# Would it be possible to make a rudimentary device for measuring and recording skin conductance?



## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

Or is there something basic I could buy cheaply?


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 2, 2011)

Conductivity? HTH.


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

What?


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## Wilson (Oct 2, 2011)

you mean conductivity, rather than conductance

I would have thought a multimeter might do the job


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## WouldBe (Oct 2, 2011)

Multimeters don't measure conductance directly but IIRC conductance is 1/ resistance which multimeters can measure.

Why do you want ot measure skin conductance?


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

Wilson said:


> you mean conductivity, rather than conductance
> 
> I would have thought a multimeter might do the job



No, I don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_skin_response


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

WouldBe said:


> Multimeters don't measure conductance directly but IIRC conductance is 1/ resistance which multimeters can measure.
> 
> Why do you want ot measure skin conductance?


I want to measure emotional responses to stress during the day (for a month). It doesn't have to be too accurate - just give variations on a graph. If I google homemade galvanic skin response machine it gives me results for anti ageing creams


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## WouldBe (Oct 2, 2011)

A multimeter won't record the data. You could probably get one that did but it would cost a couple of hundred quid.

If you're prepared to take the readings and not them down you can get a multimeter for under £20.


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

I would forget to take enough readings I think.

I wonder if I could do it through heart rate?


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## Greebo (Oct 2, 2011)

madzone said:


> I would forget to take enough readings I think.


Set several reminders on your phone?


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## bi0boy (Oct 2, 2011)

Isn't this what Scientologists do with their E-meters?


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Set several reminders on your phone?


I thought of that but my poor phone is busy plotting all my physical movements via GPS  I could design some kind of graph to plot my emotions into but I want to utilise some kind of technology or other. I like the idea of being strapped to something and 'monitored'. How portable is a multimeter?


bi0boy said:


> Isn't this what Scientologists do with their E-meters?


Yeah, I did wonder about asking someone to nick one off them 

And reading about ohms is makng me giggle and think of buddhists


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## Greebo (Oct 2, 2011)

Get a second cheap and crap phone just to set reminders on?


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

Yeah, I think I'm resigned to having to input it manually now.

Will a multimeter be sensitive enough to record such a low voltage? And how could I attach it to my skin?


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## Greebo (Oct 2, 2011)

You could use micropore tape to attach it


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

I'm still concerned about the voltage. I'm going to look inn Trago tomorrow and see if they have one in their electrical department and then go and pester the technicians at uni


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## paolo (Oct 2, 2011)

A multimeter will do fine. Twiddle the dial around the Ohmeter settings until you get a scale that gives you a reading. That's it really.


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## madzone (Oct 2, 2011)

Do I have to attach the 'bits' to my palms or my fingers?

And I've read about getting a more accurate reading by attaching coins to your skin


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## WouldBe (Oct 3, 2011)

madzone said:


> And how could I attach it to my skin?



Crocodile clips. 

You could use strips of kitchen foil held in place with plasters / sticky tape. Just leave a bit of the foil accessible to connect to the multimeter.

No idea about where to stick them though.


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## toogreytogrind (Oct 3, 2011)

WouldBe said:


> Crocodile clips.
> 
> You could use strips of kitchen foil held in place with plasters / sticky tape. Just leave a bit of the foil accessible to connect to the multimeter.
> 
> No idea about where to stick them though.


Crocodile clips where?  On the nipples, what clubs do you go to?


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## Hocus Eye. (Oct 3, 2011)

Cheap multimeter from maplins :-
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut30b-palm-sized-digital-multimeter-46498

When you have finished with it you can test batteries with it.


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## madzone (Oct 3, 2011)

I got a multimeter 

I took it to the technicians and we spent ages fiddling about with it. It only gives a reading from the fingertips and gives wildly different readings from person to person.

We've assumed the higher the stress the lower the number, is that right? I'm going to take a reading every hour to see if it varies much.


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## teuchter (Oct 3, 2011)

Do you work for the Scientologists now Madzone? I know they have a base in Cornwall.


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## weltweit (Oct 3, 2011)

http://www.affectiva.com/q-sensor/


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## madzone (Oct 3, 2011)

teuchter said:


> Do you work for the Scientologists now Madzone? I know they have a base in Cornwall.


Do they? I want to pinch one of their mind reading machines.


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## pogofish (Oct 3, 2011)

madzone said:


> Will a multimeter be sensitive enough to record such a low voltage? And how could I attach it to my skin?









Push firmly!


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## stuff_it (Oct 3, 2011)




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## madzone (Oct 3, 2011)

Hmm - what would happen if I attached the probe thingies to some metal tubes like in that picture? Would it give a better reading?


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## teuchter (Oct 3, 2011)

madzone said:


> Do they? I want to pinch one of their mind reading machines.



Yes, this place is run by them -

http://www.camelotcastle.com/?gclid=CNLUz67FzKsCFYUKfAodyXGn2w

although they don't advertise it as such - presumably to hook people in. Very strange place. Check out the weird self-published "newspaper" with pictures of all the gullible celebrities (and the president of Kazakhstan) who have come to visit. And their resident artist who is apparently the most renowned artist in the world, or something, according to them.


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## dilute micro (Oct 3, 2011)




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## madzone (Oct 3, 2011)

Quick question - does a lower number mean a stronger stress response?


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## paolo (Oct 3, 2011)

I'd guess the main thing it will reflect is moisture.

If you sweat when you are stressed, then maybe there would be a correlation.

It's the stuff of 'lie detectors'. Which, whilst not *entirely* bollocks, aren't as clear cut as their protagonists would have people believe.


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## madzone (Oct 3, 2011)

It's not for science so it doesn't really matter


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## paolo (Oct 3, 2011)

madzone said:


> It's not for science so it doesn't really matter



If you're not taking it too seriously, or spending daft money, no harm done I'd say.


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## stuff_it (Oct 3, 2011)

Are the mushies out already in Cornwall?


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## madzone (Oct 4, 2011)

paolo999 said:


> If you're not taking it too seriously, or spending daft money, no harm done I'd say.


£4.99 for a multimeter and 89p for a roll of micropore tape.

I just need the shapes of the different numbers as they look on a graph.


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## stuff_it (Oct 4, 2011)

Why?



Just because you feel like it?

What about the switches used to make those touch lamps? I think they mainly only come in the 'dimmer' versions but you would hunt about.


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## madzone (Oct 4, 2011)

What do you mean, why?


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## stuff_it (Oct 4, 2011)

madzone said:


> What do you mean, why?


Those lamp switches work by measuring changes in capacitance.


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## madzone (Oct 4, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Those lamp switches work by measuring changes in capacitance.


The multimeter is working ok but thanks


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## stuff_it (Oct 4, 2011)

madzone said:


> The multimeter is working ok but thanks


Which is why I asked what you wanted it for - if you wanted to make something that did something then you'd need some sort of switch; if it's just to sit about holding the multimeter electrodes and measuring yourself for the lulz then it doesn't really matter.


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## madzone (Oct 4, 2011)

It's not just for the lulz. The multimeter is working fine, thanks.


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