FRACTURE SURFACE PHYSICS INDICATING TELENEURAL INTERACTION
(The word teleneural stems from the Greek prefix tele, meaning
"far" or "distant", and the Greek word neuron
which has to do with the nervous system in the broadest sense.)
by Wilbur M. Franklin, Ph.D., Department of Physics,
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
Wilbur M. Franklin is Chairman of the Department of Physics,
Graduate Division, at Kent State University. He holds degrees
in biology, metallurgical engineering, and solid state science
and technology. His publications include articles on such subjects
as diffusion theory, the properties of liquid crystals, and the
nature of fractures in metals; and many papers on teleneural physics.
His interest in this last area began in 1972, when he first met
and worked with Uri Geller. Since then he has initiated a course
in teleneural physics at Kent State, the course is funded in part
by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Dr. Franklin is a member
of the American Physical Society and is listed in American
Men of Science.
Many of the metallic objects bent or broken by Uri Geller
have been subjected to analysis under the scanning electron microscope
- a device of extremely high magnifying power that gives fine
resolution of detail. Almost all of the fractures Geller has
induced in metals resemble "fatigue fractures" - ruptures
that result from excessive wear and tear. This is true even when
the metal object Geller has affected was brand new. However,
Dr. Franklin has discovered a remarkable exception. A platinum
ring spontaneously developed a fissure in its surface in Geller's
presence, but without his having touched the ring. Two breaks,
only a hundredth of an inch apart, seem to have been produced
by two very different conditions. One of the breaks resembles
a cleavage that typically occurs at the temperature of liquid
nitrogen, -195 degrees C; the other fissure is typical of platinum
melting at a temperature of 1773 degrees C. Dr. Franklin concludes
that it would be difficult, even under the best laboratory conditions,
to produce such totally different fractures at sites so close
to one another.
In the first of the two papers printed here, Dr. Franklin gives
an easily readable and abbreviated account of Geller's influence
on the platinum ring and other metallic objects. His second paper
is a rigorous treatment of his analysis of the surfaces fractured
by Geller, and it presents a theoretical model to account for
the observed events.
Published in New Horizons Journal, Vol. 2, No.
1, April 1975.
Introduction
The interesting question of what provided the causal influence
for the deformation and fracture of metallic objects is raised
by the recent reports of Owen (1974a, b) concerning the teleneural
interactions with matter that occurred in the presence of Mr.
Uri Geller and Mr. Matthew Manning. (Matthew Manning is a young
English psychic who has demonstrated abilities similar to, though
not so spectacular as, Uri Geller's.) Additional evidence, of
a metallurgical nature, is given in this report of four metallic
objects broken by, or in the presence of, Uri Geller. Most of
the metallurgical investigation that is reported here was done
at the Stanford Research Institute prior to the initiation of
a special research program with Mr. Geller in the fall of 1972
and is reported, in part, in a recent article dealing with information
transmission by Puthoff and Targ (1974). (See pages 35-51.)
The investigation reported here is unusual in nature, significant
to various fields of science, and casts the physical analysis
of fracture surfaces in an important role in the endeavor to understand
the question of the teleneural interaction capabilities of humans.
The four fractures that are analyzed reveal two distinct types
of fracture surface. One is not widely different from control
fractures whereas the other displays significant differences from
normal room-temperature fracture surfaces of the metal involved.
The fracture surfaces that are analyzed are those of three household
items, specifically, two stainless steel spoons, a stainless needle,
and a platinum ring.
Fracture Conditions
All four of the metallic specimens, as observed by the author,
were fractured in a room-temperature setting. All were handled
by the author or co-workers within approximately thirty seconds
to a minute after fracture, and no one reported the sensation
of uncomfortable heat or cold from the specimens. All four specimens
were owned by colleagues of the investigator; none was owned by
Geller or his associates. A fracture occurred in the small part
of the shank of one of the spoons, as it was observed visually,
when the spoon was withdrawn by Geller from a cup in a time of
less than three seconds. The fracture in the second spoon was
seen to occur as the spoon was held in Mr. Geller's fingers while
he bent it in a very gentle manner back and forth five or six
times to angles of approximately forty-five degrees from the spoon's
original shape. No apparent strain on the part of the subject
was observed during the bending or fracture process of the spoons
or of the other specimens. In the case of the platinum ring,
the fracture appeared as a crack in the ring while an associate
of the author's held it gently between the palms of her hands
in the proximity of Mr. Geller. Subsequently, Mr. Geller took
the ring and gently bent and broke a small segment out of the
shank. The fracture in the needle occurred as it lay on a table
approximately a meter from Mr. Geller.
From the brief description given above as well as the observation
of other fractures seen by the author or reported by others (Owen,
1974a, b), it is apparent that two distinctly different types
of fracture occur. In the first type, the metal appears to weaken
in mechanical strength and increase in ductility to the point
where a small mechanical force can plastically deform the metal.
The successive frames of a movie film that shows this kind of
fracture have been exhibited by Vaughan (1973). (See Plate 18.)
In the second type of fracture a crack appears to develop in the
material while it is not being observed visually.
Metallurgical Analysis of Specimen
Of the various instruments available for metallurgical use, the
scanning electron microscope (SEM) was chosen to examine the fracture
surfaces since the natural "as broken" surfaces could
be examined directly, the depth of field was good, and since both
high and low magnifications could be utilized easily. A Cambridge
Stereoscan Mark 2A SEM was used for the analysis and all of the
SEM photographs were taken between November 9 and 22, 1972.
The fractured spoons were of the Heavenly Star brand of Japanese
stainless tableware. SEM photomicrographs showed no large differences
between the fracture surfaces of specimens broken by Geller and
those broken in the laboratory as controls. Microhardness measurements
with a Tukon Hardness Tester gave an average hardness of the sample
material corresponding to an approximate ultimate tensile surface
strength of 109,000 Psi ñ5% (pounds per square inch).
Immediately adjacent to the fracture surfaces in the Geller and
control specimens, the Microhardness was essentially identical
and corresponded to 113,000 Psi, which is less than 4% higher
than the matrix material and may, in both cases, be attributable
to work-hardening during the deformation of the material. However,
hardness measurements were not made on the spoon that apparently
broke without bending. Since the smallest cross-sectional area
of the shank of the spoons was 1.17 X 10 to the power -2 square
inches, the load required for fracture in tension would have been
1270 pounds. However, the bend load required for fracture is
probably of the order of twenty times smaller. (The author could
not bend manually another spoon from the same set by more than
ten degrees.)
The SEM photomicrographs of the fracture surface of the needle
showed no regions of dimpled network typical of ductile failure.
The surface showed regions of distinct granular structure, which
looked like intercrystalline fracture, and a region with small
spherical sections similar to those sometimes seen in sintered
metal powders. The needle did not "neck down" in the
region of fracture as ductile metals do, and there was no evidence
of bending deformation or fracture.
The most interesting of the fracture surfaces were those of the
first fracture in the platinum ring. There was no evidence of
necking down or bending. The SEM photographs showed a widely
variable microstructure with regions that appeared to have been
distorted by shear, others characteristic of incipient melting,
and one that appeared similar to a low-temperature cleavage surface.
Rounded-over protuberances around a cavity, which appear similar
to specimens that have been heated to near the melting point,
are shown in Plate 15. Plate 17 shows a region approximately
10 to the power -2 inches from the field of view of Plate 15.
This region displays a terraced topography, similar to cleavage
surfaces at low temperature, with included geometrical forms that
are close to hexagonal in structure. The latter are most likely
inclusions and/or cavities that reflect the face-centered-cubic
symmetry of platinum.
If ductile failure had occurred in the needle or ring the SEM
should have shown a dimpled pattern looking like a lacy white
filigree network. In addition, necking down should have been
evident. The intergranular patterns seen in the needle fracture
surface suggest corrosion or stress corrosion. But Geller did
not hold the needle prior to fracture, so corrosive chemicals
could not have been applied. In addition, an energy-dispersive
x-ray analysis was done on the needle's surface and did not indicate
the presence, of corrosive chemicals. The overall pattern of
the surfaces of the needle and ring were not indicative of fatigue
or shear failure, either.
Discussion
From the metallurgical analysis of the fracture surfaces it is
evident that the type of fracture that occurred in the spoons
does not produce any significant differences from room-temperature
control ductile fractures. This observation has also been made
by Doris Wilsdorf (1974) on specimens that were apparently broken
by Geller in a manner similar to that of the spoons. However,
a second type of fracture surface, exemplified by those of the
needle and platinum ring, is distinctively different from known
types of room-temperature fracture surfaces. This conclusion
was reached after consulting with professional metallurgists and
reviewing the available SEM literature and photographs in the
American Society for Metals library. The flat, slightly terraced
structure shown in Plate 16 appears similar to low-temperature
cleavage surfaces, whereas the hexagonal inclusions and neighboring
regions that look like incipient melting are indicative of structures
typical of high temperature creep and localized melting, respectively.
Therefore, it is concluded that it would have been extremely
difficult to fabricate these surfaces by known laboratory techniques.
Since the mechanism of signal transmission in mental telepathy
may not be electromagnetic (Franklin, 1974), it is interesting
to speculate that information transmission may be related to teleneural
interaction with matter of a non-
electromagnetic nature. There is no known method whereby room-temperature
induction or other electromagnetic means could result in fractures
of the nature seen. If these observations are correct there is
a necessity for the development of new theoretical constructs
capable of characterizing the patterns of behavior of the new
force or influence function that is operative in the process.
REFERENCES
Franklin, W., "Theory of teleneural communication,"
Bulletin of the
American Physical Society, 19, 821, 1974.
Owen, A. R. G., "Uri Geller's metal phenomena: An eyewitness
account,"
New Horizons, 1, No. 4, 164-171, 1974.
Owen, A. R. G., "A Preliminary report on Matthew Manning's
psychical phenomena," New Horizons, 1, No. 4, 172-73,
1974b.
Targ, R. and H. Puthoff, "Information transmission under
conditions of sensory shielding," Nature, 251, 602-607,
1974.
Vaughan, A., "The phenomena of Uri Geller," Psychic,
4, No. 5, 12-18, 1973.
Wilsdorf, D., University of Virginia, personal communication,
1974.
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