Get Free Electricity in Physics 2 | Physics Forums

[webdivx]

Hey everyone. I'm taking physics 2 right now in the summer and my professor keeps saying you can get free electricity, but doesn't tell us how. He's pretty stuck up and has been saying this since class started 3 weeks ago. It's really annoying and as a class we want him to shut up. Well, that's a part of it. He says if anyone of us get it right, he will boast each persons grade by 40% and we sure as heck need that cause our class average of 36 people right now is 46%.

Unfortunately, though, nobody knows the answer to getting free electricity in class and some people have tried searching for it but have been unsuccessful. Well, we have found some "free electricity stuff" but it's not really related to Physics 2, like the professor said. Also, none of the other professors know either.

Here is where I (and the class) turn to you, the good people of Physics Forums. How in the world do you get "free electricity"?

 

[SpitfireAce]

does he mean how do you break conservation of energy... in which case according to the uncertainty principle particles can gain energy for very short periods of time, short enough that we can't detect the violation, or does he mean like stealing batteries from a store, or photoelectric effect which is just momentum going from photons to electrons, or maybe he means the illegal way where you climb a pole and tinker with the wires, or maybe he means inducing a current using magnets, that sounds physics 2ish

 

[ranger]

Ask your professor what his concept of "free" is. The way you are saying it, it sounds like something really stupid to ask a class.

 

[G01]

Ask your professor what his concept of "free" is. The way you are saying it, it sounds like something really stupid to ask a class.

I agree. This seems like something that would confuse the class rather than help it. Ask him what he means by free, then we'll be able to help you better.

 

[webdivx]

sorry, i forgot to include that. he's not saying free in terms of free energy like in gibbs free energy from chemistry or anything.

he's using free in terms of money. free meaning you don't have to pay for it. and not by any illegal means like stealing, lol.

So think of it like this: "How can you get electricity and not pay for it?"

He did not give us any hints, but I know we get electricity from electrons. My guess is we have to generate them somehow, but that's where I get stumped and question my idea, as to, "how could we do it without paying for it"?

 

[triggernum5]

Well in that case he's technically right.. Read up on Tesla's sky capacitor.. Or heck, any way aside from nuclear they use to create energy larhe scale can be done small scale in an 8th grade classroom..

 

[rewebster]

he's using free in terms of money. free meaning you don't have to pay for it. and not by any illegal means like stealing, lol.

So think of it like this: "How can you get electricity and not pay for it?"

He did not give us any hints, but I know we get electricity from electrons. My guess is we have to generate them somehow, but that's where I get stumped and question my idea, as to, "how could we do it without paying for it"?

well, you can have someone hand-crank a magneto (dynamo) and NOT pay them-(or the wind, water movement, etc.)

 

[rcgldr]

There are small devices that can roll along a high tension, high voltage AC line. Their power source comes from a single line, by using the potential over a short span of the line to drive a transformer like converted which in turn powers the device.

 

[berkeman]

Thread locked. Defrauding the power company is a crime, and we won't help you do that. Your professor should get reprimanded for his/her actions.


PS -- please point out to your professor that the newer electric power meters are able to detect his kind of hacks, and the power companies definitely pursue those people that try to avoid some or all of their electric bill. The company that I work for is becoming a leading producer of these new smart electric meters, BTW.