TRIPPY: 1,301 Florescent Bulbs Lit Solely by Magnetic Fields (from power lines)

[El Pinko]

http://gizmodo.com/361390/1301-florescent-bulbs-lit-solely-by-magnetic-fields

1,301 Florescent Bulbs Lit Solely by Magnetic Fields

This field has 1,301 florescent bulbs planted in it, and they're all glowing. They aren't plugged into anything, however; they're powered solely from the magnetic fields produced by the power lines above. It's all a large art project by Richard Box, and if you're really interested in it you can order a DVD of the whole thing from him. If you're cheaper and less interested, just peruse our gallery for the cool shots.

[Deja Q]

1. Why not 1,302?

That's cool. I mean, we pollute the night darkness with halogen light in big cities; so let's go to the countryside and light it up with over 1,300 things that look like cheap vibrators.

[originalpckelly]

2. I think they look like light sabers. Why not 1331? Make it reversible!

:P

And if these magnetic fields are powerful enough to light up these bulbs, what can they do to people?

People always forget that electricity is more about the fields than the electrons.

[Thor_MN]

5. I don't know, do you light up when plugged into line voltage?

People are not manufactured to glow when exposed to electromagnetic fields so the answer is nothing. While there are animals that are able to sense magnetical fields, any ability to do so in humans is not apparent.

If the fields around high voltage lines had any effect on people, an MRI exam would be lethal.

[originalpckelly]

6. EM radiation is em radiation.

Prolonged exposure to em radiation may have unforeseen consequences.

[BearSquirrel2]

14. It may ...

Long term exposure to pretty much any "natural" supplements may also have unforeseen consequences. None exist until they are proved to exist. The cell phone thing was bunk as was the power line thing.

[idovoodoo]

28. Where's Waldo when we need him?

;-)

[Thor_MN]

29. Sun light is EM radiation. Broadcast TV, radio, cell phones are EM radiation.

If one is going to hide from EM radiation, living one's life in a faraday cage at the bottom of a mine shaft might be in order. I'd hazard a guess that the electricity that power lines bring has saved and lengthened lives far more than any potential unforeseen consequences. More people have probably been hurt by colliding with the towers in motor vehicles than by EM radiation at ground level.

Prolonged exposure to anything could have unforeseen consequences. Hell, I know I feel ill if I am exposed to more than a minute of listening to the idiot in the White House attempt put a couple coherent sentences together. I wish I didn't have to deal with that toxic mess, but I don't live in fear of hearing him speak.

All risk is relative - and people are terrible at gauging risk. We all tend to focus attention on risks that we sort of, but not quite, understand while engaging in all sorts of risky behavior that is much more likely to kill or harm us.

[PSPS]

7. Don't kid yourself

The New Yorker had a very good piece on this danger almost 20 years ago:

http://tinyurl.com/2a7s2m

[Thor_MN]

30. And you might want to try some reading more substantial than a 20 year old flawed study

Popular press scare stories generate revenue. I'm sure you have one or more local TV stations that do scare teasers during every sweeps period. "Are your children safe at the library? What you need to know!! Tune in at 6 for our exclusive coverage!!!" You breathlessly wait for the broadcast to find that the Channel 37 I-team has found that three kids got paper cuts while reading. Channel 37 is trying to increase viewers during the periods that ad revenues are calculated. The problem is that people hear just the teaser headline and expand it and soon parents are afraid to let their children go to the library.

Try this:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/emf.html

Quackwatch is to medical myths what Snopes is to urban legends. Two good web sites to check before believing

[slampoet]

18. 1301 is a prime number.

[underpants]

26. It also unlocks the power of the Pyramids

Oh crap did I just post that? I wasn't supposed to tell anyone

[crikkett]

3. This is not a good scene for the PTB who say that it's safe to

play or go to school beneath those lines.

[LizW]

10. No kidding

One of those lines goes directly across the property they are considering for a new high school in my town.

I wonder if this issue is going to come up.

[crikkett]

12. Take a nice blowup of that photo in to the planning commission meeting

and ask the parents of the children who will be playing sports in those fields whether they want their kids exposed to the kind of EM field that can power lightbulbs THROUGH THE AIR.

My town's planning commission and town council meetings are broadcast over the community access channel. My townspeople scrutinize their local officials like you would not beleive. A pain in the ass to be sure, but it makes me proud.

:patriot:

Good luck to you!

[ileus]

4. Sweet! I'm going to try this.

[annabanana]

8. I had no idea this was even possible!

(fascinating and disturbing in equal quantities)

[GCP]

9. Isn't this what Tesla was involved in all those years ago?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

[NashVegas]

25. I Believe So, Yah

..

[ThomWV]

11. Take a small one in your hands and hold it in front of a running microwave

We have had microwave ovens that would light up an 18" neon bulb from three feet away. We had one that was in this house when we bought it (tossed the god dam thing almost immediately) that would give you a headache every time you turned it on.

[crikkett]

13. my microwave interferes with my cordless phone when I'm in the kitchen

I stay away from that thing when it's running now.
:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. It just causes cancer among other things, no biggee. Big Pharma will take care of you

.
.
.

" The IARC, a division of the World Health Organization, has recently classified low-frequency EMF as a Group 2B, possible carcinogen. It thereby agrees the the recommendation of a Working Group convened in the US in 1998.

A three-fold increase in overall spontaneous abortions and a six-fold increase in spontaneous abortions occurring before the 10th week of pregnancy is associated with even momentary exposure to magnetic fields greater than 16 mG. This is the conclusion of new research by Dr. De-Kun Li reported in the January 2002 issue of Epidemiology. Similar results were found in a separate paper on spontaneous abortions prepared for the project by G. M. Lee which is printed in the same issue.

The results of nine major studies on EMF are reversed in a major analysis, Most of these studies originally had failed to find a link between electromagnetic fields (EMF) and cancer. The new review concludes that, upon reanalysis, the data used in the earlier studies do identify an association between cancer and EMF. The authors of the new analysis are the same researchers who headed the earlier studies that had failed to find an association.

http://www.powerlinefacts.com/EMF_Secondlevel.htm
_________________________________________________________________________

I wonder how the people in and around the HAARP site in Alaska(Gakona) are doing.

A study of the residents and workers' health history might be revealing.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

16. Why not build under these massive lines?

Looks like free lighting. :silly:

[Tindalos]

19. Apparently it's illegal

I remember years ago there was a guy who who rigged up something in his attic to capture ambient energy from the nearby power lines. The power company drove by, saw the light on and had him charged (theft of power? I forget the details). Not sure what happened after that.

Face it, it's too good an idea for them to let it happen.

[jberryhill]

23. No, it's not "free"

It goes into the line loss.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

36. There is no such thing as free energy

Place something that screws with the magnetic flux near a power line and you increase the loss on the line..

[MindPilot]

17. Navy electricians learned to break them before disposal.

Back in the bad old days when all trash went over the side, it was an absolute requirement to break a fluorescent tube before throwing it away. If you didn't, an enemy pilot could just power up his radar and the floating, glowing tubes would form an arrow pointing directly to your ship.

[Thor_MN]

33. They tossed florescent tubes every quarter mile or so?

No wonder our military costs so much.

[insleeforprez]

20. Physics question...

I'll probably learn this later this semester, but electric fields are created by the *derivative* of the magnetic field, with respect to time, right? Does the magnetic field of this sort of power line fluctuate like that?

[jberryhill]

24. It's AC

60 hertz.

[snagglepuss]

21. Thanks for posting. Bookmarked and recommended.

[Hydra]

22. That's an awesome way to show EM polution

:kick:

[underpants]

27. So if we set up an vast array of power lines and we all live under them

we can have slow witted kids AND free flourescent lighting, which really makes family photos SOOOO much better

:rofl:

Actually this is really cool

[Edweird]

31. I'm a lineman. I work around this stuff everyday.

I haven't heard of any extraordinary incidences of cancer among people in my industry. Sorry.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

32. but you WORK in the industry...

so you are likely just s shill :-)

sP

[Edweird]

34. I build, install, and maintain. Not sit at a desk.

If there was a cancer risk, I wouldn't be doing it.
I'm willing to risk falling to my death or getting burned alive, because those I can generally control.
But, developing cancer by merely showing up for work is NOT acceptable.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

35. well, that proves it...

you're a shill for big power and your opinion here is nothing more than tripe meant to sucker people into believing this stuff called electricity is ok. Next you'll be telling us that the Northern Lights and the Earth's magnetic fields are ok too!

:-)

sP

[Edweird]

37. Just double up the tin foil, and you'll be fine.....

:P

Seriously, the IBEW takes our safety SERIOUSLY. Sometimes to a fault. You wouldn't believe how much gear I have to wear just to install a meter. Hot gloves, hard hat, eye protection, flame retardant shirt... for a task not much riskier than plugging in a toaster. If there was any risk, I would have heard about it.

FWIW, FPL is our local utility. I don't work for them, I work for a subcontractor. FPL keeps the cushy, high dollar, easy jobs for themselves and sends all the REAL work to subs. Pike, Utility Lines, MegaTrans, Mastec, just to name a few.