May 23, 2007: Richard Box's "Field"

[tw]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

It's not just waste energy. They are drawing more power from the lines than would be wasted otherwise.

Not exactly. Energy does not flow entirely in those wires. In fact, energy would only flow in (hope I have remembered the number) about 1/4 inch inside the wire - called the surface effect. The rest is carried by fields outside wires.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right, super high voltage runs the surface. tw, you might know, do the fields this far from the wire actually draw off of what the power company is sending or is it a byproduct of that?

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by tw

Not exactly. Energy does not flow entirely in those wires. In fact, energy would only flow in (hope I have remembered the number) about 1/4 inch inside the wire - called the surface effect. The rest is carried by fields outside wires.

You are correct, but I fail to see how it conflicts with what I said.

The bulbs are drawing power, not just using waste power. Less electricity is getting through than would if those bulbs weren't there, because they are tapping into the electromagnetic field you mentioned.