MIT discovery could unplug your iPod forever
The latest technical advance out of MIT could dramatically change the drudgery of recharging portable devices: An MIT research team has figured out how to wirelessly illuminate an unplugged light bulb from seven feet away.
Details about WiTricity, or wireless electricity, are scheduled to be reported today in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.
In a December story in the Globe, MIT physicist Marin Soljacic sketched out a vision of how everything from iPods to laptops could be wirelessly recharged by using a carefully designed magnetic field to deliver power to such devices from a range of 10 to 15 feet.
Now, MIT said, Soljacic and a research team he works with have some data to begin validating his theory - namely, the successful experiment to light a 60-watt light bulb from a power source two meters away, with no physical connection between the power source and the light bulb.
If Soljacic's idea bears fruit, consumers could be truly unplugged, their rechargers replaced by single device that transmits power wirelessly.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
