First Experiment of Witricity

The first experiment of witricity, the concept of wireless electricity, was conducted in the year 2006, by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Assistant Professor of this team of researchers was Marin Soljacic.

This experiment was done using two copper coils of diameter two feet, a transmitter that was attached to a power source and a receiver that was placed about seven feet from the transmitter. This receiver was attached to a light bulb and once power was switched on at the transmitter, the bulb lit up despite there being no physical connection between the transmitter and receiver.

Data collected through measurements showed that there was transference of 40% of electricity through witricity. The interesting part of the electricity was that the bulb glowed despite the fact that wood, metal and other devices were placed in between the two coils.

This concept of witricity was made possible using resonance where an object vibrates with the application of a certain frequency of energy. So two objects having similar resonance tend to exchange energy without causing any effects on the surrounding objects. Just like in acoustic resonance, where there is a chance of a glass breaking if you strike the right tone, witricity is made possible with the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves.

In this experiment, the coils were resonated at 10 MHz where the cols coupled and energy made to flow between them. With each cycle, more pressure and voltage built up in the coil till the accumulation of voltage provided enough pressure and energy to flow to the light bulb. These low frequency electromagnetic waves are rather safe as though the body responds strongly to electric fields; it has almost zero response to absorbing power from a magnetic field.