Electromagnetic Emission Art 198
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."
The technology is going to kill us (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, yeah chips in your hair. 2000.
A3 x 30. Taken in the studio this series of photographs depicts the artist fending off a swarm of silicon chips as if they were flying insects. The work deals with the effect, intended or not, of technology on the individual.
Wrong physics (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
In short, he's using the power companies' power to light his bulbs. There are no 'waste emmisions'.
Re:Wrong physics (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wrong physics (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wrong physics (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wrong physics (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wrong physics (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wrong physics (Score:5, Funny)
Science and Art (Score:5, Interesting)
It's cool to see art and science actively collaborating. From the article:
Re:Science and Art (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the sculpture itself is really pretty, it reminds me of De Maria's Lightning Field [lightningfield.org], another large scale installation that uses the surrounding environment.
Re:Science and Art (Score:3)
The Lightning Field is protected by copyright. Photography of the sculpture and the cabin is not permitted.
Since when could you copyright 400 metal poles in a 1 mile by 1 kilometer field?
Copyright law is out of control.
Jeremy
Re:Science and Art (Score:2)
Re:Science and Art (Score:5, Informative)
To: rights@diaart.org
Hello. I recently happened upon your page for "The Lightning Field". I
was curious about how you could protect your metal poles from being
photographed by copyright law. Copyright law prevents the
redistribution of one's original work, but not the creation of new
work. If I sold pictures that you took, I would be in violation of your
copyright. Unfortunately, there is no law that prevents me from
photographing anything.
If there were, perhaps you would consider suing Microsoft and the USGS
for the infringing aerial photograph at
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
On second thought, perhaps you shouldn't consider that. Because if you did, you would be laughed out of court.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Rockway
Re:Science and Art (Score:2, Insightful)
If you're trying to change someone's opinion here, you might get better results if you watch the snide attitude. Just a thought.
Re:Science and Art (Score:2)
If you took your own picture of Mona Lisa in the L
Re:Science and Art (Score:2)
free power (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, check out some of his other art [zen.co.uk]. "A rotating, pulsating, elevating, sound and movement activated, life-size neon brain." Now that's just strange.
Re:free power (Score:5, Interesting)
ref: Operation Ivy Bells [randomhouse.com]
Re:free power (Score:2, Interesting)
As for how they actually listened in, it was not exactly picking up EMF from outside the cable. Rather, they simply tapped the copper wire by physically inserting some new wire into the cable right alongside the old wire and planting a recording device.
It's not very difficult to do, and you won't easily be detected when you do it (unlike tapping fiber cable, whic
Re:free power (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:free power (Score:2)
Stupid Touch Pad!!!
>>>However the lights in the article are being by the electric field driven by leakage current which is lost anyway.
Re:free power (Score:2)
Well, it IS there, it's just that the energy is not being used by anything (except leakage currents due to capacitance and so on).
Here's a cool experiment that will demonstrate this. Take a small DC motor (like from an R/C car), and connect the terminals together. You will find that it takes more effort to turn the motor than with the terminals open. That's because the pulsating EM field that's generated by the magnets inside the motor causes current to fl
Re:free power - DMCA violation (Score:5, Funny)
I am not allowed to use all the electromagnetic waves that pass thru my property.
directions (Score:5, Funny)
Re:directions (Score:2, Informative)
The car park is at ST 756 778 (in OSGB notation), or 51deg 29min 52sec north, 2deg 21min 7sec west.
From there, walk as per the directions on the website [zen.co.uk].
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Here in the Philippines (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Here in the Philippines (Score:3, Informative)
Even attaching to a 7 kV local HT line is beyond what most people could survive doing unless they were EXTREMELY lucky and had a decent amount of knowledge.
STAY AWAY FROM THESE LINES. NEVER NEVER NEVER ATTEMPT TO ATTACH TO THEM. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. SERIOUSLY!
Re:Here in the Philippines (Score:3, Funny)
Stealing energy (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:2)
Man who did your brainwash job? I've got some supermodels that need a similar degree of manipulation :) Whatever sucking up EM fields is, it sure isn't theft, no matter what the french say :)
Re:Stealing energy (Score:5, Informative)
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:Stealing energy (Score:3, Insightful)
Or illegal emissions? (Score:5, Interesting)
If you've got an EM field that is powerful enough to light up 1000 light bulbs, it seems intuitive that there is enough energy to cause harm to humans living at similar distances.
Re:Or illegal emissions? (Score:2)
Just goes to show you how wrong intuition is about these sorts of things.
Re:Stealing energy (Score:3, Insightful)
If having an inductor under a power line is theft -- what isn't?
Other things that fit this definition of "theft" (Score:5, Funny)
Tinfoil hats: these devices intercept electromagnetic waves and cause transmission losses.
Heat pumps: you didn't really think you could take all that "free" heat out of the air, did you?
Re:Stealing energy (Score:2)
How is it *not* theft? You're siphoning power from the line, just as much as if you'd put a cable and transformer up on the thing. Exactly as if you'd done that, in fact.
The lack of a direct connection does not imply that no connection exists between the two. It's theft because you're taking something that doesn't belong to you without paying for it. Power. There no "waste" from those lines in that way. If nothing uses that EM field, then th
Re:Stealing energy (Score:2)
No. You're a better ground than the air *around* the lights. Meaning that you equalize the potential difference better than the air does, and thus the lights dim.
It doesn't mean that you're conducting as much energy as is going through the lights just by being there. It means you're bringing the grou
Re:Stealing energy (Score:2, Informative)
"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..."
Since the meter is normally located at/inside the residence, he wouldn't get a higher bill from the power company, would he?
Re:Stealing energy (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry, but really, you run an item near someones home, and it gives of energy, the people in the home should be able to use it. If you don't like it, find another way to deliever your energy.
If you are not connected to the power, then you are not stealing. tresspassing, maybe.
Re:Stealing energy (Score:4, Insightful)
Farmer who lives close to power line makes some big coils to nab some of the energy in the air around his house.
Power company: You are stealing our power. Stop.
Farmer: What are your E fields and H fields doing on my property. Get them off or let me use them as I see fit.
This could turn into quite a pissing contest!
Re:Stealing energy-Sat TV (Score:2)
Re:Stealing energy-Sat TV (Score:2, Insightful)
At last, an event near me! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:At last, an event near me! (Score:3, Funny)
Flash Mob Overload (Score:2)
Also known as Flash Mob [google.com] Overload.
-kgj
Daily Mail carried this story previously (Score:2, Informative)
There is a copy of the article and the picture covered by the Daily Mail.
Theft? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not theft. (Score:2, Interesting)
I once got quite a little jolt from touching a barbed wire fence that ran parallel to a high tension wire
Not Theft (Score:2)
And so is simply standing anywhere within 100 feet of something like this. *Everything* within earshot causes a measurable increase in the resistance of power lines. It's not theft just because, in this case, the amount of power diverted is more than it otherwise would be.
Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art (Score:2)
[Now OT] Re:Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art (Score:5, Funny)
Granted, he had copied his paper almost word for word from the interweb and I failed him for that, which just goes to show that it's dangerous to write papers that interest the graders.
Reconfigure the Lines (Score:3, Informative)
http://tdworld.com/ar/power_line_designs_reduce
Re:Reconfigure the Lines (Score:3, Insightful)
Or is it only large corporations which deserve to be stolen from?
Re:Reconfigure the Lines (Score:2)
Of course every corporation has human owners, and it could be argued
Re:Reconfigure the Lines (Score:2)
Much more fair comparison, that.
Re:Reconfigure the Lines (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Reconfigure the Lines (Score:2)
16kV shock to person on power pole [uvm.edu]
Forest (Score:2)
The inductance of the power lines change because of the presence of the bulbs.
A new spin on the "Tree falling in the forest" enigma, isn't it? :-)
-Chris
Re:Forest (Score:2, Interesting)
A new spin on the "Tree falling in the forest" enigma, isn't it?
No, more like a new spin on "fair use" (or something).
If you walk under the powerline and thus happens to draw current from it without paying, is it then theft?
Reminds me of school (Score:5, Interesting)
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:
Re:Reminds me of school (Score:2, Interesting)
Capacitors also make good coupling between AC lines and other wires in their vi
Re:Reminds me of school (Score:2)
Corollary: if you see a downed power line, don't try moving it with a wooden pole. In fact, just wait for the power company's technicians to arrive. They're trained, equipped, and they're covered by workmen's compensation.
Re:Reminds me of school (Score:2)
Can I get an insurance for this ? (Score:2)
It seems people have been sued for this (Score:5, Interesting)
I also remember one of my high school teachers talking about how he used to work for hydro and look for this sort of thing while flying in a helicopter and inspecting power lines.
Really it shouldn't be that hard to find this sort of thing. You can just use a time domain reflectometer, and power companies have these for finding cable faults.
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, though, how about a little detail on what that does? I suppose I could Google it, but here's my guess:
The device measures the distance along the line to an increased area of inductive load by timing the reflection of a signal from that part of the line. The helicopter then flies out that far and looks for an antenna.
Here's another question: Why are British power compani
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:2)
What this poster meant to say is he's from Ontario, probably Toronto (aka "the centre of the known universe"), and everyone he knows calls it Hydro, as in the companies Ontario Hydro and Hydro-Quebec.
The other half of the population in Canada (aka "savages") call it Power, just like it's commonly called in the US and the UK.
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:2)
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:3, Informative)
> Why are British power companies referred to as 'hydro?'
Um, they aren't. Or if they are, I've never noticed in all my years of existence in the U.K. We also tend to have "secondary schools" not "high schools", so I'm pretty sure the grandparent poster wasn't British.
Hydro isn't the main method of production over here in the U.K. The figures for England and Wales are:
35% - Gas
34% - Coal
15% - Nuclear
7% - Pumped Storage & Renewables
5% - Interconnectors
4% - Oil
(Source: http://www.electricity.org. [electricity.org.uk]
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:2)
Out of curiosity, how do you hook up a TDR to a hundred kilovolt power line? For example, how do you generate an impulse big enough for its reflection to be detected above the massive noise on the line?
TTFN
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:2)
Re:It seems people have been sued for this (Score:2)
>however, TDRs don't measure circuits connected through capacitors and coils, so no.
Any change in impedance will cause a reflection. The question is whether it's going to be measurably large.
Interesting EHT effects at a power station (Score:3, Interesting)
12 Mega Watt output cables. Asides from the crackling noise due to a light drizzle falling on the cables, there were other effects too.
Having stood under the cables for a couple of minutes, I felt no adverse effect... until I started to walk away. That's when I started to get a headache...
Re:Interesting EHT effects at a power station (Score:2)
The Smell (Score:2)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:4, Informative)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:2, Informative)
I wish I could mod that up
Inverse Square Law, General
"Any point source which spreads its influence equally in all directions without a limit to its range will obey the inverse square law. This comes from strictly geometrical considerations. The intensity of the influence at any given radius r is the source strength divided by the area of the sphere. Being strictly geometric in its origin, the inverse square law applies to diverse phenomena. Point
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:2)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:5, Funny)
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!"
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:4, Informative)
But the parent post did mention beer. That does kill brain cells. You do it every time you get drunk. That's what drunk is; the poisioning of your brain by alcohol. And death on alcohol? Go and ask an ER doctor. Lots, never published in the news.
Of course, when the majority of anti-drug messages are funded by the booze industry you have to laugh. I quite like the one on DrugFreeAmerica.org, telling how Ecstacy almost killed a girl [drugfreeamerica.org], until you actually read the article and find that it was GHB. Actually, all the articles on that site are just as bad, and they seem to have been written by the same person, very similar style etc. ALL LIES I TELL YOU!! ;-)
Power Lines have links to other Negative Effects (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Sorry forgot the links. (Score:2, Informative)
I also forgot to mention that animals can be sensitive to ground differentials as small as 0.5 to 1 volt depending upon conditions.
This engineer testifies under oath citing research performed by Doug Reinmann at University of Wisconsin stating those same facts.
Doctor Reinmann's research paper can be found here
(pdf reader required for some links)
http://www.uwex.edu/uwmril/stray_voltage/ s vmain.ht m
http://www.strayvoltage.org/stories/index.php3? Sto ry=2001
Re:Power Lines have links to other Negative Effect (Score:2, Insightful)
Apparently almost 300 objects carrying stray current--metal grates, service boxes, even lamp poles--have been identified around the city since this article was written. IIRC, there was even 120 volts found to be running through a lamppost one block from Times Square. This according to the NYT.
Just another thing to consider as you walk to work tomorrow...
yours
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:2)
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:2)
This is a strictly AC phenomonon.
And it should be noted that he is effectively stealing power with all those lightbulbs.
I find it hard to agree with the hair standing on end statement though as this is not static electricity. The current is always there, just because you brought some bulbs along does not mean there is more, in fact it means there is
Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells (Score:3, Informative)
If the power company does not have an easement (aka right of way) to transmit power across your property, then their power lines are trespassing, in which case you COULD argue that you have the right to that power. The easement would have been arranged wi
Re:Stealing or not? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Stealing or not? (Score:4, Insightful)
The source of energy is clearly owned by an identifiable person or group. Therefore the use of that energy is actionable. The right-of-way that allows the powerline in the first place gives the power company further arguments to strengthen their position.
The amount of energy used is measurable. Therefore he could be billed for it. Need I go on?
A smart Power Company would probably like it all to just go away, because it raises the possibility of health issues, so making a big deal out of it probably isn't a good idea.
Then again, a smart law firm that senses an opportunity to bill a few hours might convince a gullible board to pursue it. There are plenty of reasonable arguments that could be offered to encourage them to re-affirm rights over the use of borrowed power in this fashion (even though those rights are well established already). Companies don't always do what is in their best interest.
If it becomes popular or more common (negating the value of shutting up about it) expect to see the lawyers get a call.
As a final note: consider that the actual means to use the power is irrelevant; just because it doesn't directly connect to the grid means nothing, now that it's proven it's not necessarily a prerequisite to using the energy in the first place. it's just a technical detail.
Re:Stealing or not? (Score:2)
I mean there's nothing wrong with your definition. You just don't understand the terms and how they apply to science of various disciplines beyond the grade-10 "push a box" example.
[quote]
Energy Basics
[snip]
VI. Power
-The rate at which work can be done is also important when considering energy
-Power is the work done per unit time
-The unit of power is the watt
-Power (watts) = Work (joules) / time (sec)
-A common unit of energy build on the watt:
1 kilowatthour (kWh) is the amount of energy that would
Re:Electricity fun (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Electricity fun (Score:3, Funny)
What? Too many words for you? (Score:2)
You pathetic moron. That was only two pages from a paperback.
Were you one of those losers in school who looked at me when I cracked a book and said in awe, "You READ?"
The fact that you cannot digest more than a sound-bite is evidence of how far gone you are. I am certainly not going to play along with the TV version of reality. Information and knowledge are valuable, and the above had it all; claim, easy to follow explanation as well as references. It's