Can the electromagnetic energy that enters our houses to be used by radios, TVs, mobiles and so on, be harnessed to power other items in the house such as light bulbs? [Of course, I'm looking for more than a yes/no answer]

romeomikegolf

Not really. Electromagnetic energy is radiation, and has a very small amount of electrical power. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html Feb 06 06, 11:12 PM

peasypod

It depends on how the lightbulbs in your house are teslated.... Feb 07 06, 3:55 AM

gmackematix

RMG, your answer sounds like a hunch with nothing to back it up. The basic definitions of types of emr don't really answer the question so no yays yet. Do we have any sites that give figures for, say, how many joules of emr are entering a typical house in an hour? Feb 07 06, 12:38 PM

Arpeggionist

Now, let's see. It takes an awful lot of solar panels to harness the sun's radiation to produce electricity. Now, the sun emits rays of every kind of energy and radiation, from radio waves and microwaves at the lower end of the scale to gamma rays and visible light. If it takes so much effort to get the entire electromagnetic spectrum to light a few bulbs, then it should probably take all the more to focus so little a piece of that spectrum - especially the lower end of the frequency scale, which is broadcast through the airwaves nearly everywhere, and takes some energy to broadcast in the first place. It would make more sense for us to try and harness all the heat which flies out our windows for electric purposes than to attempt the same thing with our own radio waves. Feb 07 06, 5:41 PM

peasypod

Gee, and I thought my Tesla pun was on the money. Perhaps you might have needed a spare Wardenclyffe Tower in your lounge room, huh? ;) Feb 07 06, 8:20 PM