Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2004; 9: 190–2
In the past few years the old controversial discussion has been renewed about so-called electromagnetic scalar waves in connection with electromagnetic vortices.1 These waves have been claimed to be useful for the diagnosis and therapy of various, mainly chronic, diseases, such as allergies, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.2 They are used by physicians and especially by psychiatrists.
Researchers into the nature of visible light, such as Young, Huygens and Fresnel, assumed, in an analogy to acoustic and mechanical waves, that light also has the properties of longitudinal waves (scalar waves). However, some decades later it was revealed, mainly by the effect of polarisation, that light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and therefore is a transversal wave phenomenon.
Misleading theories, however, sometimes seem to die hard. In the case of electromagnetic waves, Nicola Tesla seems to have been a reinventor. As a man who combined intuition and its immediate conversion into practice, he built some test items that were claimed to operate on the basis of ‘unknown waves’.3 These test items disappeared a short time after their construction for unknown reasons. As there were no or only poor scientific and technical descriptions available, a large field for speculation concerning these waves was opened, culminating in the idea of mysterious ‘death rays’. Various opinions regarding these test items have emerged regularly ever since, and amongst those who discussed Tesla’s ideas, vague indications and suppositions were some well-known medical experts, but never serious experts in the domain of electromagnetic theory and practice.4
To understand the physical background, some basic information may be helpful. A scalar is defined as a bare numerical value or quantification, e.g. temperature, which is a numerical value with a dimension such as degrees centigrade, but no direction. In contrast, a vector is a directed value, defined by the parameters related to a system of fixed coordinates. To describe a three-dimensional body, a rectangular three-axis system is needed. If a body is placed in that system, every point of the body can geometrically be defined by a vector pointing from the coordinate system zero point to it. If the body moves, the three coordinates of this rectangular system become time-dependent. A complete description of a vector therefore consists of three dimensions and time.
An oscillation is a timely and periodic change of a physical quantity or a physical system, e.g. the pendulum of a grandfather clock. Oscillations propagating into space are called waves. As the oscillations are time-dependent, a wave is defined by three dimensions and time.
If one listens to the dialling tone of a telephone and repeats it out loud, physically and physiologically a lot has happened: the person has received an acoustic input signal through his/her passive hearing system, adapted the active acoustic system to this frequency, amplified the input signal and generated an acoustic scalar wave (longitudinal wave) with a non-homogenous distribution of emitted acoustic energy in the surrounding space. Ideally, these acoustic waves only have a component in the direction into which they spread out. This means that there are only oscillations in the direction of propagation, which can be described by one-component wave functions. All this functions only in a space that is filled with a medium such as air.
Electromagnetic waves are much more complicated than acoustic waves because they consist of two components: the electrical and magnetic field strengths. Neither of these requires a medium for their propagation. In a plain wave, these components form, together with the direction of propagation, a three-dimensional rectangular axis system. This is at least true for the ideal wave, which was described mathematically by Maxwell’s equations, revised by Faraday and numerous other experts and then experimentally confirmed by Hertz and his successors. Electromagnetic waves and all related phenomena are the subject of theoretical descriptions and calculations, which use higher mathematics, including vectors, differentials, integration and tensors. These views and calculations have been confirmed by countless experiments, practice and experience in a variety of natural science disciplines for more than 100 years.5–7
In an electromagnetic scalar wave, as postulated by some, one of the two field-strength components should be identical to the direction of propagation. This is combined with the idea of a vortex plus its complicated mathematics. According to this theory, electromagnetic wave dissipation should combine the two field components in a way similar to what is visible as a vortex ring emerging, for example, from a tractor’s exhaust. The present exponents of the electromagnetic scalar wave theory usually refer to Maxwell and Faraday.1,2 In the UK there is a Faraday museum and something similar exists for Maxwell’s work. However, hints relating to this theory do not exist in either of them. Indeed, there are no unknown areas or explanation deficits, either in electrodynamic science or in physics, which support the idea of electromagnetic scalar waves. Even if their existence could be proven in theory and practice, this might have certain influences and consequences concerning the microscopic view of the world, the details of atom and quantum physics and electromagnetic theory.8 However, it is also fairly likely that our macroscopic impression of the world, where we live with senses, a body and feelings adopted to this, would not be touched and in no way would be revolutionised.
The importance of the different basic physical effects changes dramatically when one leaves the range of everyday experience and tries to analyse the behaviour of tiny particles in quantum physics. This creates a mental barrier for understanding the microcosmos; in addition the experimental field is extremely difficult. In the microcosmos we are confronted with the infinite. The number of cells in the human body is about 1014 and chemical processes take place in a single cell in the order of up to several tens of thousands per second. Cells are interconnected and interact in various ways. It is therefore easily understood that this universe cannot be explored completely, neither in real time nor by means of recording the events (if we could do so) and studying them later: they are past and will never be repeated.
An accumulation of infinite universes lives and functions together by self-adaptation and self-regulation. Additionally, more highly developed animals have not only receptors and effectors for their specific macroscopic environment but also, and this is most important, an instinct. Whatever components may form this instinct, this is the tool to deal with the infinite. In this context it is a well-known phenomenon that patients feel, whether their therapist is able to establish a positive connection and, without any attempt to explain it physically, can create ‘harmonic oscillations’ in resonance with them, with or without using a technical device. This, together with a solid knowledge of the diagnostic and therapeutic state of the art, is the basis of successful medicine. It also allows us to understand why, despite the fact that all ancient therapists had less access to scientific knowledge than we have now, there have always been excellent therapists, even with no or poor medical education. This, of course, is by no means a plea for ignorance, dilettantism or hampering of progress.
However, the individual lifespan of a therapist is already too short to learn everything substantial or to deal with unproven things. The preoccupation with electromagnetic scalar waves should therefore be delegated to experts in theoretical physics. If they are able to confirm the existence of electromagnetic scalar waves in theory and practice, then the second step might be taken: the construction of devices and systems that use them. Only thereafter can biological and medicinal applications be developed, followed by a scientific evaluation of results and experiences.
Reality, however, sometimes turns out to be different. Devices that are claimed to use electromagnetic scalar waves are already commercially available, and there are therapists who use them to treat patients. This fact may lead to the conclusion that certain suppliers try to make money by pretending to use a new species of electromagnetic waves that most probably does not exist and even in the unlikely case of existence would not have any significant effect on macroscopic events. To our present knowledge, no well-designed clinical trial with positive results has ever been published in this field, which indirectly supports this assumption.
Electricity in all its forms is an extremely important part of nature and of all aspects of medicine and life in general. At all times, medicine has used electricity in obvious (e.g. electrical fishes, generation of body potentials by inserting metal needles into human tissue, etc.) and less obvious (e.g. heliotherapy, which uses a part of the solar electromagnetic radiation spectrum) forms. There are many good reasons for assuming that treatment by electricity will have a future key function in an effective and economic healthcare system. As electricity is highly reliable and successfully used in technology and daily life, it should not be discredited by confusing fact with fiction.
