why electricity can't travel wirelessly?

Answer 1

If by electricity you mean electric charge, then it can only travel wirelessly when electrons or ions actually move through space. This does happen, and the energy transferred can be very large -- think of a lightning bolt -- but it's not exactly controllable or useful.

However, if you mean generating electrical energy in one place and transferring this wirelessly to another place, we do it every day. It's called radio. Here, though, the energies are very small. The very largest radio transmitters produce an effective radiated power of less than a megawatt (think half a wind turbine) and this spreads out over a wide area, so the power delivered to any reasonable receiver is only microwatts.

By using reflectors you could concentrate the power on to a smaller area, but then you have to think about what happens between the transmitter and the receiver. With a power density of maybe 100kW/m^2 and at the microwave frequencies needed to make the reflector work, anyone standing in the beam would get fried.

The eccentric electrical genius Nicola Tesla did actually work on wireless power distribution in the 1930s but for the reasons I have given, and a few others, everyone else decided to stick with wires.

Answer 2

yes, and no. for example, when you turn your radio on, the radio waves that transfer the sound are energy. so technically, yes, you can. however, what you mean to ask is whether a lot of energy can be transferred wirelessly. the answer is still yes. when you put something in your microwave oven, energy is transferred wirelessly to the food. still not where you want, i'm afraid. many years ago, there was a radar station/antenna at ground level. you might note that your microwave uses similar energy. All of the vegetation, for a couple hundred yards in front of it had been killed. a photographer, with a bunch of flash bulbs walked out in front of it. all the flash bulbs went off at once. burned him pretty bad. but, we're getting closer. and the answer to what you wanted to ask, "can i have my laptop work anywhere, with energy radiated from a wall outlet?" is probably no. at least not with the technology that we have today.

Answer 3

That's unfortunately a HUGE misconception perpetrated by the original power moguls of the 30's and 40's. Nikola Tesla proved and demonstrated that electricity is all around us in the ionsphere., and can be tapped, cleanly and efficiently...for (nearly) free, unlimited power. But his financiers: George Westinghouse (Western Electric), JP Morgan, and Andrew Carnagie....discovered that there was no way to meter, or charge for it once it was released. So they pulled the funding for his Broadcast Power Apparatus. They confiscated his notes, and shut down his labs. That technology still exists, but remains repressed to keep our dependence on the fossil fuel industry.- Just look up 'Tesla'.

Answer 4

Theoretically electricity is a flow of free electron trough the mass. In a gaseous medium, since the free space between molecules are too much, the electrical resistance is too high. However, it can directly travel through gas, when the voltage is too high (millions) and you see it like a sparkle. But you can transfer the energy by converting it, to e.g. electromagnetic field, microwave etc. On which the rate of transfer is dependent to the medium, and the characteristics of transmitter / receiver.

Answer 5

Actually, according to Nikola Tesla, it can (I've included a Wiki link to "Wireless Power Transmission").

Tesla was a supporter of free energy, and even proposed ways to do just that (but that's off topic). What Tesla did, in essence, was create a field much like a radio transmission, and with corresponding "batteries" that picked up that specific frequency was able to harness that field.

He even had a patent on it. The link is the bottom one. Be sure to click the "images" button to see the diagrams.

Answer 6

It depends on the electricity that you are talking about, in theory it can travel without a wire (a simple example is lightning) but as others have put foward it can travel in the form of radiation, picked up by a metallic body and conducted back into electricity or travel through the air through sheer high voltage(lightning). In the first case it will be inefficient and in radiation form my bodies experience the same situation as being exposed to nuclear radiation (nuclear radiation and electricity in radiation are electromagnetic waves long exposure results in cancer)also as it travel through the air it will loose some of it power (attenuation) in radiation how can that loss be replaced? In wired form we can use tranformers to boost it. In the second case downright dangerous as extremely voltages are needed for it to travel through the air (imagine being struck by lightning!). In normal use it is simpler, more efficient and safer to conduct it through copper wires. I think it is not a question of why it can't but a question of why it it shouldn't.

Answer 7

Electricity is flow of electrons & electrons flow only when there is a potential difference between 2 points i.e electrons flow only from higher potential to lower potential.

A wire is basically made of metals in which there are free electrons which can freely flow when a potential difference is applied.

But without wires electricity can be produced by electromagnetic induction i.e by magnetic forces electricity can be produced.

Answer 8

Who said it cannot? Have you not seen a transformer where the primary and secondary circuits are insulated from each other? And does the signal reaching your cell phone not travelling wirelessly?

For transmitting large amounts of energy, wireless transmission is inefficient and thick copper wires are used to minimise coupling losses and to prevent heat losses etc.

Answer 9

Yes it can, but it's still a little cutting-edge technology.
Static Electricity can travel through air.

Answer 10

who says it can't? look for Nikolai Tesla and see how it travels wirelessly, and more...