LogicMania

I was curious as to what you people thought about dowsing. I never really participated in it myself but I always had this hunch that the rods attraction for water had something to do with diamagnetic properities. Water does have good diamagnetic properites but I don't know if it's possible for them to attract dowsing rods. Do the rods really have an attraction for water? If they do are there any explanations for it? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

The Lone Ranger

Short answer: no, not apparently.

The James Randi Foundation and CSICOP have set up tests of several self-proclaimed dowsers -- so far, none of them have been able to locate buried water pipes at a rate greater than would be expected by chance.

On the other hand, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the local geology (or local botany -- I've often surprised people by pointing out water seeps from hundreds of yards away; it's simply because I know what plant species tend to grow in saturated soils) can point to areas where subsurface water is likely to be found.

I suspect that most "dowsers" either consciously or unconsciously cue in on environmental factors like soil type, slope, and vegetation. The <a href="http://skepdic.com/ideomotor.html" target="_blank">ideomotor effect</a> is probably what's responsible for the movement of the dowsing rods.

Cheers,

Michael

LogicMania

Damn, there goes my diamagnetic hunch. The metals involved probably did not have the specific properties involved for such a magnetic phenomena anyway. Also isn't diamagnetic strength inversely proprotional: 1/x^5 the distance?

MortalWombat

That, or the fact that there is underground water under the vast majority of the earth's surface, if you dig deep enough.