MIT researchers demonstrate more efficient wireless power
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 14th 2010 1:13PM
posted April 14th 2010 1:13PM
posted April 14th 2010 1:13PM
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A wireless (or at least less wired) future? I'm listening.
@Eli Haj
Yes, we will be able to charge our eletrical cars by driving through a hot lane.
@HikaKao Google has an invention for that, http://j.mp/googlee-isp
@HikaKao Man, we all EVERYTHING to Tesla.
I don't know how the technology works, but does that mean that you're a 'goner if you're holding a Slinky?
@friendly0ne
Wouldn't all the coils in the slinky create a lot of resistance and rather give you a "handy" personal heater? ;)
Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
@WYGUY : that's the cancer from RF.
@WYGUY until you feel warm and melty inside :)
Is it safe to assume that we can expect this before the MS Courier? :-(
@delgadilloaaron Hah, nice jab.
... It was as if millions of sperms cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced...
@ssgadget This MIT tech uses magnetic resonance. You know what happens to your body when you stand near a huge electromagent? That's right, nothing. Even if you were magnetic, the receiver must be so finely tuned to the transmitter that it's hard to do even in lab conditions.
Will this mean we be the last generation to use wireless power are we are all sterilized?
@(Unverified)
Enter: Clive Owen.
@sep332 I just keep thinking about microwaves and pacemakers and how this isn't going to end up badly.
Can you get electrocuted by walking into your own home if it is raining outside?
This technology will cause such a considerable waste of energy. The only reason it is more efficent with more devices is because there are more devices catching the power which goes in all directions.
There is so far no way to aim electricity at a particular device.
@nashashmi
I may be wasteful, but it is not a "considerable" amount if it is only used for low power devices for specific use cases. I don't think anyone is seriously consider every home having a huge coil pumping out electricity in every direction.
@glennS Additionally, couldn't this have been said for radio or TV? Especially if we aren't trying to power everything this way? So, its about the concept and the development.
My intuition would say that there would be significant drop off a certain distance away, but we aren't trying to power the world this way (akin to your home/small device analogy). This seems like a perfect home-media-center option + others.
@nashashmi
It sounds like they are trying to reinvent the sun and solar panels with magnets.
@nashashmi
This is not electricity, its induction. Induction works as a field, not a beam. Can't be aimed.
And on the other hand, the inducted field might be wasteful but that also goes for combustion engines a decade or so ago.
@nashashmi
Tell me, where does this "wasted" energy go? Thermodynamics 101
@Xcelerate Are you implying that energy cannot be wasted simply because it cannot be destroyed? Just wait for Thermodynamics 102 when you learn about Heat Death
@Xcelerate
Same place the sun's energy that doesn't hit the earth goes??? As an analogy that is.
How's that somewhat surprising? If you flood a room with an electromagnetic field, it seems quite obvious that the waves that never ever reach a receiver are wasted energy...
@weg
Among other things, MIT also excels at self-promotion.
Shocking news!
Easily? Okay MIT, get off your ass and do it.
And what happens to conducting materials in the way? Do they go the same as aluminium foil in the microwave?
I hope wireless power resurrects Tesla.
Nikola Tesla hates you.
@sep332 LOST disagrees. :-p
(upon trying to add more devices) "You must build additional pylons."
@ssgadget Well, you could cook your dinner at the same time as powering your gadgets! (And cook your balls at the same time too, but that may effect reproductivity productivity...)
There are a lot of good questions here. I have one. Will this mess up my tube TV? (YES, I still have one, actually 5.)
@ssgadget Consider the following: EM radiation exists before we discover electricity (The Sun). According to the Wiki, the first GSM network was launch in Finland in 1991, I wonder if the Finns' health deteriorate after roughly 19 year of the operation of the network.
@sep332
nothing? nope, that's not right, sorry. Check out this MIT study (Moral judgments can be altered ... by magnets): http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-control-0330.html
Desmond Hume says bring it on!
I think we'll be better off investing in better battery technologies like nuclear fusion (not fision)...
I like the idea of wireless technology but I just don't trust having it going through the air and teh effect on our bodies, we could have the FCC, MIT and all kinds of people approve it but I just wouldn't trust electricity buzzing around the air.
I think fusion batteries for small devices and wired for large devices.
I think as far as we should go with any wireless electricty is those little pads that you place mobile devices on to.
@Kromatik You fail physics forever
@Kromatik
clearly iron man has had a negative effect on your idea of fusion energy, if you think you could fit a fusion reactor in a portable device
@Kromatik
You start out talking about sources from which to generate electricity, then somehow pretend like that is completely relevant to the discussion here about distributing that electricity within a very local area. wtf, mate.
Multiple devices is interesting. so does this mean then have found a way to broadcast energy using energy waves yet not waste energy when nothing is drawn from that energy?
When I was a kid, electricity and the phone needed wires, and TV broadcasts were wireless. Somebody make up their mind!
@sep332 actually, it can cause anger, depression, and even fits of rage.
....but that's just the emotional responses from trying to buy something and realizing that your power system erased your credit/debit cards.
@edf if or when electronics become location aware and communicate as such probably using Intel's product, this tech would calculate devices and level of charge and adjust the output. Probably making the wireless power requirement even more efficient. I just hope they take into consideration the nasty effect of power surges and when the juice gets nasty.
@founderbrn
that was tuned electromagnetism focused at a specific part of the brain
resonance throughout an entire room would have a very different effect
@xkaosu9x Apparently you don't watch Mythbusters, because that was busted.
@sep332
Unless like me, you have a couple of medical implants, one of which is 1960's vintage medical grade metal. approx. 5 lbs worth.