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The Plasma Ball, Energy Flow, and It’s Relevance to Touch And Breathe (TAB)
John H. Diepold Jr. Ph.D.
Moorestown, NJ
September, 1999

How it Works

The Plasma Ball draws energy from the electrical outlet and into the center coil. The coil amplifies the voltage, thus exciting the electrons. The electrons flow into the ball atop of the coil and are released inside the plastic sphere. The sphere, however, is filled with a mix of Argon and Neon (which are noble gases that do not accept extra electrons). As the excited electrons flow into the mix of Argon and Neon they are ejected causing the streaks of color inside the sphere. Consequently the electrons are dispersed about the perimeter of the sphere and into the air.

When a person touches the sphere, the electrons are drawn to that point of contact because the human body conducts electricity better than air. The person touching the sphere offers the electrons a path of least resistance. When another person touches the person touching the sphere, they feel an electric shock from the electrons jumping from one body to the other (the result of having created a “potential difference”).

The Relevance to Meridian Based Psychotherapies

Electrons fill the air and flow throughout our bodies, but this activity is not generally apparent. We have all experienced static electric shocks after walking across a carpeted floor on a winter’s night and then touching a doorknob or greeting a friend. The startling but harmless shock is an energy exchange. However, The Plasma Ball creates an environment for the observer to witness electrical activity in a way that is not usually visible to help us understand energy flow. In the “right” environment we could also see how energy flows within and around our bodies, and how our body energy is influenced.

This author hypothesizes that touching The Plasma Ball is analogous to touching an acupoint on our body. The Plasma Ball, however, appears to be a one-way model of energy exchange [energy leaving the sphere] whereas acupoints are believed to be a two-way model where energy can be received or transmitted. The relative low levels of electrical impedance at an acupoint, compared to a non-acupoint body location, readily allow for energy exchange upon touch or stimulation. It is this author’s observation that the opportunity for energy influence is considerably greater with sustained touch (i.e., TAB) when compared to several brief taps on the sphere. While tapping may involve a form of kinetic energy to facilitate a piezoelectric effect, it does not appear to maximize an opportunity for energy exchange compared to TAB (where breath facilitates the piezoelectric effect). Empirical study into these methodologies is strongly encouraged.