# The Hutchison Effect
**URL:** https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167
**Category:** Science, Technology, and Math
**Created:** [June 24, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167 "2006-06-24T05:08:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gobbo](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Gobbo)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/1 "2006-06-24T05:08:33Z")
The Hutchison Effect, named after Canadian John Hutchison refers to an effect involving the quantum landscape and zero point energy in which objects can be made to levitate, and metals made to melt at room temperature.
[thehutchisoneffect.com/hutchison\_effect.htm](http://www.thehutchisoneffect.com/hutchison_effect.htm)
---
### Author:  [@Carpathian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Carpathian)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 8:46am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/2 "2006-06-24T08:46:15Z")
I’d be skeptic but i watched some videos on other sites and if they’re not hoaxes this might be “the next thing” in science.
Still i wouldn’t give too much attention to this until this guy either gets a nobel prize for his discovery or this whole thing is picked up by the mainstream science.
Still the problem is that this guy is into alot of UFO cults and consipracy theories; sort of an underground scientist; still if you watch his videos here:
[hutchisoneffectonline.com/videos.htm](http://www.hutchisoneffectonline.com/videos.htm)
You may see there might be something more than a hoax there.
In any case his experiments need to be put to the test in a controled enviroment; possibly a high tech lab, not in his kitchen.
---
### Author:  [@Carpathian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Carpathian)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 9:04am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/3 "2006-06-24T09:04:57Z")
AH found it:
Scientific opinion
None of Hutchison’s claims have ever been taken seriously by the mainstream scientists. In a recent posting to the newsgroup sci.physics.research, Marc Millis, who formerly ran the now defunct Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA, wrote:
```
[The] Hutchison Effect has been claimed for years, without any independent verification — ever. In fact, its originator can't even replicate it on demand. This has been investigated more than once, been part of documentaries on The Discovery Channel, but still never seems to pass critical muster. This is in the category of folklore. In general, the "American Antigravity" web site caters to such folklore and its enthusiasts.
— Marc G. Millis[2]
```
Indeed, Marc Millis remarks that Hutchison himself appears unable to reproduce his earlier alleged experiments. Hutchison also claims to have invented over-unity batteries, which he calls Q Cells or Hiroshima cells and which, he says, obtain energy from the vacuum using the Casimir effect. Mainstream physicists are quick to point out that over-unity is just another word for a perpetual-motion machine. They add that the Casimir effect, while a genuine physical effect, has often been invoked by people seeking an energetic “free-lunch”, in defiance of the laws of thermodynamics.
Another problem with Hutchison’s effect is that many of the effects shown, such as the levitation and heating of objects, can be produced by other physically established laws, such as the Lorentz force and acoustic levitation (which uses ultrasonic waves to levitate objects of up to ten kilograms, and can work on any material, including water, wood, metal and stone) [3] [4][5] So the fact that levitations happened around his laboratory does not prove the discovery of a new force.
---
### Author:  [@Carpathian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Carpathian)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 9:06am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/4 "2006-06-24T09:06:46Z")
Charges of fakery
The “levitating” toy UFO with string visible in the top left corner
The “levitating” toy UFO with string visible in the top left corner
Hutchison previously sold (for about one hundred fifty dollars each) videos illustrating his “effect”, and has released some shorter video clips online.[6][7] Videos of his effect are now sold exclusively by Gryphon Productions[8].
When skeptics pointed out that, in one of these videos, a string is clearly visible at the edge of the frame which appears to be holding a small toy “UFO”, Hutchison explained:
```
The string is not string but #32-gauge double polythermalized wire on a takeup up reel with 20 to 50000 volts DC. The main apparatus was turned on, causing the toy plastic UFO to fly all about in amazing gyrations. This was a pretest to gryphon films airing this fall for FOX TV. I did not need the extra high voltage 2000 time period so the toy levitated without a high voltage hook up during the filming for gryphon there was a string on the toy no high-voltage dc but interesting movements.
— John Hutchison, quoted at the American Antigravity website
```
Hutchison later admitted to being “creative” with the footage, citing pressure from the Discovery Channel to create material for the show and an inability to reproduce the original effect, according to Tim Ventura of American Antigravity.[9]
Hutchison admits that he hasn’t actually reproduced his effect since approximately 1991. The earlier levitation footage from the 1980s is genuine, he says. But this footage has been characterized as looking like it was taken in a booth with an upside-down camera.[10]
---
### Author:  [@Phaedrus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Phaedrus)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/5 "2006-06-24T09:20:56Z")
I’d say a better name would be "The P.T. Barnum Effect." 😉
---
### Author:  [@someoneisatthedoor](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/someoneisatthedoor)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-hutchison-effect/11167/6 "2006-06-24T10:25:18Z")
Every great scientist is half BF Skinner and half PT Barnum - The Simpsons