Generate electricity using Earth's rotational energy

 Scientists create magnetic device to generate electricity using Earth's rotational energy     

A wild idea has been proposed to generate electric power from Earth’s rotation with the help of magnetic fields. A trio of physicists from Princeton University, CIT's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Spectral Sensor Solutions, all in the US, is proposing the possibility of generating electricity using energy from the rotation of the Earth. In their study, published in the journal Physical Review Research, Christopher Chyba, Kevin Hand and Thomas Chyba tested a theory that electricity could be generated from the Earth's rotation using a special device which interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. To test their theory, researchers built a specialized device: a cylinder made of manganese-zinc ferrite.   

      

A new research has presented experimental evidence confirming a previously theorized method to generate electricity from Earth’s magnetic field. However, their idea faced scepticism because conventional physics suggested it was impossible. The established theories indicated that any generated voltage would be nullified by electron rearrangement. However, these researchers questioned this assumption. They experimented to see if they could create electricity by using a specially designed hollow magnetic cylinder to capture energy using the Earth’s magnetic field. Interestingly, the researchers successfully measured 18 microvolts of electricity generated across the cylinder when it was oriented perpendicularly to Earth’s magnetic field.

Over the past decade, members of the team have been toying with the idea of generating electricity using the Earth's rotation and its magnetic field, and they even published a paper describing the possibility. The paper was met with criticism because prior theories have suggested that doing so would be impossible because any voltage created by such a device would be cancelled as the electrons rearrange themselves during the generation of an electric field. Traditional proofs suggest it’s impossible to generate electricity from Earth’s magnetic field using a conductor rotating with the planet. “Earth rotates through the axisymmetric part of its own magnetic field, but a simple proof shows that it is impossible to use this to generate electricity in a conductor rotating with Earth,” the study paper stated. However, the researchers identified and challenged implicit assumptions in these proofs. They theorized that using a soft magnetic material with specific properties (low magnetic Reynolds number, specific topology) could circumvent the limitations.

The researchers wondered what would happen if this cancelation was prevented and the voltage was instead captured. To test their theory, they built a specialized device: a cylinder made of manganese-zinc ferrite, a weak conductor that acted as a magnetic shield. They built a special device consisting of a cylinder made of manganese-zinc ferrite, a weak conductor, which served as a magnetic shield. They then oriented the cylinder in a north-south direction set at a 57° angle. That made it perpendicular to both the Earth's rotational motion and the Earth's magnetic field. For the experiment set-up, the researchers carefully positioned their specialized cylinders. They aligned it in a north-south orientation, specifically at a 57-degree angle. This precise positioning was crucial, as it ensured that the cylinder was situated perpendicularly, or at a 90-degree angle, to both the Earth’s rotational motion and the lines of force within the Earth’s magnetic field. This orthogonal alignment was a key factor in their attempt to detect and measure any potential voltage generated from the interaction of the device with these forces.

Team placed electrodes at each end of the cylinder to measure voltage and then turned off the lights to prevent photoelectric effects. They found that 18 microvolts of electricity were generated across the cylinder that they could not attribute to any other source, strongly suggesting that it was due to the energy from the Earth's rotation. Rigorous testing ruled out other potential sources, like temperature differences. This strongly suggested that the electricity was indeed generated from Earth’s rotation. Furthermore, they confirmed that voltage was only present in the specific experimental setup; changing the cylinder’s angle or using control cylinders resulted in no voltage being detected. “We realize these requirements with a cylindrical shell of manganese-zinc ferrite. Controlling for thermoelectric and other potentially confounding effects (including 60 Hz and RF background), we show that this small demonstration system generates a continuous DC voltage and current of the (low) predicted magnitude,” the team noted.

The researchers note that they accounted for the voltage that might have been caused by temperature differences between the ends of the cylinder. They also noted that no such voltage was measured when they changed its angle or used control cylinders. The results will have to be verified by others running the same type of experiment under different scenarios to ensure that there were no other sources of electricity generation which they failed to account for. But the researchers note that if their findings turn out to be correct, there is no reason the amount produced could not be increased to a useful level.