Intriguing theory: are crop circles formed by a process similar to Xerox Copying? electrostatic discharge rearranging particles?

      To:  All                        Message #:  3880 
    From:  raph@fnalc.fnal.gov        Submitted:  24 Mar 92 12:27:00  
 Subject:  Xeroxing circles in the f     Status:  Public
Received:  No                             Group:  ALIEN (37)

RE: Xeroxing circles in the fields?
From: raph@fnalc.fnal.gov
Date: 23 Mar 92 20:00:29 GMT
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab
Message-ID: <1992Mar23.140029.1@fnalc.fnal.gov>
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors

There is a possible mechanism for forming crop circles that I have not seen
 or heard discussed.  Suppose we look at the field as if it were a giant

piece of paper in a xerox machine, and the grain stalks are the carbon

grains.  Xerox machines operate by putting down a static charge, with

projected light and shadows causing a gradient between charged and uncharged

regions of the paper.  Carbon powder is attracted to the highly charged

shadowed portions of the paper, causing the light pattern from the original

to be transferred to the copy paper.  

If a sufficient electrostatic charge were passed over the field wiht a long,

narrow electrode, circles and squares could be produced in the grain.

Perhaps a diffuse, low-gradient charge could be put into the whole field

(this might be unnecessary); then a high-gradient charge swept across the

field, which would cause the the grain stems to be charged for a few

milliseconds (before the charge could dissipate entirely to the air or down

the stem).  The static charge on the grain stems would pull the plants toward

the oppositely-charged earth underneath, gently bending them.  (Imagine, if

you will, charging a balloon with a burst of ionizing radiation or by

touching it to a statically charged rod, and then sticking it to a wall; or

consider how your hair stands on end when sitting on a Tesla coil, and then

*reversing* the process, to cause the hair to flatten out on the scalp, but

in patterns.)

This would, of course, require a *large* amount of very high voltage, which

might, according to a SWAG, be possible with some of the proposed high-end

Star-Wars-type hardware.  

Thus, some prankster from _wherever_ would use some hapless farmer's field as

a sort of giant xerox machine to demonstrate, bother and bewilder the

onlookers the next day.

It is very possible the high voltages employed in this way would cause some

slight physical change in the soil or grain.  Perhaps nearby fences or nails

and such on the field's surface would become charged magnetically due to the

current flow.  Anyone look for this?

Am I the first to propose this mechanism for producing crop circles?  I must

confess that I have not read all of the literature available.

                        Cordially, Jim Hawtree 

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