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-   Image of the Day (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=10)
-   -   May 23, 2007: Richard Box's "Field" (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=14259)

Undertoad 05-23-2007 06:56 AM
May 23, 2007: Richard Box's "Field"
 
http://cellar.org/2007/boxlighfield1.jpg

xoB finds this item about a work of art consisting mainly of fluorescent light tubes around power lines.

Quote:
Richard Box, artist-in-residence at Bristol University's physics department, got the idea for Field (2004) -- 1,301 fluorescent tubes powered only by the electric fields generated by low overhead powerlines -- after a conversation with a friend. "He was telling me he used to play with a fluorescent tube under the pylons by his house," says the artist. "He said it lit up like a light sabre." Box decided to see if he could fill a field with tubes lit by the waste energy emanating from powerlines. Box denies that he aimed to draw attention to the potential dangers of powerlines, "For me, it was just the amazement of taking something that's invisible and making it visible," he says.
http://cellar.org/2007/boxlighfield2.jpg

milkfish 05-23-2007 07:03 AM
Reminds me of The Lightning Field.

monster 05-23-2007 07:45 AM
Like it. Now I want to play with power lines.....

glatt 05-23-2007 07:59 AM
I like this a lot.

I heard of a similar art exhibit where you walk around while talking on your cellphone, and thousands of lights around this exhibit room would light up as you got closer to them with your microwave emitting phone. The stronger the signal, the brighter the light would get, so these pools of light would follow you around.

Shawnee123 05-23-2007 08:11 AM
A Hydro-field cuts through my neighborhood
Somehow that always just made me feel good
I can put a spare bulb in my hand
And light up my yard
--Barenaked Ladies

Kitsune 05-23-2007 08:37 AM
I tired this and was disappointed to find I couldn't get it to work. I wish I knew the trick.

Happy Monkey 05-23-2007 10:53 AM
It's not just waste energy. They are drawing more power from the lines than would be wasted otherwise.

Some people put a large induction coil of wire under their lawns below power lines, and draw power. Power companies can track down where the power drain is to detect the wire.

Kitsune 05-23-2007 11:16 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy Monkey (Post 346013)
Some people put a large induction coil of wire under their lawns below power lines, and draw power. Power companies can track down where the power drain is to detect the wire.
I've heard this story a dozen times, usually about a farmer that was stealing electricity by installing induction coils in the roof of a barn/along a fence that was under high voltage lines. There's never any source article.

Sounds like a bad urban legend to me.

Happy Monkey 05-23-2007 11:56 AM
Could be.

xoxoxoBruce 05-23-2007 03:31 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsune (Post 345941)
I tired this and was disappointed to find I couldn't get it to work. I wish I knew the trick.
Has to be low hanging, very high voltage lines over earth with good grounding properties(moisture content), methinks.

LabRat 05-23-2007 03:42 PM
Wow. "Cool!" was my first reaction, then "crap" because my favorite neighborhood running trail has powerlines that crisscross over it several times. Wonder if this works with the compact flourescents that 'they' keep telling us we should use to replace conventional lightbulbs. If so, I could carry a couple of those with me, and do a night run. :litebulb:

thecynicproject 05-23-2007 03:52 PM
I think Modern Marvels had a bit about electricity thievery. It was possible not practical if I remember correctly.

CharlieG 05-23-2007 05:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsune (Post 346025)
I've heard this story a dozen times, usually about a farmer that was stealing electricity by installing induction coils in the roof of a barn/along a fence that was under high voltage lines. There's never any source article.

Sounds like a bad urban legend to me.
I know a power line engineer - he says it gets done every so often - but if it's enough to light say, a full barn, the power company can usually measure the loses, and they start loonking - he actually sent a link to an artile where someone was arrested to theft

rkzenrage 05-23-2007 05:40 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsune (Post 346025)
I've heard this story a dozen times, usually about a farmer that was stealing electricity by installing induction coils in the roof of a barn/along a fence that was under high voltage lines. There's never any source article.

Sounds like a bad urban legend to me.
Penn & Teller did a Bullshit on it and could not get it to work.

Happy Monkey 05-23-2007 06:04 PM
That doesn't sound like a "Bullshit"ty topic. Are you sure it wasn't MythBusters?


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