I was reading a book last night, I forget the Title/Author (the book is downstairs ), and I found a simple experiment that I am sure that you have all heard of but anyway...

1)Cut a thin peice of paper into a square with sides 3-4 inches long.

2)fold the square in half to form a triangle, unfold and then fold it across the other axis to make another triangle, this should make a pyramid shape.

3)Get a peice of putty and place a needle in the middle facing straight up, place the pyramid on the needle so the centrepoint of the folds is balancing on the needle.

4)Place your hands around the "object" (like a cup (o), without touching it) that you have put together and concentrate, imagining it spinning either cw or acw.

See if it spins, It did for me but Im still skeptical...

NOTE: Do so in a closed room with no air currents.

Just tried it. I got it to do a few turns, other than that it just shook a little, but at least I got it to do something! Do you have to use a needle? Because I used a safety pin. Now this is supposted to test mental power? Interesting.

I also used a large saftey pin, I dont think it matters.
It is sposed to test the existence of the energy fields thst surround us and the power of the mind to control them...

Warm air currents from your hands, ha. It does test the energy of your hands, as to the mind - it only tests how long you can be fooled/disillusioned.

Now put a glass container over the top, with a closed top and DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE GLASS CONTAINER.

Now it'll test your patience

Thats what Im trying at the moment, The book also says to try this but so far no results.

That is what is often known as a psi wheel and is said to be proof of psychic powers by some. It is, of course, just thermals. http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Uncovered%20psi%20wheel.html

At the moment I'm inclined to agree, it seems like a simple party trick, shame though there goes the books credibility, it was a good read too...

ohhhhhh... so that's the 'psi wheel' i keep seeing mentioned.

Afraid I'm fresh out of silly putty at the moment.

People still keep Silly Putty around?

Sounds like an demo of chaos theory to me

dang. and I was about to go on letterman and everything...do you think he'd know it's just thermals?

You don't neccesarily need silly putty, an eraser works too.

There was a time when I was able to make the psi-wheel spin clockwise, counter-clockwise, speed up, slow down, and finally even flip right off the darning needle, and I had myself throughly convinced that it was done with the power of my mind.

Even if it was 'just thermals' that's still pretty impressive to me. That you're mind can harness the power of you're bodies warmth by focusing your will on the desired behavior of some silly putty and paper.

You are being sarcastic aren't you?

I've tried it before . . . . it didn't work for me.

Will somebody tell me how they are getting this thing to work! I try as hard as I can to will it to move and it does nothing! The most I've gotten is about 2 spins and some shaking, but I think that's because I breathed on it to hard. If it's just thermal energy then it should work for everybody, shouldn't it? If there's a trick to doing this please tell me it. This would be an awesome trick to show off to my friends.

The trick to it has nothing to do with your will harnessing your body's warmth or somesuch. What you are doing is using your hands to create a wind vortex. Cup them around the wheel, like a bowl. Leave a gap between your wrists and fingertips. The warmth of your hands will cause the air above it to rise out of the way. Cooler air will move in through the gaps, which will cause the spin in the wheel. The more relaxed you are, the more dialated the vessels in your hand will be, meaning an increased blood flow, meaning increased warmth. By minor, almost invisible adjustments of your fingers, you can change the wind currents, causing the wheel to speed up, slow down, and change direction. If you need additional assistance, the smoke from a small cone of incense close to the gap between your wrists will let you see the path of the air currents.

Aswell as what Aquatus1 mentioned you may want to make sure that the ambient room temperature is very different to your body temperature - that will help. If the ambient room temperature is close to approx 37 deg. celcius the air current vortices will move much slower affecting your 'psi' wheel much less.

If all else fails, just flick the darn thingy with your finger - it's much easier! - unless of course you have a glass over the top