Your feedback wanted on dowsing.

[J_Player]

Your link shows a gamma/photon sensing device that will discriminate what the different elements it is looking at. This is exactly how Dr. Bickel's machine worked. He was a pioneer in this field. I havent really elaborated on the details of Dr. Bickels machine. Ok... here is how the machine that Dr. Bickel built works:

The sensor contains a special crystal that is sensative to gamma waves, called a scintillator. His scintillator crystals are not the average type used for medical instruments. They are extremely sensitive and not generally available to the industrial/commercial users. Because of his work with NASA, he had a direct link with the suppliers who sold him some of these crystals to use in his machines for locating oil fields and mineral deposits.

How his machine worked? When a gamma wave passes into the crytstal, a very small light (a photon) is emmited. The energy of the gamma wave will determine the characteristics of the light, or the photon energy. By measuring the light that is emitted with a photomultiplier tube, the energy of the gamma wave can be determined. This energy can be compared to a known list of energies that will tell where the isotope that sent the gamma wave came from. This is a simplified version of the actual method, but the electronics are able to identify exactly what element is below the probe that sent the gamma waves. By looking at the enery in the photons before they disintigrate into positrons, the exact element that sent the gamma wave and caused the photon can be determined as accurately as a fingerprint can be measured. These gamma waves come from a very few radio isotopes of that element that exist in the natural deposits under the earth. It is only when there is a large deposit of an element that we will see a large reading on the probe. When we are looking for gold, it does not matter if the gold is in a solid metal form, or a telluride or sulfide. Any compound of gold or matallic gold will send gamma waves from the very few traces of gold isotopes. What the machine is looking for is an area of the earth that shows a relatively larger concentration of gold (or other element) than the surrounding areas. It is looking for an area that has a heavy deposit of a mineral. This is what the detecror does best. It is not able to find a small coin or nugget in the near proximity. it is specialized in sensing trace anounts of gamma rays from large deposits of minerals.

This machine can sense the gamma waves from isotopes of other elements like silver, copper and carbon (oil). By comparing the light energy sensed to the known energies of isotopes of these elements, the element can be identified. This is how the discrimination is accomplished. This method is known as gamma spectroscopy. It is commonnly used in the laboratory to identify unknown substances which have been irradiated to caues the substance to emit gamma waves. The difference with Dr. Bickel's machine that it senses gammma waves in very small amounts, which came from naturally occuring isotopes, not from pounding the target with a high dose of radiation. This is why the sensor in his machine must be of the highest quality and extremely sensitive to these faint gamma waves. The advantage of Dr. Bickel's LRL over the conventional LRLs is that it will work even when there is heavy sunspot activity and the conventional LRLs are not able to get a signal from the near ground fields. Dr. Bickel's sensors are not dependent on these fields because he is measuring the gamma waves, not the fields near the surface of the earth. If you check with the oil companies and mining companies you will find that Dr. Bickels detectors are very highly respected. These companies pay a premium price to have a survey done whith his machines.

Before ending this discussion, I shoud tell you that Dr. Bickel was a very nice man. He had a heavy German accent and white hair, and he was very accommodating. He showed me a handful of gold nuggets he found on his expeditions making surveys for the oil companies. He showed me several other projects he was working on including a 2-cylinder aluminum hydrogen-fueled engine. All this happened when he was in his 80's, and he was still lecturing to the NASA scientists and others in his spare time when not looking for oil and gold.

Dang, I hope I am that active in my 80s