# could electricity be transported through thin air **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308 "2002-12-12T19:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shea241](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@shea241](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shea241)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/1 "2002-12-12T19:23:12Z")
I assume that technolgy is continually leaping ahead so is there any technolgy out there that can transport eletricity already or is it impossible ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/2 "2002-12-12T19:30:38Z")
Sure it can…haven’t you ever seen an electric arc? Go get yourself a stun gun and press the button. You’ll see an electric arc jump through the air between the two metal poles (just don’t touch it). If you don’t want to do that wait for a thunderstorm in your area and watch the lightning…yet more electricity transporting through the air. I forget the guy’s name but back in the 30’s or thereabouts he suggested transporting electricity through the air. There are photos of the guy sitting in a room reading a paper while electrical bolts tens of feet long are leaping about him. He did this to show it was ‘safe’ to be in proximity to the electricity. Unfortunately air is a fairly good insulator. There is no good, practical way to use air for transmitting electricity. You’re better off using wires. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/3 "2002-12-12T19:32:34Z")
Well, there’s lightning. But that wouldn’t be terribly practical… ---
**Author:** ![shea241](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@shea241](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shea241)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/4 "2002-12-12T19:33:31Z")
Is it possible to convert electricity into a radiowave or anything else so that it could be zipped somewhere else and then be converted back? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/5 "2002-12-12T19:40:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > **I forget the guy’s name but back in the 30’s or thereabouts he suggested transporting electricity through the air. There are photos of the guy sitting in a room reading a paper while electrical bolts tens of feet long are leaping about him. He did this to show it was ‘safe’ to be in proximity to the electricity.** Nikola Tesla. And that photo was faked. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/6 "2002-12-12T19:42:36Z")
There have been plans for using satelites with lots of solar cells to turn sunlight into electricity, then turn the electricity into microwaves and send the microwaves down to some sort of reciever that converts them into electricity again. I haven’t heard anything about this lately, so I guess it turned out to be uneconomical or unsafe or something, but it would work in theory. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/7 "2002-12-12T19:44:36Z")
Broadcast power sure. I remember this company I was doing due diligence on. Skysat was the name. The idea was that instead of launching communications satellites and building cell phone towers (which is really expensive,) they’d just design these big radio control airplanes. These airplanes would circle really high, and perform the functions of satellites and cell towers. The problem was how to keep the planes up there. The simple solution was that they’d just beam microwave radiation at them once every couple of days. The planes would be built to convert this radiation into electricity and store it, and they could stay up forever. The story (and it may be apocryphal,) was that they were demonstrating this ability to some venture capitalists, and as they were beaming the energy to the plane, a flock of geese flew in the path of the beam. Supposedly the investors were pelted by a gaggle of cooked geese dropping out of the sky. There are lots of ways to do it, but essentially that’s the problem with broadcast power. Don’t be in its way. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/8 "2002-12-12T19:47:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shea241 \* > \*\*Is it possible to convert electricity into a radiowave or anything else so that it could be zipped somewhere else and then be converted back? \*\* Of course. That’s how radio and radar work. Unfortunately it’s massively inefficient even with highly directional antennas. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/9 "2002-12-12T19:47:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shea241 \* > \*\*Is it possible to convert electricity into a radiowave or anything else so that it could be zipped somewhere else and then be converted back? \*\* Yes. And it would be extremely inefficient. Even if a large-scale system _were_ put into service, you’d surely die of cancer while you’re still in grade school. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/10 "2002-12-12T19:49:04Z")
[Cecil’s take on the subject.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_274.html) ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/11 "2002-12-12T19:50:13Z")
Great minds simulpost alike 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/12 "2002-12-12T19:51:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crafter\_Man \* > \*\*Yes. And it would be extremely inefficient. Even if a large-scale system _were_ put into service, you’d surely die of cancer while you’re still in grade school. \*\* Not at all, microwaves are non ionizing you would merely be cooked. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/13 "2002-12-12T19:56:06Z")
Forget about TV or radio reception anywhere near a broadcast power station, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/14 "2002-12-12T20:02:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crafter\_Man \* > \*\*Nikola Tesla. And that photo was faked. \*\* Yup. He faked it himself. An interesting man, though. A genius. He’s the man you can thank for Alternating Current (A.C.) If it had been up to Edison, we’d still be using D.C., we’d have powerplants all over the place because it isn’t practical to transmit D.C. over long power lines. Too bad Tesla kind of got squirrely as he got older. ---
**Author:** ![CaptEgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@CaptEgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptEgo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/15 "2002-12-12T20:40:36Z")
Sounds like we’re also playing in the vicinty of that whole ‘HARRP’ business. Is there anything substantive to the worries people have expressed about HARRP or are these the ravings of your average conspiracy theorist? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/16 "2002-12-12T20:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > **If it had been up to Edison, we’d still be using D.C., we’d have power plants all over the place because it isn’t practical to transmit D.C. over long power lines.** With all due respect to Mr. Tesla, we would be using AC regardless of his inventions and accomplishments. It’s a basic fact that the distribution of DC power is impractical. He wasn’t the only one who realized this during his time. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/17 "2002-12-12T21:06:18Z")
> [@](#): > > it isn’t practical to transmit D.C. over long power lines DC power is just as practical to transmit over long power lines as AC. What isn’t quite so practical is humping the voltage up and down at either end of the line. There’s no simple DC equivalent of a transformer (which is just a couple of coils of wire wound around the same core). DC to DC converters do exist, but they are more complicated and hence more expensive. There are however many high power DC transmission lines in use in the world today (well they were in use back in the 80’s when I was in college, I haven’t checked on them since). RF power is used today in small amounts. If you’ve ever seen one of those easy-pass toll systems, or you have an RF tag ID card system where you work, these are often beam powered devices. The radio beam hits the card, and intially just about all of the energy goes to charge up a capacitor. Once the thing is charged the intelligent chip inside switches on and uses that power to send back a coded pulse stream (also modulated to RF frequency), which sends the number coded into the card back to the reader. The main reason they are beam powered is so they don’t ever need to have their battery replaced. Battery versions are also available for longer range systems. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/18 "2002-12-12T22:00:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by engineer\_comp\_geek \* > **DC power is just as practical to transmit over long power lines as AC. What isn’t quite so practical is humping the voltage up and down at either end of the line. There’s no simple DC equivalent of a transformer (which is just a couple of coils of wire wound around the same core). DC to DC converters do exist, but they are more complicated and hence more expensive. There are however many high power DC transmission lines in use in the world today (well they were in use back in the 80’s when I was in college, I haven’t checked on them since).** Agree, but I didn’t want to get bogged down in detail. As I’ve stated in many other threads, DC is actually _more_ efficient when you’re looking at _just_ the conductors. It’s when you look at the **entire system** that AC comes out the clear winner[sup]a[/sup]. [sup]a[/sup][sub]Well _most_ of the time AC is the clear winner. As noted by ecg, there are some situations when DC is used…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/19 "2002-12-12T22:05:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shea241 \* > \*\*Is it possible to convert electricity into a radiowave or anything else so that it could be zipped somewhere else and then be converted back? \*\* As others have mentioned it’s done all the time in radio and telvision. In fact radio sends sound for thousands and thousands of miles and televisions sends sound _and_ light for great distances. Alas, again as mentioned, the process is terribly inefficient from a strictly power transmission standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308/20 "2002-12-12T22:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shea241 \* > \*\*Is it possible to convert electricity into a radiowave or anything else so that it could be zipped somewhere else and then be converted back? \*\* The solar power satellite idea is alive & well, it seems. [Space.com article](http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/solar_power_sats_011017-1.html) Here’s another article by the [NSS](http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/9608/nss-news.html) about wireless power transmission. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-electricity-be-transported-through-thin-air/142308.md?page=2)