Dowsing Rods: Science or Pseudoscience

Me and my buddy design an experiment to test metal dowsing rods' ability to detect water.

First half of video is setup, skip to middle to watch the actual test.

We watched the following videos for inspiration:
Our brief history came from

First time making a video since high school, so it's not fantasmatical. Imma work on it.

[jbrannon]

This looks like it was recorded with a 1993 RCA VHS camcorder then dubbed onto a DVD years later and then saved on a computer and then eventually uploaded to YouTube.

[DevinBost]

I'm not sure this experiment was setup correctly since it's possible that the electrical charge from the person holding the rods has a role. Also, I've heard that the water must be in motion. Water moving through a pipe generates electrical current. So, there could be an electromagnetic role that's missing in this experiment.

[smokingweedcures]

Note to self: don’t wear goggles to the beach.

[benmartin]

It only works by the ideomotor reflex
My boss proved to me it works by finding a still sewer pipe that he knew was there
I know right! “Science”

[Arklowdrummers]

U need to form an association with the rods. Does a ladder help a man climb onto the roof? Yes of course but only when he steps on it and presents it in the right place.

[williamekaputrawijaya]

My grandfather uses the dowsing rods to ask questions

[pressaltfforfreevbucks]

Best video on the subject. Im 18 years old and ive studied plenty electromagnetism and i thought that maybe the paramagnetic abilities of water could somehow create a change in magnetic flux through the wires as you move which would create a very small eddie current inside the wires and possibly make them attract each other and that was the exact experiment i thought about to settle the matter and sure enough, thats exactly what you did

[RyanEdmondsMyLifeAsRyan]

The rods rely on signals from the autonomic nervous system. The rods themselves do not have any inherent power... they need to be in the hands of a human being as it’s the human consciousness that picks up the water through the nervous system

[ricardocalles]

The Earth's telluric currents produce wave confluences around bodies of underground water supplies increasing their effect and are responsible for deflecting metal dowsing rods and is why this technique works.

[samiksha]

Hey you should have used your hands to hold the rods. You make the static electricity in you body that flows through the rod and when you come to any thing that is a good conductor, then the rod moves accordingly. I hope I am right. I had done this in my school days for fun and to my astonishment it did work at that time. Honestly but today it is not working for me when I tried.

[IanCoppack]

This won’t work because dowsing activates when hands twist...rods just amplify hand movements....lifetime dowser

[WaterSourcer]

Several thousands years of history actually. They are shown in Egyptian paintings.

[pankajtrikha]

do it by holding rods in your hands near water body or over underground waterpipe .note the result now again do the same experiment in same surrounding but blindfolded without knowing the direction of water body or pipe.In first case your conscious mind gives motion to rods without your approval (invoulantry) but when your eyes are closed you have no sense of where water is, it gives no motion. so it is conscious mind

[WaterSourcer]

Yes, the rods won't move unless you hold them and think...show me water beneath my feet.

[kw]

I think the old guy just knew where the water line ran. Could have been around when it was laid. Could have been part of the gov that approved it.

[logangraham]

the only thing i can think of is perhaps they are "feeling" for dips in land height as water would naturally go to the lower part of the ground.
but in most cases that would be unreliable due to human intervention of course.
simply digging a hole would make this method completely pointless assuming they are using ground height.

[aaronmcgill]

The rods need to be in your hands it is part of the procedure you body holds an import part of the energy. this is like proving the toaster doesn't work and it isn't plugged in. Also the max distance between the rods should be 9" you didn't even address that did you? I might have missed it for the laughing.

[TheLaRell]

Dowsing involves a level of spirituality. It is not the dowsing rods that detect water or other objects. It is the person "Holding" them. They are simply an instrument that makes the answer undeniable. Because of this, no matter how little resistence there is on the rods themselves, they are never going to move unless a person is holding them. The problem is, it then leaves things open for skepticism as to whether the person is making them move. The reality is that it IS the person making them move....but only after the present energy makes the person move, and in a way that the person holding them can always feel the sensation of NOT moving them. That they are moving on their own in the persons hands. Dowsing rods work with the energy within us, and its relation to the energy all around us in the world.

[jericoboy]

It’s moving water that makes them cross creates electromagnetic field drilled water wells for 4 years and never had an old timer drill a dry well even in scarce areas

[MrCthieke]

My old boss showed dousing to me and I have had great success finding underground pipes.