Magnetic Susceptibility of Dental Amalgams

Nope full fee ,,,, unless you have g-o-o-o-o-o-d insurance!

But then you are saying that the actual measurement conducted was of limited use and probably invalid. The experimenters should have used a statistically large sample which would provide more confidence in the end results, or they should have employed a statistical model that better represents the underlying variability.

The fact that some amalgams provide oppositely charged potentials makes me even further suspicious of the methodologies employed and conclusions arrived at during the experiment in question. It sounds more to me like their measurements are dominated by noise.

Well they did quote a standard deviation for the data of plus or minus

"Noise"?

By "noise" do you mean electromagnetic interference?

And, if so, would you be able to suggest a means of demonstrating experimentally whether or not the measuring instruments that these researchers used might have been more sensitive to this type of "noise" than the metal amalgam dental fillings which they were taking the measurements from?

Keith P Walsh

There are no thermal elements in a battery.

I don't remember placing batteries next to my amalgam restorations in dental school.

I would think one would need a steam engine and generator for this conversion

It sounds like their data do not conform well to a gaussian distribution. How many samples did they obtain? And measuring both positive and negative potentials is a big warning sign of corrupted data for me.

It could be due to EM interference, poor grounding, uncalibrated equipment, moisture in the air, or equipment pushed beyond its accuracy/precision ratings. It could also be due to inconsistencies in experimental procedure.

To demonstrate, take a handheld digital multimeter (such as those from flukemeter.com), set it to VDC, and wave the two prongs around, touch them to separate fingers, etc. You will see voltage variations all over the map. A robust measurement of the potential across a small object such as an amalgam at millivolt accuracies will require careful and systematic experimental procedures as well as a full accounting of potential sources of error.

Are you sure? Next you will be telling me that my amalgams cannot light up a penlight (350 millivolts).

Joel

No. Batteries are needed to buffer the varying input current from the energy source.

The watch circuits do need a constant supply, and therefore between energy souce and energy user a converter with storage is neccessary.

Regards,

Aribert Deckers

What? Batteries are needed to butter the varying input current from the energy source???????

Errr... reacted metal ? unreacted alloy ? An amalagm is just a metal solid solution. and it is heterogenous. I doubt you would be able to measure differences in properties across it.

Thats whats new. Seiko have made watch batteries that run on the temp difference between your body and ambient air. So if you wear it into the sauna, you could go back in time... :-/ Only a limited number were made for test purposes.

Buy Seiko stock.

Yes. ;o)

Regards,

Aribert Deckers

What varying input current and what buffer? The thermoelectric effect produces a constant current when there is a constant thermal gradient. And if the gradient reverses you will get a change in the direction of the current "ie AC". In the mouth this effect does not occur due to lack of thermal gradient. Also to generate 1.5V this gradient meeds to be several degrees.

You appear to be saying that thermal gradients of several degrees do not occur in the mouth.

Is this what you are intending to say?

And, if so, can you explain why you think that this is the case?

Keith P Walsh

PS, enquiries concerning the electrical properties of dental amalgams can be found at:

But electrical potentials with magnitudes of up to 350mV have been measured in dental amalgams.

You can read all about it at:

Keith P Walsh

I believe several serious questions about the measurements and potential corruption due to noise have already been raised. This is underscored by the fact that bot pos and neg potentials were measured. You need to go back to the physics of the problem to see why this would ***NOT*** point to any electrochemical effects of the amalgam. In the mean time the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" is very relevant to these amalgam experiments.

One thing is for sure is that they are not produced via a temperature gradient regardless of what is available in nature. So if there is a voltage, it is not from the thermoelectric effect. I will check the link.