Editing Kirlian photography (section)

===Claims===
Kirlian believed that images created by Kirlian photography might depict a conjectural energy field, or [[aura (paranormal)|aura]], thought, by some, to surround living things. Kirlian and his wife were convinced that their images showed a life force or energy field that reflected the physical and emotional states of their living subjects. They thought that these images could be used to diagnose illnesses. In 1961, they published their first article on the subject in the Russian ''Journal of Scientific and Applied Photography''.<ref name=Pilkington>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/feb/05/research.highereducation1|first=Mark|last=Pilkington|title=Bodies of light|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 February 2004|location=London}}</ref> Kirlian's claims were embraced by energy treatments practitioners.<ref name=JSmith>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Jonathan C.|title=Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit|date=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=978-1-4051-8122-8|page=283}}</ref>

====Torn leaf experiment====

A typical demonstration used as evidence for the existence of these energy fields involved taking Kirlian photographs of a picked leaf at set intervals. The gradual withering of the leaf was thought to correspond with a decline in the strength of the aura. In some experiments, if a section of a leaf was torn away after the first photograph, a faint image of the missing section sometimes remains when a second photograph was taken. However, if the imaging surface is cleaned of contaminants and residual moisture before the second image is taken, then no image of the missing section will appear.<ref>{{cite Encyclopedia of Claims |title=Kirlian photography |first-letter=K |access-date=2008-10-14 |archive-url= |archive-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What is Kirlian Photography? The Science and the Myth Revealed|url=https://www.lightstalking.com/what-is-kirlian-photography-the-science-and-the-myth-revealed/|author=Rachael Towne|publisher=Light Stalking|date=2012-11-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kirlian Photography and the "Aura"|author=Rory Coker|url=https://web2.ph.utexas.edu/~coker2/index.files/kirlian.shtml|publisher=Department of Physics - University of Texas at Austin}}</ref>

The living aura theory is at least partially repudiated by demonstrating that leaf moisture content has a pronounced effect on the electric discharge coronas; more moisture creates larger corona discharges.<ref name="Boyers"/> As the leaf dehydrates, the coronas will naturally decrease in variability and intensity. As a result, the changing water content of the leaf can affect the so-called Kirlian aura. Kirlian's experiments did not provide evidence for an energy field other than the electric fields produced by chemical processes and the streaming process of coronal discharges.<ref name=Boyers/>

The coronal discharges identified as Kirlian auras are the result of [[stochastic]] [[electricity|electric]] [[ionization]] processes and are greatly affected by many factors, including the voltage and frequency of the stimulus, the pressure with which a person or object touches the imaging surface, the local humidity around the object being imaged, how well grounded the person or object is, and other local factors affecting the conductivity of the person or object being imaged. Oils, sweat, bacteria, and other [[ionization|ionizing]] contaminants found on living tissues can also affect the resulting images.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Opalinski, John|title=Kirlian-type images and the transport of thin-film materials in high-voltage corona discharges|journal=Journal of Applied Physics|volume=50|issue=1|pages=498–504|date=Jan 1979|doi=10.1063/1.325641|bibcode=1979JAP....50..498O}}</ref><ref>[https://massless.info/kirlian.html The Kirlian Technique: Controlling the Wild Cards]. The Kirlian effect not only is explainable by natural processes; it also varies according to at least six physical parameters. Arleen J. Watkins and Williams S. Bickel, The Skeptical Inquirer 13:172–184, 1989.</ref><ref name=SkepticDict>{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions|date=2003|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, NJ, USA|isbn=978-0-471-27242-7|page=446|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PP1}}</ref>

====Qi====
Scientists such as Beverly Rubik have explored the idea of a human [[Energy (esotericism)|biofield]] using Kirlian photography research, attempting to explain the Chinese discipline of [[Qigong]]. Qigong teaches that there is a vitalistic energy called [[qi]] (or chi) that permeates all living things.

Rubik's experiments relied on Konstantin Korotkov's GDV device to produce images, which were thought to visualize these qi biofields in chronically ill patients. Rubik acknowledges that the small sample size in her experiments "was too small to permit a meaningful statistical analysis".<ref name=Rubik>{{cite web|last=Rubik|first=Beverly|title=The human biofield and a pilot study of qigong|url=http://bdigital.ufp.pt/bitstream/10284/775/1/151-172Cons-Ciencias%2002-2.pdf|access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> Claims that these energies can be captured by special photographic equipment are criticized by skeptics.<ref name=JSmith/>