Lighting bulbs with magnetic fields

[rohanprabhu]

This guy seems to have done something like that: http://gizmodo.com/361390/1301-florescent-bulbs-lit-solely-by-magnetic-fields

Now.. what i was thinking is that.. how could he have done that? The power lines carry alternating current all right and it's a changing current, so it produces a changing magnetic field near the ends of a given lamp.. but will that be enough to create an emf across the tube that can give out so much light?

 

[russ_watters]

Apparently it is. I wonder if he got permission from the power company to do that "art"...

 

[berkeman]

Even though it says magnetic fields, I think it's the E-field that actually doing it. The gradient from the power lines above to the ground below.