Hutchison effect

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The Hutchison effect is a name given to a collection of alleged natural phenomena that John Hutchison claims to have discovered in 1979.

Contents

[edit] Nature of the effect

Purported photograph of a butter knife embedded in a metal plate. This photograph can be found on Hutchison's website
Purported photograph of a butter knife embedded in a metal plate. This photograph can be found on Hutchison's website

Hutchison claims that while trying to duplicate experiments done by Nikola Tesla, he discovered a number of strange phenomena, including:

  1. levitation of heavy objects
  2. fusion of dissimilar materials such as metal and wood
  3. the anomalous heating of metals without burning adjacent material
  4. the spontaneous fracturing of metals
  5. changes in the crystalline structure and physical properties of metals.
  6. disappearing metal samples

All these phenomena are jointly grouped under the name Hutchison Effect (HE). Supporters like Mark Solis, his former webmaster, maintain that none can be the result of known physical phenomena, such as electromagnetism.[1]

Hutchison and his supporters surmise that these phenomena arise from zero-point energy or the Casimir effect.

[edit] Scientific opinion

There is no acceptance of Hutchison's claims among mainstream scientists, even among those who study non-mainstream physics. In a posting to the newsgroup sci.physics.research, Marc Millis, who formerly ran the now defunct Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA, wrote:

This "Hutchison Effect" has been claimed for years, without any independent verification - ever. In fact, its originator can't even replicate it on demand. This has been investigated more than once, been part of documentaries on the discovery channel, but still never seems to pass critical muster. This is in the category of folklore. In general, the "American Antigravity" web site caters to such folklore and its enthusiasts.

—Marc G. Millis[2]

Hutchison also claims to have invented over-unity batteries, which he calls Q Cells or Hiroshima cells and which, he says, obtain energy from the vacuum using the Casimir effect.

Furthermore, the actual creator of his effect is in dispute, as Mel Winfield claims that it was solely through his theories that The Hutchison Effect came into being. He has published evidence including signed contracts, letters, and communications from John Hutchison himself on his website.

[edit] Military interest

Hutchison claims that military scientists from the United States have been working with him because of the effect's military potential. In the documentary Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point, he claims the military scientists were impressed with the effects, but were not able to replicate the effects without the assistance of Hutchison himself.[3][4][5][6]

He later accused them of causing the Canadian government to seize his lab, allegedly (by Hutchison and others) so they could pass it on to Lockheed Martin Skunkworks for research purposes. Journalist and author Nick Cook later claimed that this had been confirmed by a high-ranking friend of his in the Skunkworks.[7] Boyd Bushman, retired Lockheed Martin senior engineer, later confirmed that this was true in an interview in Nick Cook's book The Hunt for Zero Point.[8]

[edit] Media coverage

The Hutchison effect has been featured in television programs aired on The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic Channel and Nippon Television.

Hutchison and his effect have been discussed in various fringe science newsletters and websites, such as

  1. American Antigravity, a fringe website devoted to commercial antigravity research and products,
  2. the UFO Resource Center, a website devoted to ufology,
  3. Space Telescopes, a website which features a mixture of writings including such topics as the Hubble observatory and the Hutchison effect
  4. World Mysteries, one of many websites which discuss a wide range of fringe, new age, and paranormal topics.

At various times, Hutchison has maintained his own website; the most recent is www.hutchisoneffect.biz.

[edit] Charges of fakery

A single frame of the "levitating" toy UFO video, with string visible in the top left corner. The string can be seen to move along with the UFO in the video. The ionocraft (or ion-propelled aircraft) produces a similar electrohydrodynamic effect which using electrical energy .
A single frame of the "levitating" toy UFO video, with string visible in the top left corner. The string can be seen to move along with the UFO in the video. The ionocraft (or ion-propelled aircraft) produces a similar electrohydrodynamic effect which using electrical energy .

Hutchison previously sold (for about $150 each) videos illustrating his "effect", and has released some shorter video clips online.[9][10] Videos of his effect are now sold exclusively by Gryphon Productions.[11]

When skeptics pointed out that, in one of these videos, a string is clearly visible at the edge of the frame which appears to be holding a small toy "UFO", Hutchison explained:

The string is not string but #32-gauge double polythermalized wire on a takeup up reel with 20 to 50000 volts DC. The main apparatus was turned on, causing the toy plastic UFO to fly all about in amazing gyrations. This was a pretest to gryphon films airing this fall for FOX TV. I did not need the extra high voltage 2000 time period so the toy levitated without a high voltage hook up during the filming for gryphon there was a string on the toy no high-voltage dc but interesting movements.

—John Hutchison, quoted at the American Antigravity website[12]

Ice cream purportedly levitated by the Hutchison effect. (This image is one frame from a documentary investigating the effect.)
Ice cream purportedly levitated by the Hutchison effect. (This image is one frame from a documentary investigating the effect.)

Hutchison later admitted to being "creative" with the footage, citing pressure from the Discovery Channel to create material for the show and an inability to legally reproduce the original effect, according to Tim Ventura of American Antigravity.[13]

In 2005, Hutchison admitted that he hadn't actually reproduced his effect since approximately 1991. The earlier levitation footage from the 1980s is genuine, he says. But this footage has been characterized as looking like it was taken in a booth with an upside-down camera.[14] Hutchison continues to reject charges of fakery, and maintains that his "effect" has been demonstrated many times in the presence of scientists and, he says, members of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command.

Hutchison claims to have reproduced the effect in his Ash St., New Westminster apartment as recently as March 2006 for National Geographic, as well as for author Harold Berndt, whose film of the event can be found on the American Antigravity website, which promotes Hutchison's claims.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Solis, Mark A. (February 16, 1999). The Hutchison Effect -- An Explanation. John Hutchison's Web Page [geocities version (last updated June 23, 2002)]. Retrieved on 2006-12-10. “The levitation of heavy objects by the Hutchison Effect is not---repeat not---the result of simple electrostatic or electromagnetic levitation...”
  2. ^ Marc Millis (April 6, 2006). "Video Footage Of Antigravity ?". sci.physics.research. (Google Groups). Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
  3. ^  (1997). Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point [DVD]. Lightworks Audio & Video.
  4. ^  Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point [Google Video]. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  5. ^ Thomas Valone. Inside Zero Point Energy. “It is worth noting that the “Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point” video shows the evaluation of the Hutchison effect by the U. S. military, who promptly classified the report”
  6. ^ Col. John Alexander (interviewee). HutchisonEffectOnline.com video clip from an unidentified documentary (Flash video) [Web site intro]. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  7. ^ Nick Cook discussing Lockheed Martin Skunkworks in a clip from an unidentified documentary. Hutchison [Flash video]. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  8. ^ Cook, Nick (2003). The Hunt for Zero Point. Arrow. ISBN 0099414988. 
  9. ^ The Hutchison Effect (report contains several articles). The Very Last page of the Internet. Retrieved on 2006-12-10. “See THE HUTCHISON EFFECT AND ZERO POINT ENERGY CELLS demonstrated in these professionally made videos: Order information below video descriptions.”
  10. ^ John Hutchison (creator). (2003). Video clip of a "levitating" toy UFO (WMV) [News release]. UFO Research Center. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
  11. ^ Hutchison, John. Gryphon Productions. Video section of Hutchison's 2006 site. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
  12. ^ Ventura, Tim. Video Clip Notes. The Hutchison Effect. American Antigravity. Archived from the original on 2005-09-23. Retrieved on 2006-12-11. “I've received a number of messages about the above video-links pointing out that a string is clearly visibly holding up the toy-UFO that Hutchison is experimenting with. I asked John for more information on the purpose of the string, and received the following reply...”
  13. ^ Ventura, Tim (December 15, 2005). The Discovery Channel is Bogus (blog comment). Ade's Blog. Retrieved on 2006-12-10. “This second set is a concern, because John has been unable to recreate the true Hutchison-Effect since approximately 1991 (by mandate of the Canadian EPA). Puttkamer asked John to get creative, however, resulting in a toy-UFO flopping wildly in the air. This clip has been criticized because a wire is clearly seen suspending the UFO.”
  14. ^ Ventura, Tim (September 11, 2005). The Ultimate Hutchison (PDF) p. 18. American Antigravity website. Retrieved on 2006-12-10. “The Hutchison Effect has been documented on a variety of visual media to include the levitation of materials ... which usually take off straight up at high speed. At first glance it might almost appear that this is somehow faked, using a camera-booth that can be flipped upside down to give the impression that gravity has been negated, but this isn’t the case.”
  15. ^ Harold Berndt, AAG (March, 2006). film Video of 2006 H-Effect experiments (WMV, Google Video). American Antigravity website.

[edit] External links

Pro-Hutchison:

Skeptical:

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