Does Newton's 3rd Law apply to Telekinesis?

Question

For example, if a 150 lb person with telekinetic abilities is standing on a scale, and he uses his telekinetic powers to lift a nearby 10 lb rock, will the scale read 160 lb?

(Newton's 3rd law: the law of reciprocal action, all forces occur in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Also commonly phrased "for every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force")

Answer 1

Well, if you are adding a 10lbs rock to 150lbs person, then yes I think that the scale should read 160lbs.

Answer 2

..there are a few scientific theories that can be applied to the paranormal, surprisingly. :)

Answer 3

Newton's laws argue that telekinesis does not exist because it exhibits action at a distance - a contradiction in the Newton universe.

So, no, the person would not increase in weight.  But then, the rock is not lifted up anyway, so this just becomes a null hypothesis.

Answer 4

Obviously, for the rock to move there would have to be a force applied. The problem is that moving objects without using anything physical is paranormal. It exists outside of the current known laws of physics. Physics would tell us that this person would gain this weight if he were to physically lift the brick. When speaking of mentally lifting the brick there would be abilities as yet unexplainable by current science applied. Logic would say that the brick would be lifted by some other unseen force that would not add any physical weight to the person who is affecting the lifting of the brick. This seems to argue with our current laws, which is why these abilities have yet to be explained.

Answer 5

No, even simple leverage would nullify your example, it does not require 10 pounds of force (from you) to move a 10 pound object. If he  picked up the rock (while standing on the scale then it would add 10 pounds).

Further telekinesis is now called psychokinesis (PK) in the scientific research literature. The effects are usually on thrown dice and electronic number generators and the effects (and any force) is very small. In fact the effects usually require statistics to find. So, it may follow this law we simply don't know.

Nina Kulagina of the former soviet union demonstrated these abilities and her heart and pulse rate went extremely high (indicating a lot of force). Despite the wishes of skeptics no magician has ever replicated her demonstrations under the same conditions (controlled lab setting and observed by scientist) not to mention the biological responses. I have included a link below.

All that said I certainly agree there is not yet a good theory/hypothesis that explains the experimental results. However, this same situation applies in quantum physics and superstring theory.

Psi

Answer 6

all i can say is I dont think your question is worded right. You ask if doing a mental action will have a physical reaction. But the fact of the matter is mental and pysical are not even on the same level , so if one were to use telekinesis it would have to have a mental reaction for it to be an "equal" reaction.

Answer 7

The most likely to be actual telekinetic demonstrations on record report a weight loss on the part of the subject. presumably a result of the effort involved. These demonstrations do not involve any heavy objects. If these reports are true, performing even a very low power demonstration, such as moving a matchstick an inch, is a real strain and takes a physical toll.

Answer 8

If telekinesis actually existed, it would have to follow the laws of physics - but according to the laws of physics, it can't exist.  Ah, paradoxes.