Does this trick qualify for challenge? Whats the science?

[flurpy]

By using my brain, I can strengthen the signal on my car's remote control.

EFFECT: Standing at a distance of about 10 metre from my car, the signal no the remote control is too weak to open my car. If I push the button, nothing happens.

If I however point the remote to my head, hold the remote directly against my temple, concentrate (not really neccessary), and then push the button, my car unlocks.

I'm curious as to why it works. If there is no explanation, will this trick qualify for the PRIZE?


Another quick science question out of real curiosity:

How come a jet move a spaceship in a vacuum / space, if there is nothing (no air) to "push" away from or "kick" against?

 

[aggle-rithm]

By using my brain, I can strengthen the signal on my car's remote control.

EFFECT: Standing at a distance of about 10 metre from my car, the signal no the remote control is too weak to open my car. If I push the button, nothing happens.

If I however point the remote to my head, hold the remote directly against my temple, concentrate (not really neccessary), and then push the button, my car unlocks.

I'm curious as to why it works. If there is no explanation, will this trick qualify for the PRIZE?

I have had TV remotes that wouldn't work unless you pointed them at the back wall and bounced the signal off it. Perhaps something like this is going on. It's impossible to tell without more information. Does it do this regardless of where the car is?

Another quick science question out of real curiosity:

How come a jet move a spaceship in a vacuum / space, if there is nothing (no air) to "push" away from or "kick" against?

A jet cannot, as it requires air intake. A rocket can, because it carries it's own oxygen supply, and, of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The rocket is "kicking" against itself.

 

[The Don]

Answer to question 2: The matter us being projected backwards, an effect of the conservation of momentum is that the ship would be projected forwards.

Answer to question 1: dunno, perhas the skull works like an antenna

 

[brodski]

Answer to question 1: dunno, perhas the skull works like an antenna

This question has come up before on the forums (and I think in a commentary) and that is the right answer, in fact eth whole body acts as an antenna, boosting the signal under various conditions.
A neat trick but it won't net you the million.

 

[geoman]

...
I'm curious as to why it works. If there is no explanation, will this trick qualify for the PRIZE?
...

Nice one flurpy, after reading several depressing threads here you made my day.

Note to all other prize seekers and paranormalists. Do you see how what flurpy did here was a Good Thing?

 

[fishbait]

If I however point the remote to my head, hold the remote directly against my temple, concentrate (not really neccessary), and then push the button, my car unlocks.

Just curious. How did you discover this method? What made you point the thing at your head?

 

[nimzov]

perhas the skull works like an antenna

This could explain the strange voices I am hearing.

nimzo

 

[Orangutan]

How come a jet move a spaceship in a vacuum / space, if there is nothing (no air) to "push" away from or "kick" against?

This is a good question, although the physics is well understood today, a man by the name of Robert H. Goddard had to prove that rockets would work in a vacuum even though Newtons laws of motion were well understood at the time.

Here is a short page about the fellow.
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/service/gallery/fact_sheets/general/goddard/goddard.htm

As for the remote thing, I understand that the body can act as an antenna some way I read something about it a while ago. It would be a relativly easy test if you have equipment to show signal strength. I wonder if anyone has done it.

 

[tsg]

The two standard answers I have heard are 1) the body acts as an antenna and 2) the added height of holding the remote at head level increases the range. I know my car remote works from farther away if I hold it up higher. I haven't tried pointing it at my head (or under my chin, either with or without my mouth open as others have suggested). It should be easy enough to verify, though. Hold the remote up at head level and back away until it stops working, then point it at your head and try again.

 

[Schneibster]

By using my brain, I can strengthen the signal on my car's remote control.

EFFECT: Standing at a distance of about 10 metre from my car, the signal no the remote control is too weak to open my car. If I push the button, nothing happens.

If I however point the remote to my head, hold the remote directly against my temple, concentrate (not really neccessary), and then push the button, my car unlocks.

I'm curious as to why it works.

Depends on the angle, I think- try it facing in all directions, and with other parts of your body interposed at different angles, and I'm pretty sure you'll find that there are many other arrangements whereby your body or some part of it DECREASES the range. I would expect you to find, if you did the experiment properly, that these arrangements far outnumber those where it increases.

Another quick science question out of real curiosity:

How come a jet move a spaceship in a vacuum / space, if there is nothing (no air) to "push" away from or "kick" against?

As previously noted, if by "jet" you mean a jet engine, the answer is, "it can't," since jet engines require air to operate and there is no air in space. If by "jet," however, you mean a jet of gas being emitted, like from a comet as it approaches the Sun, then the answer is that the effect comes from the same thing that makes the boat float away from you when you dive off it. It's called "conservation of momentum."

 

[kevin]

I've played around quite a bit with my remote and I've noticed the following: when walking I tend to point the remote at the ground, this typically fails unless very close to the car. Because of the way the hand hangs at the side, if the remote is between thumb and forefinger it will point straight down or at a very slight angle.

Any amount of lifting the remote to the horizontal position, especially above the waist, will cause the remote to work from much longer distances. Pointing at my head doesn't make it work from further away than just lifting it does.

If there are a lot of cars between me and my car, lifting the remote above my shoulder to aim above the other cars works well. again the head thing doesn't add any distance, i get the same as above the shoulder.

If you've tested all these things and tried multiple remotes and they only improve when pointed at your head then your head maybe acting as a radio reflector (I doubt it's acting as an antenna).

 

[Thabiguy]

How come a jet move a spaceship in a vacuum / space, if there is nothing (no air) to "push" away from or "kick" against?

I assume by "jet" you mean rocket engine. To answer your question from its original perspective, the rocket is actually making its own atmosphere to "push away from" or "kick against", by leaking exhaust gas and pushing away from that (in fact that happens simultaneously).

However, this point of view, although valid in principle, is awkward and not very helpful in understanding the physics of reaction engines. A much better way of looking at it is this: By throwing away some mass m at velocity v, you are giving out momentum m*v and will experience "recoil" of the same magnitude of momentum, in the opposite direction. Try sitting in a rolling chair and throw away something heavy, and you will see what I mean. This will work anywhere in the universe; atmosphere is irrelevant to this process.

Now a rocket does exactly that, it throws away mass (exhaust gas) at high velocities and that's why it accelerates in the opposite direction.

 

[Earthborn]

If I however point the remote to my head, hold the remote directly against my temple, concentrate (not really neccessary), and then push the button, my car unlocks.

This was on Mad Labs on National Geographic Channel. So unless you are the same guy as on the show, you're not the first one to discover this.

 

[flurpy]

Thanks guys for the feedback on both questions.
The antennae - theory seems to be a sound explanation. I did not discover this myself. A friend showed me and I found the effect interesting, and came here for the explanation I found.

Thanks also for the spacecraft in a vacuum explanation. Makes complete sense.