The Prestige?

Question

Anyone who saw this movie can think of magic being a real amazing thing. All congrats to Edison, and specially Tesla for their contribution in the creation for Energy, Power, and even magic?
My question to this, from one scene in the movie "The Prestige", Tesla, put one hand on the magicians arms, and gave a him a light bulb to hold in the other hand.. weird enough, the light turned on, and Tesla stated, " That the body can give enough energy to turn on the lamp" Is this true? If many people hold up one another, can there be enough Current to make a lamp turn on?>

Answer 1

Its true that the body has enough energy to light a bulb but the problem is we donot know how to harness it! Even if many people just hold hands together the lamp wont turn on as there would be negligible potential difference between the two ends of human chain. So essentially you wouldnt be able to harness the energy generated.

Answer 2

I haven't seen the movie, but I've experienced the phenomenon, sort of. It really has very little to do with the human body. Remember that Tesla was the pioneer of alternating current generation and transmissions well as the transmission of power by what we now call radio. He derived the entire theory from Faraday's observation that a changing magnetic field will induce a current in a closed loop.

All you need to produce the effect is a strong enough (AC) electromagnetic field and a connection to close the circuit of the light bulb (the moistened fingers of the magician). The changing magnetic field induces a current in the light bulb large enough to cause it to glow.

You can achieve a similar effect by wearing your headphones into a radio station and holding the jack between your moistened fingers. You will hear what the station is broadcasting with no apparent source of power, and no other speakers. That's where I learned first hand of the effect, although my father was fond of a "tall tale" about a man who carried about a coil of wire and a light bulb. He would look at a street light as if examining it for suitability, throw the coil down at the base of the pole, and place the light bulb inside the coil of wire. The light bulb would magically illuminate. I suspect you could repeat this feat under any high tension line, but I've never tried it.

The human body generates a great deal of energy, but we have to use almost all of it simply to power our main computer (brain) and get around. We're really a pretty inefficient source of electricity.

Don't worry, it's still magic! Dwelling on the "explanation" too long will still drive any Electrical Engineer mad (as if we weren't mad to begin with)!

I'll have to see If I can get ahold of that movie..sounds really interesting.