| There are two opinions regarding esp. Those | | | | every card was black, they would get 50% of |
| who believe in it, and those who do not. Many | | | | the answers right and 50% wrong. Someone who |
| believe that there are some people, often | | | | gets slightly more than 50% correct guesses |
| called psychics who can receive the thoughts | | | | once in a while would not be considered to |
| of others, or make determinations beyond the | | | | have ESP. It would be just a matter of |
| normal senses (smell, touch, taste, hear, | | | | statistical chance. However, someone who |
| see). | | | | consistently scored much higher marks of |
| | | | guessing red or black, test after test, over |
| ESP generally falls into four categories: | | | | and over, certainly might be considered to |
| | | | have some extra sensory perceptive abilities |
| Telepathy - a person's awareness of another's | | | | |
| thoughts, without any communication through | | | | Sit your subject down. Make certain the cards |
| normal sensory channels. | | | | are mixed very well. Don't let them see you |
| | | | mix the cards. Place the entire deck face |
| Clairvoyance - acquiring knowledge of an | | | | down, and ask the subject to concentrate on |
| event or an object without the use of the | | | | whether the card is red or black. Do not let |
| senses. | | | | them see the cards after they guess. Write |
| | | | down every answer, whether right or wrong. |
| Precognition - knowledge of a future event or | | | | Continue to do this with all of the subjects |
| future thoughts. | | | | in your experiment. Make each person do the |
| | | | experiment four times. Make a table with your |
| Psychokinesis - a person's ability to | | | | results. The table might list the total |
| influence a physical object or an event | | | | number of cards the subject guessed, how many |
| merely by thinking about it. (Did you see the | | | | were correct and how many were incorrect. To |
| movie Carrie?) | | | | calculate the percentage correct, divide the |
| | | | number correct by the total and multiply by |
| ESP is often called the sixth sense. It is | | | | 100. |
| sensory information that an individual | | | | |
| receives beyond the five senses. The term was | | | | Now start all over with your cards, and this |
| first used by Sir Richard Burton in 1870 and | | | | time make them concentrate and guess which |
| was later used to describe the ability of a | | | | suit each card is. Hearts, spades, diamonds |
| person who was hypnotized to sense things | | | | or clubs. This time the average hit rate |
| without using their ordinary senses. | | | | should be one out of four, compared to the |
| | | | red/black test where the average hit rate was |
| Some say that ESP was indicated in biblical | | | | one out of two. |
| times. Dr. Rhine at Duke University is one of | | | | |
| the modern proponents of ESP and conducted | | | | Keep good records. Mix cards thoroughly. |
| experiments for many years to demonstrate | | | | Never let the subject see the front face of |
| that certain people had the ability to | | | | the cards. Tell them to concentrate and |
| outguess matters of chance to a marked | | | | really try to guess what you ask them to do. |
| degree. | | | | |
| | | | There are many other tests that you can |
| OK, let us find out for ourselves whether ESP | | | | devise to determine whether any of your |
| is for real. Get a deck of regular playing | | | | subjects has ESP. You can toss a coin and ask |
| cars and some coins. | | | | them whether it will come down heads or |
| | | | tails. The hit rate should be 50% on average, |
| We will begin the first experiment with an | | | | but anyone who consistently guesses better |
| ordinary deck of cards, and a group of your | | | | might have ESP. Or do they? In this test, you |
| friends or family. The more people, the more | | | | must find a method of getting the coin to |
| valid the results. Keep accurate notes on | | | | spin so that the subject cannot get into the |
| everything that happens. | | | | rhythm of your toss and thereby get an |
| | | | advantage. |
| If some one had to guess the color of the | | | | |
| cards while looking at the back side of the | | | | What will you learn? Will anyone of the |
| cards, they would be likely to get half right | | | | people tested show signs of ESP? Find out in |
| and half wrong. Even if they guessed that | | | | this revealing fun science fair project! |