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How to Duplicate the Masaru Emoto Experiment

Masaru Emoto is a doctor of alternative medicine, and the founder of the I.H.M. General Research Institute in Tokyo. He is best known for his experiments with water, which allegedly demonstrate that music and words can affect the formation and structure of ice crystals. Emoto claims that water exposed to classical music, or positive phrases like "I love you," develops beautiful, snowflake-like crystals, while water exposed to heavy metal music, or harsh phrases like "you fool," develop "fragmented and malformed crystals at best." Emoto became certified as a doctor at the unaccredited Open International University in India. Because of his dubious credentials, his lack of scientific rigor, and his highly speculative theories, scientists are skeptical of his findings. Emoto's experiment is relatively easy to replicate, provided you're willing to gather and purchase the necessary equipment.

Things You'll Need

Distilled water, all from the same source
4 bottles, all the same size
50 Petri dishes
Eyedropper
Music player
Classical music
Heavy metal music
Paper
Writing utensils
Freezer with adjustable temperature
Walk-in freezer
200x-500x photographic microscope

Instructions

- 1
  Pour your distilled water into a bottle, if it isn't already in one.
- 2
  Expose your water for one hour to heavy metal music. (Note: Emoto does not specify which specific heavy metal song or songs he played for his water.)
- 3
  Use your eyedropper to extract 100 0.5mL samples of the water, and place individual drops on each of the 100 Petri dishes.
- 4
  Freeze and store the dishes for three hours at -25 degrees C.
- 5
  Remove one sample from the freezer and place it under your microscope in a walk-in freezer with a constant temperature of -5 degrees Celsius.
- 6
  Observe the water as the light from the microscope melts the top of it, and take photos. If your findings are like Emoto's, the crystals will be malformed, fragmented or nonexistent in water exposed to heavy metal.
- 7
  Observe all your samples in the same way, to make sure that your findings are consistent and significant.
- 8
  Pour another bottle of distilled water.
- 9
  Expose your water for one hour to classical music. Emoto specifically cites Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as an example of music he used.
- 10
  Repeat steps 4 and 5.
- 11
  Observe the water as the light from the microscope melts the top of it, and take photos. If your findings are like Emoto's, you will see beautiful, snowflake-like crystals in the water you exposed to classical music.
- 12
  Observe all your samples in the same way, to make sure that your findings are consistent and significant.
- 13
  Pour another bottle of distilled water.
- 14
  Write "You Fool" on a piece of paper, and stick the piece of paper under the bottle of water. Leave it there for one hour.
- 15
  Repeat steps 4 and 5.
- 16
  Observe the water as the light from the microscope melts the top of it, and take photos. If your findings are like Emoto's, you will see "fragmented and malformed" crystals, or no crystals at all.
- 17
  Observe all your samples in the same way, to make sure that your findings are consistent and significant.

Nature