Often, a layperson (LP) comes up with an idea that is totally not going to work and that sounds as if it will work. Then we electrical engineers have a problem since, no matter what you (we qualified engineers with 34 years’ experience) say to the LP, the LP produces increasingly wilder arguments to justify his or her idea. Ultimately, I just give up, knowing that it is no use arguing with persons who do not know what they do not know.

For example, the LP claims that it is possible to mine for minerals on asteroids. That it will happen in our lifetime. That it will benefit mankind. Fact: for anything to go from outer space to earth, it has to travel through the earth’s atmosphere at some speed and at very high temperatures. To land on an asteroid will be very difficult and to land mining equipment will be impossible. The LP then argues that anything is possible and goes on to cite the moon landings, the Panama canal and similar totally unconnected events that were “once considered impossible”.

You get the idea?

I thus thought I would turn the tables and give you some electrical things which sound as if they are totally not going to work – but do. Just for fun. Before somebody else does, starting with transmitting electricity through the air without power lines to domestic consumers. This was an idea of Nikolai Tesla using resonant inductive coupling. This is a form of inductive coupling in which power is transferred by magnetic fields, through coils – one in the trans- mitter and one in the receiver. The resonance between the coils can greatly increase coupling and power transfer, similar to the way a vibrating tuning fork can induce vibrations in a distant fork tuned to the same pitch.

A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the US, has managed to transmit 60 W of power over 2 m. This is not much, but it is quite probable that it will be developed to the point that radios, remotes, lamps et cetera can be powered in a wireless field that will be quite weak (and thus not harmful to humans) but will interact with a resonant circuit in the device to power it. This will greatly reduce the use of disposable batteries.

Electrofishing: it happens that, if you put a fish in an electric field, the fish will bend and thus can be made to swim towards a net. This form of fishing has been used in streams by researchers but now is being used by trawlers in the North Sea and elsewhere. Electric pulse fishing produces a limited electric field above the seabed to catch fish. The pulse trawl gear consists of a number of electrodes that emit electric pulses. The use of electricity to catch fish is prohibited in European waters. But there are exemptions to this rule mainly used by Dutch and British trawlers in the North Sea.

Privacy glass: consider a boardroom which has glass partitions. To ensure privacy, you could hang curtains or blinds but . . . instead you install privacy glass, which can change from clear to opaque. This glass is electrochromic. Yes, I know you have read this all before, but electrochromic devices change light transmission properties in response to voltage, allowing control over the amount of light and heat passing through. In electrochromic windows, the electrochromic material changes its opacity – it changes between a transparent and a tinted state. A burst of electricity is required for changing its opacity, but no electricity is needed for maintaining the particular shade achieved.
So . . . there you are.