The send energy through radio waves thing

[jgrabham]

It was on the news last night that american scientist can transfer energy through waves in the electro magnitic spectrum - a few Qs

1)What sort of frequency are we talking about - radio waves - microwaves - infared, gamma(doubt it :] )?
2)Are they putting more photons in the waves, increasing the amount of energy in each photon, or both?
3)Why do the BBC sound like they didnt know energy could be transmitted through the electromagnetic spectrum?
4) A bit random, but energy and matter are unrelated arent they (well not unrelated - E=MC^2, but they're not interchangeable) (So the transporters on Star Trek arent comming anytime soon)

Wow - posh physics for a 14 year old!

[DeadSuperHero]

I still think we need to adopt Nicolae Tesla's ideas on energy. His designs show the original plans for the Tesla Coil, which was a tower placed every few miles, and connected in a similar way. This way, there'd be no power lines, there'd be free energy for all, and it would be the "non-lethal" AC Energy.
Damn Thomas Edision. He did everything to undermine Tesla's work.

[Engnome]

It was on the news last night that american scientist can transfer energy through waves in the electro magnitic spectrum - a few Qs

1)What sort of frequency are we talking about - radio waves - microwaves - infared, gamma(doubt it :] )?
2)Are they putting more photons in the waves, increasing the amount of energy in each photon, or both?
3)Why do the BBC sound like they didnt know energy could be transmitted through the electromagnetic spectrum?
4) A bit random, but energy and matter are unrelated arent they (well not unrelated - E=MC^2, but they're not interchangeable) (So the transporters on Star Trek arent comming anytime soon)


Q 1 and 2 are related. The amount of energy in a photon is determined by it's frequency, higher frequency higher energy. The energy of a photon is calculated with:


E = h * f

where E is the energy of the photon, h is Plancks constant (6.626*10^(-34)), and f is the frequency.

So if you want to boost the energy you must either increase the frequency or send out more photons. As to what frequency they intend to use I don't know.

3, dunno.

4, I like to think that matter is simply condensed energy, two sides of a coin. Most think that changes betwen these two stages only happen in atomic reactors or stars but it happens all around and in us, when your body breaks down a food molecule a fraction of it's mass is turned into energy (E=mc^2)

Transporters are indeed not coming anytime soon = /

[YourSurrogateGod]

I'm going to have to call you out here and ask for a link or something.

This seems a tad unrealistic.

[YourSurrogateGod]

I still think we need to adopt Nicolae Tesla's ideas on energy. His designs show the original plans for the Tesla Coil, which was a tower placed every few miles, and connected in a similar way. This way, there'd be no power lines, there'd be free energy for all, and it would be the "non-lethal" AC Energy.

Well, it wouldn't be free, but yeh, that would be a cool setup.

I'd be game on something like that.

And it would be a more realistic approach to transferring energy through air.


Damn Thomas Edision. He did everything to undermine Tesla's work.

I'd like to think that Tesla shot himself in the foot more often than Edison did when it came to bringing his inventions to a successful economic viability :) .

He didn't bother patenting his inventions, he pissed off a number of his investors, etc.

[DeadSuperHero]

I'd like to think that Tesla shot himself in the foot more often than Edison did when it came to bringing his inventions to a successful economic viability :) .

He didn't bother patenting his inventions, he pissed off a number of his investors, etc.

Yeah, but Edison really did undermine Tesla's stuff. When Tesla was touring with his new AC current, Edison said it was deadly. He then "proved" this by killing a man sentanced to death with an electric chair that ran on DC current, claiming it was Tesla's. Then he used Tesla's AC, claiming it was DC, and let everyone try it.
In any case, Tesla was WAY ahead of his time. A lot of his ideas were very Richard Stallman-like. He believed in technology that could improve life, and make things cheaper.
Unfortunately, he died a laughingstock, penniless and unhappy.
It's just kind of cool to know that someone's finally looking into his ideas.

[Mathiasdm]

I'm going to have to call you out here and ask for a link or something.

This seems a tad unrealistic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725955.stm

It only has 40% efficiency, which is... crap. A wire would give you over 99% efficiency;)

[YourSurrogateGod]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725955.stm

It only has 40% efficiency, which is... crap. A wire would give you over 99% efficiency;)

Thanks.

This looks interesting and *very* encouraging.

2 things are necessary in order to make this successful:
1) Greater efficiency.
2) A way to bill this service (make money off of it.)

[AndyCooll]

As mentioned above, if the efficiency can be improved this could be a great technological step forward.

:cool:

[Engnome]

I once read Adam och Eva by Arto Paasilinna. A really good book that opened my eyes to the possibilties of electric power anywhere without any hassle. (the book is about an inventor creating a new battery that is capable of storing extreme amounts of energy)

This technology might not be as good as that (requires transmitters which requires a power line) but the change it would have on the world... imagine in 40 years when we sit in our computer controlled cars traveling 300km/h on the highway with only a slight hum from the electric engine powered from small transmitters erected besides the road in regular intervals.

The future is great, is it not? Personally I can't wait :)

[jgrabham]

I once read Adam och Eva by Arto Paasilinna. A really good book that opened my eyes to the possibilties of electric power anywhere without any hassle. (the book is about an inventor creating a new battery that is capable of storing extreme amounts of energy)

This technology might not be as good as that (requires transmitters which requires a power line) but the change it would have on the world... imagine in 40 years when we sit in our computer controlled cars traveling 300km/h on the highway with only a slight hum from the electric engine powered from small transmitters erected besides the road in regular intervals.

The future is great, is it not? Personally I can't wait :)

Yes, but if you watch something like star trek, we're nowhere near as far forward as we thought we would be by now (but then according to star trek, we'd be living in a post nuclear war collapsed society, with superhumans (e.g. khan) running about)

[Rumo]

Sending energy through electromagnetic waves is old news. Every radio transmitter does that. You can for example listen to an radion station without any power supply attached to your radio - but only with a tiny headphone since the amplifier definitely needs a power source (this will only work with a very simple radio).

The BBC is of course really talking about transmitting energy through waves. The physics behind this is more than a hundred years old and the idea probably, too. It's more a technological challenge than a scientific one. You have to send a focused wave or somehow couple the transmitter and receiver - otherwise you will loose lots of energy (40% transmit ratio is pretty good - it would suffice to recharge your ipod/cell or even to power your (small) speakers).

[afljafa]

This is how we get power generation off the planet and on to an orbiting space station (that then goes critical and showers the planet with radioactive debris).

Sounds like a job for the mythbusters. ;)

[DeadSuperHero]

This is how we get power generation off the planet and on to an orbiting space station (that then goes critical and showers the planet with radioactive debris).

Sounds like a job for the mythbusters. ;)

Sounds a little like the works of Robert A. Heinlein...