Analysis of the Charge Exchange Between the Human Body and Ground: Evaluation of “Earthing” From an Electrical Perspective
Introduction
There have been numerous publications in the last decade claiming that health benefits can be realized by maintaining an electrical connection between the human body and ground [eg, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. This connection is referred to in the lay literature as grounding or earthing.12 The claims suggest that whereas premodern man was almost always in contact with the ground, modern man is typically insulated from the ground (ie, use insulated shoes, sleep on insulated beds, work on carpeting or other forms of electrical insulation) and, therefore, this change has resulted in diminished health.
It is recognized that electric charges (units of coulombs [C]) can build up on an insulated human body, thus increasing its potential (volts).13 Charge buildup is proportional to the voltage on a body, and the proportionality constant is given by the capacitance. The capacitance of a human body is approximately 100 pF,14 where the units of Farads are Coulombs/volt. If there is an electrical path to ground, the body will discharge to ground and its potential will go to zero. The rate at which the charges flow is described by electrical current, with units of amperes which equal 1 C/s.
Although numerous articles relating to earthing have been published, little information about the electrical nature of earthing appears to be available. The clinical impact of grounding the human body is documented; but even the most basic information about grounding currents, such as their magnitudes, is not given.
It is suggested in several of the sources that some of the benefits of earthing result from information transmitted through ground currents. For example, one sources states:
“And just like a battery in a car that keeps the motor running and the wheels turning, so, too, do the rhythmic pulsations of natural energy flowing through and emanating from the surface of the Earth keep the biological machinery of global life running in rhythm and balance.…”
Another quote from the same source states that “… electric rhythms comparable to those measured at the Earth’s surface” were a necessary factor in maintaining health.
Although most references to the information contained in grounding currents are vague, one specific type of information targeted in this study relates to Schumann resonances.15 Schumann resonances are created in the resonant cavity formed between the earth and ionosphere, excited by lightening; and they exist worldwide at around 8 Hz along with harmonics of that frequency. There are articles addressing the impact that Schumann resonances can have on humans,16, 17 and there are claims by a manufacturer of earthing equipment that “Earthing Sheets Connect Us to the Schumann Resonance of The Earth.”18 Consequently, examining the measured grounding currents for artifacts of Schumann resonance seemed to be appropriate.
These claims in the lay literature and in advertising that information transfer is an important mechanism in Earthing prompted analyses of Earthing currents for information content. The purpose of this study was to investigate “earthing” from an electrical perspective through measurement and analysis of the naturally occurring electron flow between the human body or a control and ground as this relates to the magnitude of the charge exchange, the relationship between the charge exchange and body functions (respiration and heart rate), and the detection of other information that might be contained in the charge exchange.
Consistent with the purpose of this study, the hypothesis being tested is that the currents between a human subject and ground can be measured and that those currents contain information that can be recovered, including physiological parameters such as heart rate and respiration.
Section snippets
Methods
This work is an extension of the previous types of work performed by the authors [eg, 19, 20] and in the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. To perform the measurements relating to this study, the electronic circuit described below was electrically inserted between the human subject and ground. That circuit measured the charge flow (current) and provided an interface to a computer so that the charge flow could be logged and analyzed. The schematic
Statistics and Data Analysis
To determine the characteristics of the current exchange between the human subjects and ground, fundamental statistical analyses, frequency analyses, and correlation analyses were performed on the data. The statistical analyses determined the mean and standard deviation of data sets, as well as their distribution functions. Those distribution functions were determined by calculating the number of times data points occurred within particular intervals, and scaled values of those numbers were
Results
The time-domain data (ie, measured current flow vs time) collected in this study are unremarkable, as they appear to be zero-mean noise. The readily discernible difference between data collected with the human subject and the control is that the noise on the human subject is considerably larger and it is punctuated with occasional impulsive noise. Observations made during the measurements showed that the impulsive noise occurred whenever the subject moved. It is assumed that the movement caused
Discussion
As seen in Fig 5, the distribution function for current for a human subject is bimodal and asymmetric. An explanation for this distribution is that there is a pronounced charge-discharge cycle associated with subject motion and that the motion-induced charging is considerably greater than the background noise. Consequently, the bimodal peaks are likely created by the motion-induced charge/discharge cycles. The asymmetry in those peaks is assumed to be caused by differences in the manner in
Conclusions
The data collected in this study show that charges flow between the human body and ground if a ground path exists. That charge flow is small, with a magnitude of less than 10 nA after the ground path has been established. The currents correlate with human subject motion; and no other information appears to be present, such as heartbeat, respiration, or other earth-body communication.
Funding Sources and Conflicts of Interest
No funding sources or conflicts of interest were reported for this study.
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