# New wireless electricity technique?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 8, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300 "2007-06-08T19:51:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300/1 "2007-06-08T19:51:01Z")

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> **[Goodbye wires!](https://news.mit.edu/2007/wireless-0607)**
>
> MIT team experimentally demonstrates wireless power transfer, potentially useful for powering laptops, cell phones without cords

Like simple induction, but the coils resonate?

The article says (emphasis added), “One of the coils, attached to the power source, is the sending unit. Instead of irradiating the environment with electromagnetic waves, it fills the space around it with a **non-radiative magnetic field** oscillating at MHz frequencies.”

Non-physicist, non-EE here, so my understanding of this is very sketchy.

1. How do you produce a non-radiative magnetic field that also oscillates? I thought an oscillating magnetic field would by its nature radiate. The picture with the article shows the coils, and they seem to be shaped like ordinary coils, so it doesn’t seem to be the shape.

2. What makes the field just magnetic? I thought you get an EM field when oscillation is involved

3. The concept **sounds** simple, but there must be more involved here than the article presents (not surprising), or someone would have done this before now.

Please enlighten me.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300/2 "2007-06-08T20:17:49Z")

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What makes this different from Nikola Tesla’s work, other than perhaps being at higher frequencies?

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**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300/3 "2007-06-09T02:00:36Z")

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When I read of this I also thought immediately about Tesla. Wasn’t this what he was trying to do at Wardenclyffe?

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-wireless-electricity-technique/407300/4 "2007-06-09T03:43:17Z")

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[QUOTE=SpectBrain]  
When I read of this I also thought immediately about Tesla. Wasn’t this what he was trying to do at Wardenclyffe?  
[/QUOTE]

[Aye.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower)

> [@](#):
>
> In June 1902, Tesla moved his laboratory operations from his Houston Street laboratory to Wardenclyffe. However, in 1903, when the tower structure was near completion, it was still not yet functional due to last-minute design changes that introduced an unintentional defect. When Morgan wanted to know “Where can I put the meter?”, Tesla had no answer.