Electrical Fields within the body

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of electrical fields generated by the human brain and their potential interactions with the external world. Participants explore whether these fields can influence scientific experiments, the possibility of controlling electrical currents in the brain, and the feasibility of devices that could translate brain activity into communication with others. The scope includes theoretical considerations, speculative ideas, and references to existing technologies.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the brain's electrical field could extend infinitely and potentially interact with the real world, particularly in influencing electron movement in experiments.
  • Others argue that while the brain does generate electrical currents, the fields produced are incredibly weak and negligible in their effects on the external environment.
  • A participant mentions magnetoencephalography (MEG) as a method to measure brain activity through its magnetic fields, noting the sensitivity required due to the weak nature of these fields.
  • There is speculation about whether a person could control the strength of their electrical field by concentrating on specific thoughts, but responses indicate that while tiny effects can be measured, direct control is not feasible.
  • Questions are raised about the magnitude of electrical currents in the brain, with participants confirming that they are indeed small.
  • One participant suggests the idea of creating a device that could read brain currents and translate them into communication, but responses indicate that this is not currently possible.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the electrical fields generated by the brain are weak and have negligible effects on the external world. However, there is ongoing debate about the implications of these fields and the potential for future technologies related to brain activity measurement and communication.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the dependence on definitions of "influence" and "control," as well as the unresolved nature of how weak the electrical currents in the brain are compared to other electrical phenomena.

nnope
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So I was thinking, if the body has its own electrical currents... especially in the brain, then the brain must have an electrical field that extends infinitely. If that is the case can the brains electrical field interact with the real world and influence it. So for example if the field was strong enough (say we are able to concentrate a large current to a single spot in the brain) can we influence scientific experiments that are dependent on the movement of an electron?
Can a human control the strength of his/her electrical field by concentrating an electrical current in his brain. Is this possible?
Can we create a device that reads the current in the brain, translates it to words and then sends it to another persons brain?
For the record, I haven't studied electricity for a while so I expect my questions to be a little on the dumb side?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoencephalography
It uses the magnetic fields created in the brain to do scanning.
I got to go see one of these when I was in engineering. The lab was telling us how they can use it to (in a limited fashion) tell what you're thinking of. IE they would have you think about item A and scan your brain. Ask you to think about item B and scan.
Then you'd think of A or B and they'd tell you which. Pretty cool :)

The problem however is the field created by your brain is incredibly weak. So the detectors have to be crazy sensitive. The MEG we saw was in a heavily shielded room to filter out ambient magnetic fields. The lab guy claimed that if they didn't shield the room the detector could pick up the magnetic field created by a cars alternator 100km away.
 
nnope said:
So for example if the field was strong enough
It is not.
If a grain of dust moves on Mars, it changes the gravitational fields here on Earth. Does it matter? Of course not, because the influence is completely negligible. The same applies to electric fields in and around a brain: they are completely negligible.
nnope said:
Can a human control the strength of his/her electrical field by concentrating an electrical current in his brain. Is this possible?
It is possible to measure tiny effects of the electric currents with sensitive equipment directly on top of the head (or inside the head), and those can be influence to some extent, but you cannot say "current - go!".
nnope said:
Can we create a device that reads the current in the brain, translates it to words and then sends it to another persons brain?
No (not yet?)
 
So your saying the brain's electrical field is to weak to have any effect that is large enough for to us to even consider. Even if we managed to concentrate a current in our minds (if)? then scrap my mind control idea. But I just have one more question how weak is the current in the brain? if the electrical field is as weak as you guys are saying then even the electricity in the brain must be small
 
nnope said:
if the electrical field is as weak as you guys are saying then even the electricity in the brain must be small

Yes they are small

have a read through this wiki page on the body's electrical system, it will give you some background
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential
 

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