electricity from the air?

[Moontanman]

This video claims that electricity can be extracted from the air. I'm not sure how useful this would be but it looks like it should work. The video is short and explains the idea in some detail. Could this concept be used to generate electricity in a way that would be useful? 

 

 

[Janus]

Note that at one point in the video that he notes that the amperage is very low, in the microamp or lower range. 12 kv at  1 microamp is  0.12 watt.   that about 1/3 what it would take to light a single mini incandescent Christmas light.   Put another way, it would take ~300 wires suspended in the air to light 1 100 mini-bulb Christmas light string.

[studiot]

A sort of Wimshurst machine in reverse.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wimshurst+machine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

 

Electrostatics is fun.

 

[John Cuthber]

4 hours ago, Janus said:

Note that at one point in the video that he notes that the amperage is very low, in the microamp or lower range. 12 kv at  1 microamp is  0.12 watt.   that about 1/3 what it would take to light a single mini incandescent Christmas light.   Put another way, it would take ~300 wires suspended in the air to light 1 100 mini-bulb Christmas light string.

I think you have the arithmetic wrong. You would need 3000 wires to light  the Xmas tree.

[Ten oz]

11 hours ago, Moontanman said:

This video claims that electricity can be extracted from the air. I'm not sure how useful this would be but it looks like it should work. The video is short and explains the idea in some detail. Could this concept be used to generate electricity in a way that would be useful? 

The drone being used to hold up the wire is using far more power than is being generated.The remote control for the drone is as well. There is no actually net gain shown in the video. More power is being used than generated. The concept itself potentially could generate power if the wire could be held up without using more power than it generated. Even then however the amount generated is so small there would simply be better alternatives. 

[John Cuthber]

It would be easy enough to hold the wire up with a helium balloon, but there's just not enough power to make it worthwhile.

[Moontanman]

Thanks guys, I was thinking along the lines of a 500' tower, insulated from the ground and using a much more efficient collector than a single wire, maybe a large conducting sphere on top of the tower and a much thicker wire leading to the surface. It just looked a bit more doable than a diverting a small stream with a damn and a small hydro generator.

I think a thunder storm mich be more than a bit of a problem as well... 

I think maybe the 200 volt potential at 2 meters may have impressed me a bit more than it should have...  

Edited July 28, 2018 by Moontanman

[Ten oz]

22 minutes ago, Moontanman said:

Thanks guys, I was thinking along the lines of a 500' tower, insulated from the ground and using a much more efficient collector than a single wire, maybe a large conducting sphere on top of the tower and a much thicker wire leading to the surface. It just looked a bit more doable than a diverting a small stream with a damn and a small hydro generator.

I think a thunder storm mich be more than a bit of a problem as well... 

I think maybe the 200 volt potential at 2 meters may have impressed me a bit more than it should have...  

Volts x Amps = Watts

As the video points out micro-amps are being produced. That means you'd need 10 million volts just to generate a single watt. For perspective the average retail drone motor operates on around 30 watts. The average drone has 4 motors. There simple isn't enough power being produced to be worthwhile. 

[studiot]

18 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

There simple isn't enough power being produced to be worthwhile. 

Well sort of, certainly from the perspective of the average drone.

But consider this.

 

The video maker is powering a motor, a notable guzzler of electric power.

Years ago, when they started illuminating road signs and powering traffic or weather station data collectors they had to install portable generators or lay cables.
More recently with the dramatic reduction in power consumption of these devices solar power has been employed.

One of these devices could operate in the (near) dark, say at the bottom of a tall cliff in a canyon and perhaps supply enough power for a low demand device.
Such low demand devices are already in the microwatt range.

[Ten oz]

6 minutes ago, studiot said:

Well sort of, certainly from the perspective of the average drone.

But consider this.

 

The video maker is powering a motor, a notable guzzler of electric power.

Years ago, when they started illuminating road signs and powering traffic or weather station data collectors they had to install portable generators or lay cables.
More recently with the dramatic reduction in power consumption of these devices solar power has been employed.

One of these devices could operate in the (near) dark, say at the bottom of a tall cliff in a canyon and perhaps supply enough power for a low demand device.
Such low demand devices are already in the microwatt range.

True, but if we are talking micro watts one could use a thermocouple and spare themselves to trouble of climbing a tall cliff. Also tall cliffs aren't anymore widely available than is sunlight and wind. Solar panels and wind turbines produce far more power. If we are talking versatility in all climates and locations a simple hand crank generator would also be far superior. There are many alternatives which either produce more power or are easier to construct and maintain.

[studiot]

19 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

True, but if we are talking micro watts one could use a thermocouple and spare themselves to trouble of climbing a tall cliff. Also tall cliffs aren't anymore widely available than is sunlight and wind. Solar panels and wind turbines produce far more power. If we are talking versatility in all climates and locations a simple hand crank generator would also be far superior. There are many alternatives which either produce more power or are easier to construct and maintain.

Anyone who lives in our (very pleasant) part of the world and tries to run a remote unattended device from a turbine will very soon run into hooligans, vandals and other toe-rags.

I don't know why people do such things.

Also don't forget that the OP asked for possible uses for this technology.
Most technologies have competing technology, yet for instance a Welshman managed to paddle a coracle across the Atlantic, and an Irishman did the same in a skin boat.
Neither were the best ocean going vessels for the job, even in their day.

Edited July 28, 2018 by studiot

[Ten oz]

9 minutes ago, studiot said:

Anyone who lives in our (very pleasant) part of the world and tries to run a remote unattended device from a turbine will very soon run into hooligans, vandals and other toe-rags.

I don't know why people do such things.

Also don't forget that the OP asked for possible uses for this technology.
Most technologies have competing technology, yet for instance a Welshman managed to paddle a coracle across the Atlantic, and an Irishman did the same in a skin boat.
Neither were the best ocean going vessels for the job, even in their day.

Perhaps. The OP asks for ways it could be useful. I may have misread "useful". I am looking at it comparatively. 

[studiot]

Just out of interest, how would one power (heat) a thermocouple at night, when it gets cold?

[Sensei]

11 hours ago, Janus said:

Note that at one point in the video that he notes that the amperage is very low, in the microamp or lower range. 12 kv at  1 microamp is  0.12 watt.   that about 1/3 what it would take to light a single mini incandescent Christmas light.   Put another way, it would take ~300 wires suspended in the air to light 1 100 mini-bulb Christmas light string.

12 kV = 12000 V

1 micro amp is 10^-6 A

12000 V * 1*10^-6 A = 0.012 W (10 times less than 0.12 W).

If "incandescent Christmas light" has 0.12 W * 3 = ~ 0.36 W, then 0.36 W / 0.012 W = 30 wires needed.

 

[John Cuthber]

9 minutes ago, Sensei said:

12 kV = 12000 V

1 micro amp is 10^-6 A

12000 V * 1*10^-6 A = 0.012 W (10 times less than 0.12 W).

If "incandescent Christmas light" has 0.12 W * 3 = ~ 0.36 W, then 0.36 W / 0.012 W = 30 wires needed.

 

And a string of 100 lights would need 3000 wires.