Electromagnetic Emission Art

mr_lithic writes "The artist Richard Box has used the electromagnetic field generated by overhead transmission cables to power 1300 fluorescent lightbulbs positioned underneath. Some pictures available. Professor Denis Harshaw at Bristol University explains "There's an interactive element to all this, too, for those who go to the site itself. 'You affect the lights by your proximity', explains Richard Box, 'because you're a much better conductor than a glass tube. And there's sound as well as light - a crackling that corresponds to the flashing of the lights. There's a certain smell too, and your hair stands slightly on end.'" Sounds cool and it is on until February 29th. Directons here."

Comments

Wrong physics

[Anonymous Coward]

The bulbs will be 'planted' across the site at the foot of an electricity pylon, and will pick up the waste emission from the overhead power line.

Not really. Lighting the bulbs most certainly reduces the power on the lines. The inductance of the power lines change because of the presence of the bulbs.

Re:Wrong physics

[Anonymous Coward]

Its called mutual inductance. The changing magnetic field in the power lines causes a changing magnetic field in the 'pylons'(which are most likely a coil oriented correctly). This causes a current in the coil due to Faraday's law. This current itself then generates its own EMF which Lenz's law then shows will have the opposite polarity of the power line magnetic field. Thus, this new magnetic field attempts to generate a current in the opposite direction in the power lines, increasing their resistance.
In short, he's using the power companies' power to light his bulbs. There are no 'waste emmisions'.

Re:Wrong physics

[smchris]

So the moral is: instead of tin hats, people who live under power lines should coat their houses in light bulbs?

Science and Art

[apirkle]

I think it's very interesting that the artist, Richard Box, is an artist in residence with the Physics department at the University of Bristol.

It's cool to see art and science actively collaborating. From the article:

The Physics Department at the University of Bristol has played host to a number of artist residencies. In 2002 artist, Richard Box was awarded a Leverhulme Grant to become the department's third artist in residence. Whilst the starting point for other artists have varied, Richard's main interest was in the specialist glass blowing workshop that is integrated alongside the rest of the physics research activities. His interest in glass has always required him to have objects made by others, this residency offered him the chance to begin to learn how to develop his own glass blowing skills and so have greater authority over his own work.

directions

[Anonymous Coward]

What? No GPS coordinates?

Here in the Philippines

[digitalchinky]

I toyed with ideas of free lighting (living close to high tension power lines)... seems a little pointless considering thousands of locals run jumper leads of the damn things anyway, with complete immunity from Meralco (Elec company)

Easier to jumper someone elses jumper leads anyway.

Stealing energy

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

The artist Richard Box has used the electromagnetic field generated by overhead transmission cables to power 1300 fluorescent lightbulbs positioned underneath

Technically, he scoops out energy from overhead lines. True, it's insignificant, but still he could be charged with theft. Of course, since it's art, I doubt anybody at the power company will say anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if they told him to take his art somewhere else.

A well know, similar "application", was demonstrated when wireless transmission technologies boomed in the 30s in Paris : the first antennas had been installed on top of the Eiffel tower and were putting out dozens of kilowatts. Some smart guy started selling battery-less flashlights under the tower, and a lot of gullible people bought them, amazed that they indeed created light magically without batteries. Little did they know the magic flashlights had a little coil inside that used the Eiffel tower antennas' HF power to light up the bulb, and therefore could only work under the tower. The flashlight seller was eventually caught and, far from being charged for scamming people, was charged for stealing TDF (French wireless authority) energy, which was apparently much worse.

But anyway, pretty cool art I say. The cows in the field nearby must have fun watching that every night.

Re:Stealing energy

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Whatever sucking up EM fields is, it sure isn't theft, no matter what the french say

You shouldn't have slept through your EE classes.

Having a coil under the Eiffel tower is exactly similar to having a secondary coil in a transformer : whenever you have a load drawing current on the secondary coil, the primary coil (in this case, the Eiffel tower's antennas) have to provide that power, despite the fact that there's no physical connection between the 2 coils. So if you have antennas putting out 50kW and a coil drawing 10W nearby, that's 10 less Watts in radio power.

This guy's art also draws energy from the power line. The tubes don't light up for free do they?

But I'll tell you what : if sucking up EM fields isn't theft, tell me where you live and I'll coil a long copper wire around a mile-long stretch of the powerline that goes to your house and power my trailer with it. I'm sure you won't mind the higher bill from the power company in your mailbox, since I'm not stealing anything...

Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells

[DarkHelmet]

Yeah, at least if you're gonna kill your brain cells, do it with something fun like booze, pot or ecstacy.

Like the Joker says, "If you gotta go, go with a smile!"

At last, an event near me!

[Chilliwilli]

Will be headed out there with a camera ASAP. Perhaps local /.ers should arrange a meeting time and all go at once.

Re:Stealing or not?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Does arrangements like that actually "steal" any power from the powerlines, or would it be lost anyway if it was just air instead of neon tubes?

They do draw energy from the line. If they weren't there, the voltage differential in the static field would stay high and no (or little) current would be sinked into the ground under the tube.

Another proof: assume each tube spits out the equivalent of 10W in light, there must be like 1000 tubes in that field, so they burn about 10kW all the time. I don't think the ground underneath normally sinks 10kW for each 100mx100m square : if it did, it would heat up, and very long lines would lose so much power over the distance that they would bankrupt the power companies.

Theft?

[DAldredge]

Is this theft? I ask because in the past, before the current overkill laws againts computer crime, crackers where charged with theft of electricy. Could he be charged?

Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art

[G4from128k]

Microwaving chocolate is a fun way to both measure the speed of light and get some edible artifacts of the patterns of the electromagnetic fields inside a microwave oven.

Power Lines have links to other Negative Effects

[MidiSaxMan]

Growing up on a farm, I have learned of the negative effects "stray voltages" cause to farm animals.

This is often linked to the power return to the station. Everywhere, electrical service has everything connected in relation to ground, with any difference in the power balance of the phases of power taking a different path back to the source of the power, i.e. the ground itself, and potentially through anything in its path.

This "stray voltage" manifests itself when animals, with 4 bare hooves, paws, etc. touching the ground, detect small but irritating (to varying degrees) levels of current taking an alternate path back to the source. Animals have also been proven to have a higher sensitivity for detecting stray currents as well, compared to humans.

Often in cases, to the power companies defense, they will come out to do a check on the premises, and often do find a problem in the local, on-farm wiring, potentially causing the problem.

Unfortunately, in the cases of newer farms where all the wiring is new and up-to-code, a stray current is often traced to off-the-farm sources, for example, a newly-installed High-voltage Power Line.

Re:Electricity fun

[etLux]

Well, I liiim, er, lvoplx, er, liiivee unnnder pwoer liens, and n-n-n-othin gggg has has has has has has has has [thwack thwack] huppened two too to MY brain.

Reminds me of school

[panurge]

This is a true story. I was there, I saw it.

Our physics teacher was using the Van der Graaf for an experiment (in fact, he was intending to measure the current it produced). Over the demonstrator's bench, a fluorescent tube was flickering. He got annoyed. He climbed on a stool to remove the offending fluorescent.

You can guess the rest. The remote end of the tube dropped towards the van der Graaf. About 10cm from the dome, there was a spark. The dome discharged through the tube, which flashed, the physicist, and the stool. Most impressive.

The tube survived falling on the bench. We learned several things from this:

• Contrary to belief, our teacher knew the f-word.
• The current was actually so small, as it had to pass down a wooden stool, that he was unhurt.
• Given enough volts, wood conducts.

Re:It seems people have been sued for this

[enosys]

The time domain reflectometer (TDR) injects a signal into a wire and then gives you some info about reflections that happen. It essentially measures impedance along the line and so it will show anything inductive, resistive or capacitive on it.

I'm sure a lot of people here have heard about TDRs being used to troubleshoot network cables.

As for electric companies being called hydro, I'm in Canada (A former British colony and in the Commonwealth) and it's the same here. It really doesn't make that much sense anymore because most power comes from other sources.