- What about wireless electricity? https://teslasciencecenter.org/teslas-wireless-power/ We know that wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work and carry electric signals. Wouldn't it be possible to send electricity wirelessly?
- Yes it is possible.
Unfortunately it isn't practical.
Too much energy lost, and the loss rate per meter increases per meter too. It just gets worse and worse.
I think microwave transmission is the most practical means we have, and even then it's still crazy inefficient, saying you could get 10kw out for 100kw in, over a 1km distance, would be a very generous interpretation of US navy tests.
- You can send power without wires, over short distances. Induction charging on devices like iPhones and Apple Watches are common examples of that.
But it gets exponentially more difficult to transmit power wirelessly, the greater the distance between the receiver and the transmitter, especially if you want to send large amounts of power that way. Certain bands of radio waves can be transmitted long distances, and could b turned back into electrical power on the remote end.
But by then you will have successfully converted a multi-kilowatt power source into the source antenna into a few microwatts at the receiver. Not very efficient.
- it is extremely inefficient the larger the distance. It's already not greit when a phone is sitting literally millimeters from a wireless charger
12 points by m463 18 hours ago | 4 comments