not for everyone.
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This is also true of, say, chemotherapy. That doesn't make it untestable. It should be trivially easy to have the people who claim it DOES work for them to do some tests where they show a statistically significant improved rate of success, even if that falls short of 100%.
 
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