Discover how wireless electricity works and its usages
The use of magnetic fields to generate electric current.
Science in Seconds (www.scienceinseconds.com) (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Transcript
[Music in]
RHEANNA SAND: So, we're finally going to cut the cord. Say goodbye to that mess of cables pouring from your desk or that one annoying wire coming from your speakers. Power is going wireless.
The concept has been around for over a century. Nikola Tesla came up with it shortly after he discovered alternating current, or AC. AC is the flow of electrons through a conductor that alternates back and forth. Tesla knew that when you alternate current you create a magnetic field. Conversely, if you oscillate a magnetic field and move a wire into it, that wire will conduct AC.
Wireless electricity works in this way: the transmitter converts AC into a magnetic field. The device picks up the field and converts it back to AC. Sounds fairly simple, but there's a reason it took over a century to become viable. The sticking point has been something called magnetic resonance energy transfer. Without this phenomenon, wireless electricity won't transmit far enough to be useful. This is how it works: All magnetic fields vibrate at a resonant frequency. If two nearby fields have the same resonant frequency, the transfer energy vary efficiently over long distances. This is how an opera singer, for example, can shatter a glass with just her voice.
In wireless electricity the transmitter and device are vibrating at the same resonant frequency. This was not an easy task for Tesla, although in 1899 he powered 200 lightbulbs from 26 miles away.
Modern advancements have made this much easier. And now wireless electricity is about to hit the market in a big way. Just imagine transmitters that look like picture frames providing power to light and laptops or phone chargers that start charging your phone right when you sit down at your desk. The possibilities really are jolting.
[Music out]
RHEANNA SAND: So, we're finally going to cut the cord. Say goodbye to that mess of cables pouring from your desk or that one annoying wire coming from your speakers. Power is going wireless.
The concept has been around for over a century. Nikola Tesla came up with it shortly after he discovered alternating current, or AC. AC is the flow of electrons through a conductor that alternates back and forth. Tesla knew that when you alternate current you create a magnetic field. Conversely, if you oscillate a magnetic field and move a wire into it, that wire will conduct AC.
Wireless electricity works in this way: the transmitter converts AC into a magnetic field. The device picks up the field and converts it back to AC. Sounds fairly simple, but there's a reason it took over a century to become viable. The sticking point has been something called magnetic resonance energy transfer. Without this phenomenon, wireless electricity won't transmit far enough to be useful. This is how it works: All magnetic fields vibrate at a resonant frequency. If two nearby fields have the same resonant frequency, the transfer energy vary efficiently over long distances. This is how an opera singer, for example, can shatter a glass with just her voice.
In wireless electricity the transmitter and device are vibrating at the same resonant frequency. This was not an easy task for Tesla, although in 1899 he powered 200 lightbulbs from 26 miles away.
Modern advancements have made this much easier. And now wireless electricity is about to hit the market in a big way. Just imagine transmitters that look like picture frames providing power to light and laptops or phone chargers that start charging your phone right when you sit down at your desk. The possibilities really are jolting.
[Music out]