Audio Transcript:
You may get a... (SOUND: electrical arc) ...charge out of this.
I'm Bob Karson with "The Discovery Files" -- new advances in
science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(SOUND: cell phone dial)
Wouldn't it be cool if you could recharge your cell phone without plugging into a charger? When MIT researcher Marin Soljacic's cell phone died, he asked himself that very question... and it put him on a quest to find a way to transmit energy wirelessly.
We've known for centuries that you can transfer electric power a short distance between two wires without the wires having to touch each other.
(SOUND: electric motor)
It happens all the time in electric motors.
Soljacic realized that you could potentially expand that distance, say, from one end of the room to the other.
Once you have an 'emitter' (think of it as a wireless recharger), it would fill the room with energy that could only be picked up by things like your laptop and cellphone. You're being recharged and, 'look ma... no wires!"
Right now the idea is in the design phase, but could eventually be a new way to bring power to the people.
"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's
National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by
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