Do Crystals Really Have A Frequency & Emit Energy?

We all have a friend who's into crystals, using them for everything from protection through to boosting confidence, and much more. The belief is that crystals have a natural vibration or energy, but is there any scientific basis to this?

Belief in crystal energy varies a lot. Some people claim that crystals are a source of natural energy, others use them to focus energy or draw negative energy away, some people even talk about charging crystals in moonlight.

Despite these claims there is no special energy that crystals have that other materials do not have. Although those in tune with crystals say they can feel the energy being released, there is no reason why this should occur and no evidence that it does.

There are natural substances found on Earth which do kick out significant amounts of energy. The energy emitted by these substances can be detected and measured. This is radiation and comes from radioactive substances such as uranium, thorium, and potassium, which are found in abundance on Earth.

Although this type of radiation is as much a part of the electromagnetic spectrum as other types of energy, such as heat, light and radio waves - but obviously those who are into natural energies don't bathe themselves in the harmful rays from radioactive sources.

The reason why substances like uranium give out energy is because they're unstable and particles breakaway from the atom, but for other substances - including crystals - there is no energy release because they are stable. There's no such thing as free energy.

Although most substances don't give out energy, there is a way to get them to release energy, but in order to do this you have to put something in. To allow energetic particles to break free from the atoms of these substances you have to do something to break them free - this could mean heating them, burning them, even shaking or moving can transfer energy into the object that can start a reaction.

There is one way to get energy out of a crystal and it's a technique that is commonly used inside watches - it's called the piezoelectric effect. This won't work on crystals as most have a symmetrical structure, but some have a more random and chaotic structure. When pressure is applied to these crystals the atoms it's made of move around and this creates an electrical imbalance - a current.

A quartz watch uses this property, but in reverse. The watch has a quartz crystal at its heart and when an electrical current is applied to the crystal it expands and contracts, producing a reliable, consistent physical movement. So, there's no denying that crystals are useful things, but are they unique?

It should be noted that the piezoelectric effect isn't unique to crystals, it also occurs in other materials including cane sugar, some salts, some polymers, and even bone.

What about the "frequency" that people pick up on? Well, for those of us who've never felt thee frequency of a crystal, it's going to be a little bit hard to understand. Crystals do have a frequency as a result of their natural vibration, but so does all matter on Earth. Given that these vibrations occur at a molecular level, it's hard to grasp how the human body can detect this, especially as all matter vibrates at a similar frequency - even the matter we're made up of.

Crystals experience these molecular vibrations like everything else, but they also exhibit resonant mechanical vibrations. Again this isn't uncommon or unique to crystal, one obvious other example of this is a tuning fork.

How about charging a crystal with moonlight? Well, first of all moonlight is no different to sunlight. It's merely light from the Sun that reflects off the surface of the Moon. If you shine light, from any source, at anything the object will absorb that energy. This is how solar panels work. Solar panels will generate electricity from moonlight too, but a tiny amount. Although a crystal or any other object will absorb moonlight, it will then lose it to its environment in the form of heat - again a tiny almost immeasurable amount.

Many scientific studies have been carried out on claims of chakras and body energy and no evidence has ever been found that crystal healing has any effect beyond that of a placebo. It's obvious that many people benefit in many different way from their belief in crystals, it genuinely makes them feel better, it eases stress, aides relaxation, and can even reduce the sensation of physical pain.

Although these people benefit from the unproven science of crystals, how genuine and real is this effect to them? For example, most people who use crystals say that they can feel the energy it emits when they hold it. What would happen if unbeknown to them they were given a fake resin crystal that looked and felt just like the real thing? Would they really be able to tell it's a fake based on its energy?

What about if a crystal was randomly placed on a large table, would a blindfolded person be able to move their hand over the table without making contact and stop over the crystal when they feel its energy?