Oh Wow, Wireless Electricity Is Really Here

I kid you not.

Back in my teaching days.. Yes, I used to teach Computer Science in College and Graduate School... Not the sexiest job for a man based on surveys I know, but it was my first serious job so.. there was this lecture I gave on technological innovations and we were talking about Bluetooth (it was new back then.. makes me feel real old thinking about it) and I jokingly said that someday there would be wireless electricity as well. I remember the class laughing when they imagined themselves walking over a wireless electrical connection and electrocuting themselves.  That was less than a decade ago.  Now lo and behold, it's actually here.

It's called WiTricity, a research that had its beginnings in MIT back in 2006.  Led by Professor Marin Soljačić, a team of physicists started working on the model and came up with what they call a Source Resonator, which when paired to a another coil (receiving device), will deliver electricity to an appliance. Wirelessly.  The secret?  Magnetic field.

Keep going for more info.

So how does it really work?  The Source Resonator creates a strong magnetic field that when another coil is brought near it, will induce the receiving coil to produce electricity thereby powering the end device attached to the receiving coil.  So far, they were able to power common household appliances with this technology and we might as well have this in our homes soon.. or at least our kid's homes.

The idea is not new though as it's been around for at least a century.  Nikola Tesla among others have made similar contraptions that allow electricity to travel through air.  However, unlike those contraptions, this one from WiTricity Corporation is actually economically viable for mass production.

Nick Glass from CNN asked the same question.

Nick Glass: Given that Tesla and others realized all this over a Century ago, why's it taken so long?
Dr Hall: I don't think they realized exactly what we've done. They were certainly dreaming of wireless power -- there's no question about that. In those days, it was a different problem, because they were really thinking about: how do they get the power from where it's generated to where it's used. And in that case they might have been thinking about Niagara Falls generating the power and getting it to New York City -- and that's a long distance. We're not proposing that the technology we have here at WiTricity would be used for that kind of application. When we came around, power's already being transferred by wires to homes and rooms and things of that nature, so we had a much different problem, which was really just this much shorter distance.

All in all this technology is really exciting.  Imagine being free from wires.. Finally!  Because like you, I hate wires and their tendency to tangle themselves up..  And the way they entangle themselves with one another,you'd think they have some form of intelligence or something.  How many times have you pulled your hair out of frustration, huh? Exactly.

Oh, and unlike my lecture where you'd have to dodge electricity in the air, this one is perfectly safe.. Unless you factor in cancer which some studies suggest can be caused by over-exposure to strong magnetic fields.. But that's another story.

Read first in this CNN article [click here]

It's so exciting you get to see Debbie Gibson singing and dancing again.



Electric youth!