The Signal and it's Source

If you have ever blown across the top of a bottle and heard a tone then you've seen the result of a resonant cavity (the bottle) excited by an energy source (your blowing across the mouth of the bottle). The pitch of the tone is determined by the size and shape of the bottle. If you were to add some water to the bottle and blow again, the pitch would go higher. The Schumann resonance is very similar in that there is a cavity (the space between the earth and the ionosphere) and an energy source (lightning discharge).

There are approximately 100 lightning discharges across the face of the planet each second. These tremendous sources of energy create electromagnetic waves ranging in frequency from the ELF(extremely-low-frequency) to well beyond microwaves. Some of this energy contributes to a 'standing wave' similar to what is shown in the picture at the right. While this is simplified, the idea is that a stationary waveform is created at the 'tone' of the cavity. This tone is typically between seven and eight cycles per second.

This 7.8 Hz(cycles per second) signal has been around since long before our species appeared on earth and as a result, one of frequencies of our brainwaves, the beta wave, evolved to match this natural signal of the earth. Various small changes in this frequency tend to alter our moods and affect our sense of well-being. The frequency of the Schumann resonance is always changing due to changes in the earth's temperature, solar and galactic radiation, and such things as meteor storms. The point is that how you feel today is not only dependant on whether the boss gave you a raise, but is also affected by these external influences.

Now if you take a large enough group of people (investors) and have them join together in a common enterprise (the stock market), very small changes in these external factors can cause noticeable changes in investor behavior and therefore market prices.

The trick is to receive the signal

You would think that picking up a radio wave would be child's play. That is not exactly the case when the frequency is 7 Hz. Your AM radio operates between 550,000 and 1,600,000 Hz. Using traditional techniques, the antenna should be miles in length to be useful. The distortion caused by external factors such as wind and power line interference make the task even harder. All of this is why the signal was not actually confirmed until years after the idea of it's existence was conceived. The development of a receiver that looked to the very small as opposed to the very big was the answer. The effect of these low-frequency waves can be seen as changes in the direction of the stream of particles being fired from an electron gun.

Part 3 of the series will cover more details of the sensor.