Interesting: Physics is wrong?

Puteq · 24-05-2004 10:29am #1

I came across the most amazing trick this weekend - a friend introduced me to a trick where 4 people can life one person from a chair and they are very lightweight. the thing is, while it worked, it doesnt make any sense to me, i dont see how it could possibly work but it works even if you dont believe in energy fields and all that stuff. read on and try it yourself:

one person sits in a chair. 4 other people will try to lift him, by linking your fingers together and extending only the top two fingers outwards (sorry it is hard to describe) - one person per armpit and one person each under the knees. if you try to lift the seated person at this stage you will find that they are very heavy (dont try too hard or you will put your back out!). now place youre extended hand flat-palmed above the seated persons head, one at a time: make sure not to touch each others hands or the seated persons head at this stage, each person one at a time until all eight hands are above the seated persons head. try to get it so that each person places a hand one at a time clockwise. I personally found at this stage that i could feel as if there was a beam of heat going through the middle of my palms but i may have just imagined it. now removing each hand one at a time starting from the top, everyone takes their hands away and when everyone has their hands removed link your hands as before and try to lift the seated person again - this time you should find that they are 90% lighter than they were moments before.

sorry if i have explained this badly - if anyone wants a better explanation post your clarification request and i will try to explain better. the thing is - i didnt believe in the least that this would work and still it did, unlike many othe paranormal experiences, you dont need to believe in this in order for it to work. i am a logical guy so i dont believe in many strange things like this but the fact is this is repeatable - try it yourself if you dont believe me (well, we tried it once and it didnt work so we swopped around the seated person and the lifters and then it worked). many people i told about this say it is 'an old trick' they already knew about but i just found out about it, and everyone who already knew about it had no-idea how it worked though. i really need an explanation for this, does anyone have any idea??? i am presuming it has something to do with energy fields (which i didnt believe in at all until two days ago) but i want some scientifically based theory. I know it is not paranormal really, there must be some explanation but i dont know what other forum to stick this under.

let me know if any of you have any ideas how this works or if it works for you!

MrBigglesworth · 24-05-2004 2:09pm

Remember doing this in primary school (15 years ago).
Was mildly entertained for a day or so and forget about it. Until now.

tman · 24-05-2004 2:12pm

wow, it only took 4 people to lift someone up?
this calls for a complete rewriting of the laws of physics:eek:

Puteq · 24-05-2004 2:49pm

No tman you're missing the point. I'm not stating incredulously that it only took 4 people to lift someone. My point is that when the 4 of us initially tried (using only our fingers) the seated person was a certain weight, however after holding our hands above the seated person for a few moments then trying to lift them again the exact same way the person was about 80% lighter.

I know this is something most people heard about in primary school and then put out of their mind (I have been telling people in work today and a surprising amount of them already knew it) but I need to know how this works, not some answer like 'energy fields' but some (even theoretical) answer that fits into science. if you have one tman i'd be glad to hear it, and seriously, try this at home if you dont think theres anything to it.

tman · 24-05-2004 2:51pm

maybe some ghosts did it?

Puteq · 24-05-2004 2:54pm

thanks tman i guess thats the answer i get for posting this on the paranormal board ! anyone ELSE got any suggestions?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 24-05-2004 2:57pm

i was lifted like that a while ago by 4 lads I knew, at the time i was around 14 stone so lifting me with their fingers was a pretty good show

they kept me in the air for about ten seconds, and then lowered me gently into my chair.. was ****ing weird.

i read an explanation for it years and years ago but i've no idea anymre of what it was, only a vague certainty that such an explanation exists

Hobart · 24-05-2004 3:05pm

Originally posted by tman
maybe some ghosts did it?

If you have nothing sensible to add then you should just STFU?

I have seen this in the past and I have no real rational explanation for it. Howevre i would imagine that it is something to do with the empowerment or confidence factor within the people who are lifing you. As you probably can guess the person being lifted does not immediately become 80% lighter. However you can convince people of extraordinary things. Lokk up fakirs in google and see how people can do amazing things with their bodies through positive thought and direction of energy.

You would be surprised.

Puteq · 24-05-2004 4:36pm

interesting, i have read a bit about the fakirs but i dunno, the difference here is that i was not the one being lifted, i was one of the people doing the lifting, and i didnt believe in the process at all. correct me if i am wrong Hobart but the fakirs accomplish what they achieve through belief that they can - but i didnt believe in this at all and yet it worked! the only reason i agreed to participate was to humour the guy who told me about it, and yet i definitely found a significant difference betwen the (percieved) weight before and after doing the (seemingly pointless) hand maneuvers.

so i dunno, it seems like a good few people know about this but no-one seems to know exactly how it works.

seamus · 24-05-2004 4:54pm

Originally posted by Puteq
correct me if i am wrong Hobart but the fakirs accomplish what they achieve through belief that they can - but i didnt believe in this at all and yet it worked!

This is a very simple demonstration. You don't need to believe that something is possible, you just need to open to the suggestion that it may be possible, which you were, simply by the fact that you went along with it.

weemcd · 26-05-2004 11:24pm

well when we did it in school and you push really hard on the persons head, i believe this tightens the muscles in your arms and you find it easier to lift the person. he he we did it once and threw the guy up into the air and he came falling down with a big thump on the floor, he he it was kewl

Terra · 26-05-2004 11:45pm

maybe try an experiement....

although hard, if only there was a way to measure the weight of the person as you are doing it....just to see is there any changes...

Don't know how to get a weighing scales big enough though

Puteq · 27-05-2004 9:25am

I know what you are talking about weemcd because a guy in work who i told about this said he knew about it from school as well where they would press down on the seated persons head, however when i was introduced to this i was told to hold my hand open above the seated persons head, but not to touch them. obviously this is not necessary since it works whether you touch the seated persons head or not but i suggests that tightening muscles is not the answer.

Bungalow Bill · 31-05-2004 3:46am

When I did it one year away in the gaeltacht the person on the ground had to concentrate on 'Light as a feather, stiff as a board'. So the person lying down was thinking this and tightening up his muscles so when we went to lift him he released the tightness and this apparantly contributed to it being easier to lift him, not sure if that makes sense but its the only logical-ish explanation i have ever heard.

Doctor Funfrock · 31-05-2004 11:49am

no such thing as ghosts

Zulu · 31-05-2004 11:58am

to convince me that physics is wrong, you will have to provide me with a little more proof that a school-yard trick.
Four people splitting the weight. Fingers are irrelevent. Weight is distributed across 8 arms.

Bungalow Bill · 31-05-2004 5:30pm

Originally posted by Zulu
to convince me that physics is wrong, you will have to provide me with a little more proof that a school-yard trick.
Four people splitting the weight. Fingers are irrelevent. Weight is distributed across 8 arms.

The point being that you can try it yourself. You try it first before all the hand moving business and most of the time the people cannot lift the person more than a few inches, it is intruiging, you have got to admit that.

keu · 31-05-2004 5:39pm

to convince me that physics is wrong, you will have to provide me with a little more proof that a school-yard trick.
Four people splitting the weight. Fingers are irrelevent. Weight is distributed across 8 arms.

well its not like physics hasn't been wrong before..... couple of hundred years ago the area of mechanical flight went against the laws of physics.
physics continues to evolve, laws have graduated over time...from newton to einstien.

but tbh..I don't know how it applies to this area, I would suggest you ask a physicist. Might be a very straightforward explanation.

bug · 31-05-2004 7:23pm

Hobbes, Drfunrock and tman,
please note personal insults are not allowed. If you dont believe in ghosts, that nice and all,and thanks for sharing but it has nothing got to do with the topic and as I have stated before the main purpose of this forum is to give "believers" a forum rather than sceptics.

Physics isnt neccessarily wrong as such, its just what we consider the scientific paradigm. Rules of physics that we adhere to but possibly we havent discovered them all. I know what the original poster refers to, and it is something that most people have done in their early teenager years which is often thought of as part of "black magic". As such, the ability to use force the mind to move objects and even ESP is thought by some people to be stronger is pubescent years.
It is however also a strong possibily as other posters have mentioned that the muscles do tighten up and its easier to lift a stiff body rather than a relaxed one.

Interesting: Physics is wrong?

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