Petravoltaic -- Electricity from Rocks

From PESWiki

Thomas Townsend Brown discovered an effect which may be related to the electrogravitic effects observed upon condensers at high voltage. He noted that certain dielectrics, and most notably certain types of igneous rocks, exhibited a weak electrical potential. Through testing, he discerned that this was neither piezoelectric (pressure induced voltage), nor pyroelectric (heat-change induced voltage), but petrovoltaic. This is to say that there was a continuous, steady voltage across the rock, which changed very slowly, according to the lunar cycle, positions of stars, position of the sun, and such like. [1] (http://nicholortberg.blogspot.com/2007/08/petro-electrical.html)

John Hutchison is well known for having advanced this effect.

No commercial applications are known or likely due to the low power density.

Hutchison Effect

To further explore the topic of petrovoltiacs and their origin, a brief mention of the Hutchison Effect is in order. Canadian inventor John Hutchison discovered that by utilizing Tesla coils and other RF generation apparatus in his lab, he was (often) able to produce strange effects such as levitation, fusion of dissimilar items such as metal with plastic, and other strange effects. He would try different frequencies and RF combinations; and sometimes the effect would present itself in strange "poltergeist" fashion. Levitation of a large cannonball, levitation of ice cream in a cup and other strange anomalies are reported with the Hutchison Effect (composite mix of RF fields), as can be found with Google web search on the subject.

Piezoelectric Effect

This effect using silicas and other materials (crystal and other detectors) use physical pressure to create a voltage, such as the voltage created in a crystal earphone or crystal microphone. Crystals are often used as detectors in lieu of standard diodes. Inherent in this is the fact that crystals exhibit resonance, which makes them ideal to selectively tune in a signal of a certain frequency. The marked similarity of piezoelectric effects as compared to that of petrovoltaic effects lend me to group them in a not dissimilar category. That is to say, both piezo and petrovoltaic materials tend to exhibit detection properties. Hence this could provide another clue to the mystery of petrovoltaic operation, given proper research and experiments along these lines.