The Bent Pylon of India

I write this article in response to a question on a video below sent to me by Captain Lokman Sardon, a former pilot for me to comment on. It is about a bent transmission pylon tower in India.

https://www.abplive.in/videos/viral-sach-18-07-2018-bending-electricity-pole-a-miracle-or-optical-illusion-727627

I asked him to think over the answer himself, but he remained silent even after two weeks despite my several reminders. So I guess I am forced to answer it, hopefully my answer is correct as I was not there to see and study the transmission tower.

My dear Lokeman or Loke,  

You have not answered me as to why the upper part of the high tension transmission tower seems bent when seen at an angle.

I suppose you are still wondering. It is very healthy to think and wonder as it shows our brain is still working and thinking and has not gone into decline yet.

Well my dear Captain Pilot Lokeman let me not “torture” you for an answer anymore. I shall try my dear Loke for your inquisitive mind. Thank you also for the many questions you usually ask   

I am not entirely sure of this one, the cause of this optical phenomenon but here is one very, very strong possibility. I shall try.

I suspect is there is an electrical leakage over that part of the transmission tower. It is like this.

In normal circumstances, very high voltage electricity transmission pylons if properly maintained should not leak into the surrounding air. 

But when it does, the air surrounding it will be charged and ionized and glow like the air above the Earth’s magnetic poles as it meets charged solar winds from the Sun. Physicists call this a “corona discharge”

Corona discharge on an insulator of a 500 kV overhead power line has been photographed many times before. Corona discharges represent a significant power loss for electric utilities.

A corona is formed when there is an electrical discharge generated by the ionization of a media such as air surrounding a conductor where electricity flows.

Spontaneous corona discharges also occur naturally in high-voltage systems unless care is taken to curtail the strength of its electric field. 

A corona of plasma will also occur when the strength of an electric field or the potential gradient around a conductor is high enough to form a conductive region across the air, but not high enough to cause electrical arcing to nearby objects.

This often results in a bluish glow or in other colors similar to neon lights or in vacuum gas discharge lamps such as in a florescent tube.

However plasma caused by an explosion of a hydrogen bomb or in the nuclear conversion of hydrogen into helium in the Sun are so searing hot that the light not just glows, but is blinding.  

But those emitted on transmission wires are relatively hot and may not glow, but if it does, the glow is so dim that they can only be captured by long exposure photography on dark nights.

A  corona of plasma can also be formed from neutral gas such as air subjected to a strong electromagnetic field to a point where ionized air becomes increasingly electrically conductive as to  causes a change in its behaviour such as its density, and I shall explain a little later how this causes an optical illusion.

That is what happens when there is a leakage of high tension electricity I suppose near the city of Auraiya-Dibiyapur in Uttar Pradesh in India.

I strongly suspect there is a very strong magnetic fields surrounding the upper portion of a high tension pylons. 


This generates a ball of plasma whose radius is defined up to where the bent of the tower appeared. The corona in that region is ionized and heated even though it may not glow.

However, if the air is very rarified such as up between 100 km – 320 km up above the surface of Earth the oxygen molecules in the air will glow as seen in aurora borealis (north lights) and in aurora australis (southern lights) as charged particles from the Sun collides with the Earth’s magnetic fields at the magnetic poles causing the air to glow with different colours depending whether it was nitrogen or oxygen molecules or a mixture of both with other rare gases.

Nonetheless, the corona in a charged transmission tower is invisible to the naked eye even on dark nights as the glow of the plasma is very dim partly due to the high density of air at lower altitudes unlike at very high altitudes of northern and southern lights, and partly due to the relatively lower voltage of the magnetic fields surrounding the wires.

As long as the upper portion of the pylon are charged, an electric field is always there, and an electric field cannot be blown away like dust, leaves and newspapers by the wind, rain, hailstones, even in the strongest hurricanes, or washed away by water. It is always there as long as there is a flow of electricity.

This corona of plasma causes a change in the behavior of matter such as the density of air in that region up to where the bent was.  This is an absolutely important clue to explain.

Because of the contrast in the density of these two media, within the corona and  the unaffected region outside the corona, light as it enters the corona at an angle from any direction will be refracted (bent) to one direction like the bent of a stick from the thinner air into the denser water.

How much it can optically bend depends on the sine of the angle of the incident light at the interface between the charged, and uncharged air based on their refractive index.

But this optical refraction  can only be seen at an angle, but will disappear when the direction of light becomes incident (180 degrees) just like a stick in water is bent only when seen at an angle, but not when viewed directly at line of sight when it becomes  straight.

You can observe this is so clearly as you see the two legs of the transmission tower quite separate when seen from an angle, but as you approach the towers at the line of sight, it became straight covering both legs together as one.

Meantime you will also observe the upper portion of the tower where the charged plasma is, no longer bent because the light into the corona is now incidental (180 degrees) like as if you are seeing a stick in water directly from above even though there is a difference in the refractive index of air and water 

But as you move away in the opposite direction, the difference due to their refractive indices become apparent once again and the bent is now in the opposite direction exactly like you see a stick in a swimming pool in the opposite direction. Observe this phenomenon carefully yourself in the video.

There is nothing mysterious about this optical illusion. It is just simple A Level physics on electricity, magnetism and on optics we learn in school. You do not require a PhD degree to explain this simple phenomenon on plasma physics combined with optics.

I hope I have been helpful.

(Unfortunately the Department of Physics under the University Grants Commission Centre of India for Advanced Studies in the video did not offer a proper explanation accept mentioned it is just an optical illusion?)

lim ju boo

Painting of Jesus not destroyed in a huge church fire in England

I write this reply to a question posed by Rev. Ir. Tan Seng Khoon as to “why God destroyed his own house”  in a news item where it was reported a huge fire destroyed a historic church in England, but a painting of Jesus survives the fire in a video sent to me via Whatsapp.

My answer:

Dear Rev. Ir. Tan Seng Khoon

This church is absolutely nothing to God who created the heavens and Earth.

Before I go further to explain, in the first place, God does NOT dwell inside a church or in any building.

Being a Creator of the entire Universe, He does not even live inside the immensity of His own creation, let alone a man-made church made of stones and concrete built anywhere on this planet.

Destroying a church or a temple is nothing to Him.

At one place when the Jews challenged Jesus in a market place “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”(John 2:19).

But the temple he had spoken of was his body (John 2:21). “Body” here means His spirit, NOT a physical body. God does NOT dwell or live inside in any man-made structure or a church, or any temple or any place of worship.

He does NOT even live inside any part of this physical Universe which is His own creation, an Observable Universe that spans a mind-boggling 46.6 billion light-years across, let alone an infinitesimally insignificant man-made church

It says “heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:  where is the house that ye build unto me?" (Isaiah 66:1). Hence you can understand from Isaiah, a church is nothing to God. It can be burnt up

He will even destroy His own creation – the entire Universe, let alone just an insignificant man-made church. It is clearly revealed below:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10)

Read here another verse carefully with the wisdom He gave you.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35)

But it is the Spirit of God that dwells  in you and me if we accept Christ as our Savior, that is not going to pass away. This remains forever.

It is the church within us and with others in fellowship with Christ that is something that cannot be destroyed by fire or by physical death. All other things outside our physical body including a building or a church can be destroyed by fire, by bomb or any other physical means

It is the intangible spiritual entity within us that is going to last throughout all eternity.  The existence of God and our soul lies outside the framework of time, space, and this cannot be destroyed

The entire physical Universe is restrained by Him in time and space, and He exists outside the dimension of space and time. It is just like a housing developer who does not live in any of the houses he built, or stays within the same housing estate he created. He stays outside.

When we pray, seek not material wealth, but always ask for wisdom as King Solomon, son of David did when God appeared to him in a dream that night, and said to him, “ask for whatever you want me to give you.” King Solomon replied “give me wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chronicles 1:7, 1:10).

God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Being a Spirit, He is non-tangible. He cannot be perceived by touch or seen physically, or can He be measured by any instruments. He is beyond Science. It is folly to use Science to "prove" the existence of God. Only His handiwork is perceptible of His presence. We can see and feel His presence in our lives every day.

Hence when we pray, seek not for material wealth or anything that is worldly and tangible. It would be much wiser to ask for something non-tangible such as wisdom, knowledge, health, forgiveness, love, peace, joy, and all things unseen but can be felt as these will have an everlasting effect in our lives. What use would it be if we have all the kingdoms of this world, but we lost our lives and are void of these virtues

It is only through wisdom can we clearly see and understand the word of God and the verses in the scripture, and not interpret them literally as Nicodemus did when Jesus told him “unless they are born again” (John 3:1-21).

“That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The Rock on which the Church was to be built was Himself. This means, His spirit, NOT His material being, or some kind of a concrete building, whether with or without a cross hanging there. Almost everyone associate a church must have a cross hanging somewhere inside or outside the building.

A church  is just a gathering of a people who accepts Christ as their Savior, whether in their tens of thousands in one sitting, or “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

Neither did Jesus nor His heavenly Father asked for such a cross to be built or hung up in a building.

Where in the Bible is found a verse that commanded a man to build a church of stones and concrete, and worse of all, give various names for different churches.

In fact Jesus prayed everywhere - up on the mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the wilderness, in a Jewish  synagogue, in the home of disciples... anywhere where He can get in touch with His Heavenly Father.

He even mentioned a time will come when a temple would no longer be needed for true worship.

When talking with a Samaritan woman near a mountain in Samaria, where her people had a temple, Jesus said: “The hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you people worship the Father.”

Jesus then added that true worshipers would “worship the Father with spirit and truth.” (John 4:21, 23)

In another verse, Jesus taught that your own bedroom serves even better, not even a church somewhere in the street, or a street corner

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:5-6)

Aren’t all these church buildings man’s own creation, their versions and beliefs, or for their convenience? Not just that alone. Each church subsequently adopts their own belief and version such as “our church is the only true church", because “I am holier than thou”. This is clearly self-righteousness

Isn’t this division of churches liken unto the parable of the net Jesus spoke about since every church thinks they are the only “true way” rather than us as an individual fish – like this parable Jesus spoke about:

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13: 47-50)

Even though God and Jesus as Father and Son are outside our dimension of time and space, His Spirit is already present  since the beginning of time when Earth and heavens were created at the same time  (time, space and matter is one single entity as shown by Einstein), and His Spirit hovers over it as given in Genesis 1:1.

So why must God and Jesus live in a man-made building called a church, and why must a church have a cross hanging there, when a church is  just an congregation of people who has the spirit of Christ built as strong as a rock in the hearts of everyone like a fish present there 

In a nutshell, God is a Spirit, and being a Spirit he does NOT live inside His own creation, let alone inside a building called “a church”, or in any man-made creation bounded by time and space within a physical dimension.

God’s existence is OUTSIDE time and space where NO physical form like you and me, any building or a man-made church, or any kind of structure is allowed to enter.

If this is so, then let such a physical building in England be destroyed by fire

That’s for sure!  


lim ju boo