WEBVTT - Wireless Power: Myth or Reality?

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies with

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<v Speaker 1>tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey there, everybody. Alrighty, you know we have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of energy going into today. We sure do. I tell

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<v Speaker 1>you there's nothing like a live show to get you

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<v Speaker 1>pumped up for two hours of podcast recordings. Really, someone

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<v Speaker 1>kill me. So you're rethinking, then, huh, I'm always rethinking.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay then okay. So, but yes, we were talking about energy.

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<v Speaker 1>Well that that kind of leads into our topic for today.

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<v Speaker 1>We wanted to talk a little bit about wireless power

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<v Speaker 1>and whether or not it's actually possible and it is. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of We're

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<v Speaker 1>going to go into a little more detail than that. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>wireless power. This is not a new idea by any

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<v Speaker 1>stretch of the imagination. It actually dates back almost as

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<v Speaker 1>far back as a as as the transmission of electricity

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<v Speaker 1>itself years ago. More than that, going a little further back.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, so you're you're going to talk about our buddy,

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<v Speaker 1>aren't you. We are we are going to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>your friend and mine, Nicola Tesla, who is apparently number

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<v Speaker 1>nine on the top ten. He is number nine on

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<v Speaker 1>top ten inventors of all time. That this is an

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<v Speaker 1>inside joke that no one outside of like five people

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<v Speaker 1>are going to get. But that's okay. So Nicola Tesla

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<v Speaker 1>Tesla was the father of the alternating current. Yes, and

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<v Speaker 1>in fact, Tesla invented many things. I was a brilliant,

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<v Speaker 1>brilliant man whom kind of suffered a little bit of

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<v Speaker 1>a breakdown in his final years, actually eyed penniless despite

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that he invented alternating current. In fact, um

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<v Speaker 1>he had a famous rivalry with Thomas Edison. Uh Thomas Tessa,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, the inventor of direct current and um and

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<v Speaker 1>Tesla actually managed to land a lucrative deal. Um in

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<v Speaker 1>a way, he landed the chance to provide electricity to

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<v Speaker 1>the World's Fair in Chicago. That was a big deal.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, of course, that the entire world's attention was

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<v Speaker 1>directed on this city and m so Tesla very well. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>he's famous for for a lot of things involving electricity

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<v Speaker 1>for a good reason. But one of the things he's

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<v Speaker 1>also famous for is something that still comes up in

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<v Speaker 1>debate in scientific circles as to whether or not he

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<v Speaker 1>was brilliant or crazy. And this was the idea of

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<v Speaker 1>broadcasting electricity. Yeah, that's uh, that's saying seems a little weird,

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<v Speaker 1>especially in our very very wired world. I mean, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we think wireless. You're thinking you know, Bluetooth deo ways

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<v Speaker 1>where you know WiFi? Yeah, maybe a little Marconi style

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<v Speaker 1>you know, over the air FM, yeah, something like that.

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<v Speaker 1>You know electricity, Yeah, you don't necessarily think electricity. If

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<v Speaker 1>you're thinking over the air electricity, you're thinking lightning. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>But you may have heard of these devices known as

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<v Speaker 1>Tesla coils, which can put off quite a bit of electricity,

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<v Speaker 1>some high voltage electricity, and can even be used as

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<v Speaker 1>musical instruments. Yes, architect does a great act with Tesla

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<v Speaker 1>coils from creating music. But don't get in the way. No,

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<v Speaker 1>unless you're in a fair day cage, stay far away

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<v Speaker 1>from the Tesla coils because they could kill you. Um So, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's for the well grounded audience. Yeah. But but one

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<v Speaker 1>of the things that Tesla tried to create was he

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<v Speaker 1>did this project in Colorado is warden Cliff was the

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<v Speaker 1>name of the project. It was an enormous Tesla coil tower,

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<v Speaker 1>and the idea here was that he was going to

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<v Speaker 1>use the resonance of the earth to broadcast power um

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the atmosphere and this would eliminate need for infrastructure

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<v Speaker 1>like cables and wires um. It never really worked. The

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<v Speaker 1>part of the problem is that he ran out of

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<v Speaker 1>money midway through the project. His investors pulled out when

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<v Speaker 1>they thought that he was being Depending on who you asked,

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<v Speaker 1>some people say they pulled out because they thought he

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<v Speaker 1>was crazy. Other people say that that they pulled out

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<v Speaker 1>because they were worried that it was going to affect

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<v Speaker 1>um other financial um UH endeavors down the line, the

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<v Speaker 1>idea being that there will be no way to monetize

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<v Speaker 1>this because Tesla would have found a way to provide

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<v Speaker 1>energy essentially for free, and that did not make people happy.

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<v Speaker 1>Who you know, depended upon energy UH as a means

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<v Speaker 1>of making money. So depending on who you asked, they

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<v Speaker 1>either thought he was crazy or they thought he was gonna.

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<v Speaker 1>They were going to bankrupt him, and they pulled out

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<v Speaker 1>and he was unable to finish his project. There were

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<v Speaker 1>reports that he had supposedly been able to um too

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<v Speaker 1>light several light bulbs that were twenty six miles away

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<v Speaker 1>from his tower, but that's unsubstantiated at any rate. Tesla

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<v Speaker 1>kind of comes up with this idea about broadcasting power,

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<v Speaker 1>never really comes to fruition, he dies penniless, and then, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>no one's really able to necessarily replicate the Tesla's ideas.

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<v Speaker 1>He didn't leave very good notes, so it makes it

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<v Speaker 1>very difficult to try and figure out exactly how he

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<v Speaker 1>was designing this and whether or not it would work

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<v Speaker 1>for real zies. Yeah, it's yeah. Actually, that's one of

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<v Speaker 1>the things that makes him so much fun to, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>to study, is that he is so enigmatic and you know,

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<v Speaker 1>hard to duplicate the experiments and just that whole you

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<v Speaker 1>know Tesla mystique plus it's you know, electricity seriously, and

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<v Speaker 1>and he did have he did have some very well

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<v Speaker 1>documented quirks. He was he did have some signs of

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<v Speaker 1>obsessive compulsive disorder. He was frequently washing his hands and

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<v Speaker 1>he didn't to touch other people. And um, he also

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<v Speaker 1>reportedly suffered from hallucinations, very vivid hallucinations throughout his life.

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<v Speaker 1>And um, so there are other elements to his psyche

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<v Speaker 1>that that bring into question, you know, how how sane

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<v Speaker 1>his ideas were towards the end of his life. However,

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<v Speaker 1>we we now skip ahead and wireless power is a reality. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>there's with limitations. What's funny because people, um, this was

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<v Speaker 1>all the rage at c S a couple of years ago. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, talking about this new way of charging up

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<v Speaker 1>your cell phone or your iPod by laying it down

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<v Speaker 1>on a on a mat instead of plugging it into

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<v Speaker 1>the wall. And everybody was talking about how cool this

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<v Speaker 1>idea was. And it is cool, absolutely cool at least

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<v Speaker 1>in my opinion. Um, because you don't have to mess

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<v Speaker 1>with your your wiring and and finding the right adapter.

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<v Speaker 1>You could just lay it down and it's charged. But uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know it's funny because snagging it and knocking the

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<v Speaker 1>phone off the counter. Yeah, only the cat, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>knocking the cat off the counter. Oh, the cat knocking

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<v Speaker 1>the phone off the counter. I gotta know. So anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>actually I suppose you would. I mean, if it's not

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<v Speaker 1>tethered to anything, then it's going to hit the floor

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<v Speaker 1>at least, but dangling anyway, you're not gonna get caught

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<v Speaker 1>on the cord anyway. With the Tesla thing, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the whole putting it that totally puts it into contact.

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<v Speaker 1>You go, wait a minute, if you could, if he

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<v Speaker 1>was experimenting with this long ago, you know, maybe this

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<v Speaker 1>isn't such a new thing. But there are different ways

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<v Speaker 1>to to transfer power this way. I mean, it is

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<v Speaker 1>possible to do, especially over short distances, but it sort

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<v Speaker 1>of depends on what you want to charge and how

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to do it, and how much electricity you

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<v Speaker 1>actually need to to ferry over from one side of

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<v Speaker 1>the other. Right, this isn't the same thing as as

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<v Speaker 1>broadcasting enough electricity to power your home. This is talking

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<v Speaker 1>about very small uh distances. Actually, usually it's a contact thing.

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<v Speaker 1>It's wireless, but but to two different elements are normally

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<v Speaker 1>in contact with one another, although not always, not always, no,

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<v Speaker 1>we'll get to that, but them. A common example is

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<v Speaker 1>if you have an electric toothbrush that you would put

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<v Speaker 1>into a little cradle and that's what allows it to charge,

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<v Speaker 1>and it doesn't plug in. It's you know, the cradle

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<v Speaker 1>is smooth, and the bottom of the toothbrush is smooth,

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<v Speaker 1>and you just stand it on the in the cradle

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<v Speaker 1>and and it charges seemingly by magic, but it's not magic.

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<v Speaker 1>There are no lebri cons involved. It's simply um, no elves,

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<v Speaker 1>no electromagnets, that's the only no elves. But electromagnets are involved.

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<v Speaker 1>So it charges through a process called induction. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>it all depends on electro magnets. We talked about electromagnets

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<v Speaker 1>not that long ago, when we were talking about e MPs.

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<v Speaker 1>That's true, that's true. Um. Basically, an electromagnet is a

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<v Speaker 1>piece of iron wrapped with many many many times with

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<v Speaker 1>a coil of copper wiring. Basic form of an electromagnet. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>when you run a charge to it, it becomes an

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<v Speaker 1>inductor and creates a magnetic field around there. Right, So

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<v Speaker 1>if you were to take a nail and you were

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<v Speaker 1>to wrap a copper wire around it several times and

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<v Speaker 1>then connect either end of the copper to a battery,

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<v Speaker 1>you would create a magnetic shield and you could pick

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<v Speaker 1>up iron filings that way. Pretty much. Anyone in a

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<v Speaker 1>in a physics class or or you know, even elementary

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<v Speaker 1>school has done this sort of thing before, but it

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<v Speaker 1>has many many other applications in the real world. Of course. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you've probably seen the videos of the Junkyard where you've

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<v Speaker 1>got the giant electromagnet that you know, picks up a

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<v Speaker 1>car and moves it from one stack to the to

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<v Speaker 1>another or into the car crusher or whatever. Um. Probably

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<v Speaker 1>virtually one third of all cop chase scenes in the

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<v Speaker 1>city and in somebody driving into the thing and getting

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<v Speaker 1>their car picked up the other the other two thirds

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<v Speaker 1>usually a pool. So um, but yeah, so and and um,

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<v Speaker 1>yeah you're I'm kidding, but you know that that's the

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<v Speaker 1>famous scene. And that's an electric bagnet that people will

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<v Speaker 1>be familiar with. Also, they're uh, they're used in the

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<v Speaker 1>little sections under the roadway when you pull up to

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<v Speaker 1>a stoplight, they detect car using a similar mechanism, right,

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<v Speaker 1>And so you can use electricity to create a magnetic field.

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<v Speaker 1>What you might not know is you can also use

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<v Speaker 1>a magnetic field to create electricity. And that's that's the

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<v Speaker 1>basis of this inductor, this wireless charging um technology that

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about right now. So within the cradle, that's

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<v Speaker 1>the part that plugs into the wall. So you're drawing

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<v Speaker 1>electricity from your your your wall. Uh, that is sending

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<v Speaker 1>electrons through an electro magnet in the cradle. When you

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<v Speaker 1>put the toothbrush in there, the toothbrush and it's base

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<v Speaker 1>has another essentially another coil inside of it. The magnetic

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<v Speaker 1>field will induce electricity within that coil and charge the

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<v Speaker 1>battery inside the toothbrush. Same thing for the cell phones

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<v Speaker 1>things of that nature, where it's using basic it's based

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<v Speaker 1>off the same technology where you're using this magnetic field

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<v Speaker 1>to induce electricity and that in turn charges a battery.

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<v Speaker 1>That seems very simple. It's it's actually a pretty simple concept.

0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.480
<v Speaker 1>It's it's difficult to explain without graphics, so it's a

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<v Speaker 1>little difficult to talk about it without you know, looking

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<v Speaker 1>at something. But it's nice of you to hold up

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<v Speaker 1>the drawing to the microphone so everybody listening can see it.

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<v Speaker 1>I hope you all appreciated that. It was you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I I even actually I have a whole three D

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<v Speaker 1>model here here, look at this and this over here. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and that totally makes sense to me, I know, it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't it It's so clear. So yeah, that's that's the

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<v Speaker 1>main way we use wireless power right now. But there

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<v Speaker 1>are other ways that people are working on that use

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<v Speaker 1>a similar technology, but it's meant to transmit power in

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<v Speaker 1>a larger area. UM. So, for example, some guys that

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<v Speaker 1>in my t are working on this this coil that

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<v Speaker 1>has capacitors at the end of UH. It's think of

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<v Speaker 1>it like a think of a circle where you have

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<v Speaker 1>one arc of the circle cut out, Okay, so it's

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<v Speaker 1>not a complete circle. On either end of the that arc,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a little capacitor and then you have the coil

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<v Speaker 1>wrapped around it. And the idea here is that by

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<v Speaker 1>creating an by running electricity through one of these, you

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<v Speaker 1>create a magnetic field, and if you have another UM

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<v Speaker 1>device that another arc that resonates at that same frequency,

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<v Speaker 1>you can broadcast electricity in a greater areas because it's

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<v Speaker 1>depending upon not just the magnetic field but resonance. So

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<v Speaker 1>if you if you can get the two objects to

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<v Speaker 1>reson excuse me, to resonate at the same frequency, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>you can broadcast power. Yeah, basically, it's that that's sort

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<v Speaker 1>of UH. I think if you're if I'm understanding you correctly,

0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.520
<v Speaker 1>you're talking about radio charging and that's and that does

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<v Speaker 1>have to that does mean that they have to match

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<v Speaker 1>up and that actually are Managing editor Julie sent us

0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.400
<v Speaker 1>an article not too long ago about that very thing. UM.

0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.640
<v Speaker 1>Nokia is working on a technology in one of their

0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.840
<v Speaker 1>United Kingdom offices UM. According to The Guardian, UH, this

0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.840
<v Speaker 1>technology would basically use frequencies five mega hurts to ten

0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:21.320
<v Speaker 1>gigger hurts, which is the same basically as UH area

0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.160
<v Speaker 1>of which you'd find UM wireless land, bluetooth, mobile phones,

0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:30.040
<v Speaker 1>microwave ovens, UM and UH. It would convert electromagnetic energy

0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.880
<v Speaker 1>into electric electrical energy. UM right now can handle about

0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.839
<v Speaker 1>five milliwatts. They're trying to get twenty, but fifty would

0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:42.360
<v Speaker 1>be really powerful enough to recharge a cell phone battery

0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.040
<v Speaker 1>and then thereby you wouldn't even need to worry about

0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.280
<v Speaker 1>plugging in your phone or finding an induction pad on

0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.640
<v Speaker 1>which to place your phone when you get home. Yeah,

0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:54.920
<v Speaker 1>so you can with one of these systems if you

0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.839
<v Speaker 1>if you were to perfect it, you could have a

0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:04.920
<v Speaker 1>single UM powered coil that provides enough of a magnetic

0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.080
<v Speaker 1>field to charge multiple objects all at the same time.

0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:09.520
<v Speaker 1>So you would you could have like a room in

0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.480
<v Speaker 1>your house which was the charging room. You know, you

0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.240
<v Speaker 1>just leave your camera on your phone and MP three

0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.120
<v Speaker 1>player or whatever and there, and then they charge just

0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.440
<v Speaker 1>based upon the power being drawn by that one uh

0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.560
<v Speaker 1>that one coil. So it's a pretty cool idea. And

0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.680
<v Speaker 1>it's not the only way that we can do wireless power.

0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.760
<v Speaker 1>There's another way which involves microwaves. Oh yeah, you can

0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.920
<v Speaker 1>beam microwaves at a rectifying antenna or a rectanna if

0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.119
<v Speaker 1>you prefer. It's not a joke. It really is a rectanna.

0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.760
<v Speaker 1>I'm not treating it as a joke. It's just funny

0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.760
<v Speaker 1>to me how people like to combine words and make

0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.240
<v Speaker 1>new ones. Yes, it's it's it's catching. Is this you know,

0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.440
<v Speaker 1>it's every Every business has to have its own jargon.

0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:57.000
<v Speaker 1>So uh yeah, if you rectanna can can accept incoming

0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:02.640
<v Speaker 1>microwaves converted into electricity, and this could become very useful

0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.480
<v Speaker 1>if we can perfect a way of gathering energy in

0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.840
<v Speaker 1>outer space to beam down to the Earth, because when

0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.640
<v Speaker 1>you think about it, a lot of people would imagine

0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.080
<v Speaker 1>the Earth as a closed system. You're getting only so

0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.360
<v Speaker 1>much energy out of the environment, but it's not really

0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.920
<v Speaker 1>closed system because you've got sunlight coming in all the time.

0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.120
<v Speaker 1>But beyond that, if you were able to create say

0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.560
<v Speaker 1>a satellite that had solar cells on it and could

0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:34.120
<v Speaker 1>collect sunlight without the the interference of atmosphere and then

0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.160
<v Speaker 1>beam that energy some way down to the Earth. You

0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:41.720
<v Speaker 1>would suddenly have a very uh useful form of um,

0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:47.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, an ending energy. Now, there are some problems

0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.480
<v Speaker 1>with it. I mean, obviously you have to create a

0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.800
<v Speaker 1>device that can beam a microwave beam at a very

0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.160
<v Speaker 1>specific location. You have to have the antenna there to

0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.280
<v Speaker 1>pick up the beam. Some people are worried about the

0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:02.080
<v Speaker 1>idea of microwaves hitting the Earth all the time. There

0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.840
<v Speaker 1>was a discussion of possibly putting an entire solar farm

0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.040
<v Speaker 1>on the surface of the Moon, but of course the

0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.560
<v Speaker 1>Moon is not always facing the same part of the

0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.760
<v Speaker 1>Earth all the time. So in order to get the

0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.360
<v Speaker 1>beam to the right set uh antenna, I suppose either

0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.520
<v Speaker 1>you could build a series of antenna's or you would

0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.920
<v Speaker 1>have to have some sort of reflective satellite network so

0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.680
<v Speaker 1>that the beam hits a satellite and that in turn

0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.800
<v Speaker 1>beams it to another satellite until you have a direct

0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.640
<v Speaker 1>line of sight on the proper antenna, and then you

0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.160
<v Speaker 1>could beam the energy down to Earth. So it's not

0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:43.440
<v Speaker 1>obviously it's not the most perfect system. Also, another problem

0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.640
<v Speaker 1>is that if anything were to happen to the solar

0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:47.720
<v Speaker 1>panels on the Moon, you'd have to have some way

0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.520
<v Speaker 1>to fix them. So there's a good chance that you

0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.360
<v Speaker 1>would need either some sort of really advanced robot or

0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.560
<v Speaker 1>more likely some sort of lunar base in order to

0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.000
<v Speaker 1>maintain the solar panel farm. Um. Otherwise, you know, something

0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.800
<v Speaker 1>goes wrong and then suddenly you're you're perfect source of

0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:09.520
<v Speaker 1>energy is no longer so perfect. Yeah, but it's funny

0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:16.159
<v Speaker 1>because you talk about things like can we convert electromagnetic

0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:21.639
<v Speaker 1>spectrum into electrical energy? Well, you know, light from the

0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.800
<v Speaker 1>Sun carries quite a bit of electromagnetic energy, and we

0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.320
<v Speaker 1>use solar panels to do just that. Yeah, they're not

0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.720
<v Speaker 1>terribly don't think about that as being but that's it's

0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:34.719
<v Speaker 1>kind of the ultimate and wireless power because you think

0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.800
<v Speaker 1>about all the plants that use the Sun's energy. I mean,

0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.200
<v Speaker 1>that's wireless power. But uh, yeah, solar panels are not

0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.400
<v Speaker 1>the biggest problem we have with solar panels right now

0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.840
<v Speaker 1>is that they're not as efficient as we need them

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.720
<v Speaker 1>to be in order to to really get the most

0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.280
<v Speaker 1>out of them. That I think the efficiency is down

0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.800
<v Speaker 1>in the like the the teens are the twenties maybe,

0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.040
<v Speaker 1>so that's pretty low. That means that you're losing eight

0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.520
<v Speaker 1>of the energy that you could be harvesting if the

0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.359
<v Speaker 1>technology were perfect. But it has increased significantly in the

0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.480
<v Speaker 1>past a few years because we've done so much more

0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.280
<v Speaker 1>research on it. Yeah, and of course the push towards

0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.080
<v Speaker 1>green technology over the last few years has has, you know,

0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.080
<v Speaker 1>spurred on even more research and development as companies see

0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.439
<v Speaker 1>a way of possibly making a profit off of this.

0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:22.520
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you've got people who are willing to pay

0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:27.879
<v Speaker 1>two make make their lives more green and environmentally friendly.

0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.520
<v Speaker 1>And once you start making sure that the whole process

0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:36.840
<v Speaker 1>is economically viable, than usually the research and development quickly

0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.080
<v Speaker 1>follows behind. You know, I wonder if it's to be cynical,

0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:44.600
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I wonder if the market for UH copper

0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.719
<v Speaker 1>stolen from street lights it's going to drop if we

0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:52.800
<v Speaker 1>switch to all inductive and all resonant and all radio.

0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.360
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure there will always be a market for jewelry

0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:59.000
<v Speaker 1>that will turn your arm green. I I you know,

0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.040
<v Speaker 1>you really are cynical. I'm just saying I've I've got

0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.320
<v Speaker 1>some nice jewelry that turns my skin Green, it's not

0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.120
<v Speaker 1>as nice as it could be. I guess we'll see

0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:09.760
<v Speaker 1>if I ever give you a penny for your thoughts.

0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:15.680
<v Speaker 1>So thought Green talking about the the microwave transmission again,

0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:21.200
<v Speaker 1>just really quickly. One of the neatest um potential uses

0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.000
<v Speaker 1>I've seen for this technology is for a an airplane

0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.080
<v Speaker 1>that would never land. That reminds me, but they might

0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.800
<v Speaker 1>be giants song. Well, this would be an unmanned vehicle.

0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.720
<v Speaker 1>I was wondering, what you're gonna do, you know, an

0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.120
<v Speaker 1>unmanned drone. But it would it would convert. It would

0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.240
<v Speaker 1>have a rectana on the on the plane itself, and

0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.560
<v Speaker 1>you would be microwaves to the plane and that would

0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.679
<v Speaker 1>give it enough energy for it to maintain its flight.

0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.280
<v Speaker 1>And if you were to have enough you know, devices

0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.360
<v Speaker 1>here to be microwaves to it, it could fly indefinitely. Alright,

0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.240
<v Speaker 1>So do you have anything else on wireless power today? No?

0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.720
<v Speaker 1>But I do have something else you do? Yeah, I

0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:11.360
<v Speaker 1>have a little a listener mail. This listener mail comes

0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.639
<v Speaker 1>from Sergio. Sergio says folks. He said that Linux is

0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:18.160
<v Speaker 1>a derivative of Unix, but Linux is a recursive acronym

0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.919
<v Speaker 1>that stands for Linux is not Unix, just like Canoe,

0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.760
<v Speaker 1>which stands for a canoe is not Unix. Linux may

0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.800
<v Speaker 1>look and feel like Unix, but it is not Unix.

0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.639
<v Speaker 1>It was mostly written from scratch, and the Colonel probably

0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.280
<v Speaker 1>shares little if no code with a T and T Unix.

0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.160
<v Speaker 1>This is all about patent copyrights and being free slash

0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.920
<v Speaker 1>open source regards. Sergio. Sergio, we totally understand where you're

0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.680
<v Speaker 1>coming from, and and we're not arguing that. What what

0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.040
<v Speaker 1>we were trying to get at is that Unix spawned

0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:56.800
<v Speaker 1>the or we should say Unix inspired Minics, right, which

0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:00.480
<v Speaker 1>was a project that a college professor created to create

0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:05.280
<v Speaker 1>an open source UM operating system that people could fiddle

0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:09.080
<v Speaker 1>with the code, and then Torvalds saw Menics and that

0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:13.680
<v Speaker 1>took from that the inspiration to create uh linux. So

0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.240
<v Speaker 1>you well, it's not a direct derivative of Unix Unix

0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.560
<v Speaker 1>inspired Menics, which in turn inspired linux UM. We were

0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.440
<v Speaker 1>kind of using shorthand in that particular episode and possibly

0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.840
<v Speaker 1>in the process made it less accurate than than it

0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.119
<v Speaker 1>needed to be. At the time, though, we were worried

0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.040
<v Speaker 1>about getting too technical and losing all the people who

0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.880
<v Speaker 1>had never heard of Linux to start with. But thank

0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.320
<v Speaker 1>you for writing and keeping us on us definitely, and

0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:41.800
<v Speaker 1>a couple of other people made the same sort of point,

0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.919
<v Speaker 1>and uh we we heard all of you. Um I

0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.640
<v Speaker 1>just read Sergios because it was a good representative email.

0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.080
<v Speaker 1>So if you guys have any comments, you would like

0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.520
<v Speaker 1>to make, any questions or suggestions, criticisms that sort of thing,

0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.600
<v Speaker 1>you can write us. Our email address is tech stuff

0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:00.159
<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. You can read all

0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.760
<v Speaker 1>about wireless power at how stuff works dot com, along

0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:05.520
<v Speaker 1>with hundreds of other topics, and we will talk to

0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:11.560
<v Speaker 1>you again really soon for moralness and thousands of other topics.

0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.080
<v Speaker 1>Does it how stuff works dot com And be sure

0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.199
<v Speaker 1>to check out the new tech stuff blog now on

0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:23.080
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0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.440
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