Electromagnetic Emission Art

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

This is what the future is going to be like. [zen.co.uk]

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.

electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells

other than powering flourecent lights, electromagnetic waves can also kill your brain cells. This is one art exhibit that i dont wanna go visit.

Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells

Since high power lines are set back from the road at least 30m in most of the US and EM falls off at the cube of the distance I think there is a BIG difference between being right under them and driving past them.

Re:electromagnetic waves kill also brain cells

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

Neither does ecstacy to be honest. The only study that "proved" permament damage was recently dubunked as they had done the experiment with amphetamines and not E! [www.cbc.ca]. Of course, the original study [hopkinsmedicine.org] is still cited as proof about the "dangers" of the drug despite this (and many other papers by the same research scientist) being completely thrown out by the scientific community. FACT: Going fishing carries about the same risk of death as going out clubbing on E. Horse riding is many times more dangerous! And with all three, if you understand the risks and take precautions, you can reduce the risk of death to practically zero.

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

Growing up on a farm, I have learned of the negative effects "stray voltages" cause to farm animals.

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.

Wrong physics

The bulbs will be 'planted' across the site at the foot of an electricity pylon, and will pick up the waste emission from the overhead power line.

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

Its called mutual inductance. The changing magnetic field in the power lines causes a changing magnetic field in the 'pylons'(which are most likely a coil oriented correctly). This causes a current in the coil due to Faraday's law. This current itself then generates its own EMF which Lenz's law then shows will have the opposite polarity of the power line magnetic field. Thus, this new magnetic field attempts to generate a current in the opposite direction in the power lines, increasing their resistance.
In short, he's using the power companies' power to light his bulbs. There are no 'waste emmisions'.

Re:Wrong physics

They are both interdependant, you can't have one without the other. Mutual inductance will most definitely be happening in this case. It's all about conservation of energy as well - if all the energy that's going into lighting up those bulbs was just being radiated out and wasted anyway, don't you think there'd be a hell of a lot of energy going to waste? There is some loss on power transmission lines but it's not as much as that!

Re:Wrong physics

Being a true EE geek I have built a dozen or so various Tesla coils in my life (from a paltry 60,000 volt unit up to a 250,000 volt baby) these units would light up a flourescent tube with ease from 10 to 20 foot away - I have also lit tubes in front of very high power x-band radars (kids DO NOT try at home) - The basic prinicples and physics are the same for high tension power lines although the frequencies involved are lower. So yes, I do know what I am talking about....

Re:Wrong physics

So the moral is: instead of tin hats, people who live under power lines should coat their houses in light bulbs?

Science and Art

I think it's very interesting that the artist, Richard Box, is an artist in residence with the Physics department at the University of Bristol.

It's cool to see art and science actively collaborating. From the article:

The Physics Department at the University of Bristol has played host to a number of artist residencies. In 2002 artist, Richard Box was awarded a Leverhulme Grant to become the department's third artist in residence. Whilst the starting point for other artists have varied, Richard's main interest was in the specialist glass blowing workshop that is integrated alongside the rest of the physics research activities. His interest in glass has always required him to have objects made by others, this residency offered him the chance to begin to learn how to develop his own glass blowing skills and so have greater authority over his own work.

Re:Science and Art

I think it's really interesting that the physics department over there seems make this sort of thing a habit. Universities are so often extremely tight penny penchers, I'm impressed that someone was able to convince the bean counters that this is worthwhile.

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

OK. Done. I emailed them this message:

To: [e-mail]

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

free power

This technique of using the field from high voltage transmission lines has reportedly been used by farmers to power lights in a barn or electrify a fence as this anecdote [google.ca] suggests. The power utilities supposedly have gone after those using the "free" power. I'm not sure how truthful any of these stories are though.

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

Isn't this what the Navy used to spy on Soviet sea cables?

ref: Operation Ivy Bells [randomhouse.com]

Re:free power - DMCA violation

The power company ought to claim that the power is encrypted, and that, by not using the authorized wired delivery system, the artist is stealing.

I am not allowed to use all the electromagnetic waves that pass thru my property.

directions

What? No GPS coordinates?

Here in the Philippines

I toyed with ideas of free lighting (living close to high tension power lines)... seems a little pointless considering thousands of locals run jumper leads of the damn things anyway, with complete immunity from Meralco (Elec company)

Easier to jumper someone elses jumper leads anyway.

Re:Here in the Philippines

One of my friends had some trouble with his underground power connection. The utility inspected it while he was at work, and phoned him and told him they'd need to jumper his neighbour's power. When you're used to jumpers being little plastic caps that go over .1" spacing header pins, it's a little bit of a shock to come home and see a trio of 1/2" wires coming out of your meter, tied to the fence, and then running into the neighbour's.

Stealing energy

The artist Richard Box has used the electromagnetic field generated by overhead transmission cables to power 1300 fluorescent lightbulbs positioned underneath

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

Whatever sucking up EM fields is, it sure isn't theft, no matter what the french say

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...

Or illegal emissions?

I think the piece is more of an artistic rebuttal of the assertion that these high energy transmission lines are safe for humans and animals.

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.

Other things that fit this definition of "theft"

Breathing: you're taking oxygen that clearly was produced on a farm somewhere or maybe in the Amazon.

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

I can see this scenario:
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!

At last, an event near me!

Will be headed out there with a camera ASAP. Perhaps local /.ers should arrange a meeting time and all go at once.

Daily Mail carried this story previously

http://openapps.harkness.co.uk/junk/ [harkness.co.uk]

There is a copy of the article and the picture covered by the Daily Mail.

Theft?

Is this theft? I ask because in the past, before the current overkill laws againts computer crime, crackers where charged with theft of electricy. Could he be charged?

Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art

Microwaving chocolate [about.com] is a fun way to both measure the speed of light and get some edible artifacts of the patterns of the electromagnetic fields inside a microwave oven.

[Now OT] Re:Edible Electromagnetic Emission Art

I was grading papers for a college writing class the other day when I came across a paper that a student had written about measuring the speed of light using the microwaving chacolate method. At first I thought he was just making shit up, but then I looked it up on the interweb, and lo and behold, he hadn't made it up.

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

The power company deserves to have their power stolen because they are too cheap to reconfigure their lines to reduce the electromagentic output:

http://tdworld.com/ar/power_line_designs_reduce/

Forest

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

Reminds me of school

This is a true story. I was there, I saw it.

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:

• Contrary to belief, our teacher knew the f-word.
• The current was actually so small, as it had to pass down a wooden stool, that he was unhurt.
• Given enough volts, wood conducts.

Political

That's good art :)

So all you need to do is stick a fluorescent light underneath?

Can I get an insurance for this ?

I mean, with the latest research on electromagnetical radiation in my mind [slashdot.org], and this being a high-level electromagnetical field, I certainly do not want to take the risk to get back from that site with a rotten brain...

It seems people have been sued for this

A while ago I searched for info about this sort of thing online. It seems that farmers using fences or long wires to get power have been sued for it. I've even read about people who lived close to high power transmitters running fluorescent tubes from small antennas and being sued for it. This is mainly just from usenet posts but I feel there's enough info out there to show that at least some of this was real.

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

The time domain reflectometer (TDR) injects a signal into a wire and then gives you some info about reflections that happen. It essentially measures impedance along the line and so it will show anything inductive, resistive or capacitive on it.

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.

Slightly off topic but...

Would headphones (earphones) cause any "death in braincells" if worn constantly? Since they have magnets in them.. just wondered if any of it pertains ?

/l

Interesting EHT effects at a power station

During a visit to a power station, we were shown the
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...

Technology can both save us and it can kill us

It's true. Apply the dielectic materialism argument.

Technology is all bad. (illogical exclusive negative )
Technology is all good. (illogical exclusive positive)

Solution: Technology is both good and bad.

In fact, since technology is generally assumed to be created by man, the argument surely must be redirected towards man. For after all is said and done, it is HOW man uses technology that determines whether the outcome is good or bad.

Futurama

Couldn't help but notice the photo with the floating brains. I didn't realize the Brain Spawn were here already (although that would explain some things going on in the world). I'm not sure we can wait 1000 years for Fry to wipe them out.

Your body is virtually made out of electrolytes..

And unnatural sources of EM have been around for only 100 years or so. . .

To sum up the following; 60 htz x Earth's Magnetic field = Lithium ion (which exists naturally in human biology) becomes direcionally excited so that its impact upon brain chemistry is increased to achieve narcotic effect. (Lithium is the base of many anti-depressant drugs.)

From "Cross Currents", Robert O. Becker, 1990

"In 1982, Dr. A. H. Jafary-Asl and his colleagues at the University of Salford in England reported that yeast cells displayed both nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance, and that these resonances were different depending on whether the cells were alive or dead. They also found that when living yeast cells were exposed to conditions of nuclear magnetic resonances they multiplied at twice their normal rate-and the daughter cells were half as large as normal! Perhaps a more complex type of resonance was part of the answer, after all.

The advantage of complex resonances such as nuclear magnetic resonance is that the energy in the field is concentrated upon single physical entities (such as the nuclei of Berlin atoms), rather than being spread among all the cells of the body.

In 1985, Dr. Carl Blackman of the EPA and Dr. Abraham Liboff of Oakland University, working independently, integrated the reports of Jafary-Asl and the attempts to duplicate Bawin and Adey's experiments. They concluded that the strength of the local steady-state magnetic field of the Earth at the site of each of the laboratories was the hidden variable that determined the different frequencies reported.

Both Blackman and Liboff suggested that the mechanism involved was a specific type of resonance, cyclotron resonance (which has nothing to do with the cyclotron, an early type of particle accelerator used in atomic physics). When they applied the mathematical equations for cyclotron resonance to the different frequencies reported by the different laboratories, along with the respective strengths of the local magnetic fields they found the same result. The Ca++ efflux was the result of cyclotron resonance between the frequency of the applied electric field and the strength of the Earth's local magnetic field at each separate laboratory.

Cyclotron resonance can be explained as follows, albeit in a somewhat simplistic fashion: If a charged particle or ion is exposed to a steady magnetic field in space, it will begin to go into a circular, or orbital, motion at right angles to the applied magnetic field. The speed with which it orbits will be determined by the ratio between the charge and the mass of the particle and by the strength of the magnetic field.

We know the frequency of rotation (the number of times per second that the particle completes a full rotation) from the equation relating the charge/mass ratio of the particle and the strength of the magnetic field If an electric field is added that oscillates at exactly this frequency at right angles to the magnetic field energy is transferred from the electric field to the charged particle.

If the direction of the electric field is slightly off from the right angle, the particle will move in a spiral pathway.

We can substitute an oscillating magnetic field for the electric field and still obtain cyclotron resonance. However, It must be applied parallel to the constant magnetic field.

Cyclotron resonance may be produced any time there is a steady magnetic field combined with an oscillating electric or magnetic field acting on a charged particle. Many of the activities of
living cells involve charged particles-such as the common ions of sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca++), and potassium (K+)-acting on or passing through the cell membrane. Cyclotron resonance has the ability to transfer energy to these ions and to cause them to move more rapidly. These effects will change the function of living cells by enabling the ions to pass through the cell membranes

Can I do this myself?

Is there a website with information on how I can do this myself? Due the the legalities, I wouldn't exploit this, I just want to see it in action for a few minutes. I have high voltage power lines running through my backyard, so I have easy access.

The Smell

...is most likely Ozone.

Re:Stealing or not?

Does arrangements like that actually "steal" any power from the powerlines, or would it be lost anyway if it was just air instead of neon tubes?

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:Electricity fun

Well, I liiim, er, lvoplx, er, liiivee unnnder pwoer liens, and n-n-n-othin gggg has has has has has has has has [thwack thwack] huppened two too to MY brain.

Re:Stealing or not?

He is using a source of energy, and translating it into work.

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.