He may have died 146 years ago but British scientist Michael Faraday has inadvertently invented the floating BBQ.
What’s that?
You didn’t know you wanted a magical, floating BBQ?
Well, you probably don’t. But, the point is, it’s possible.
In this fascinating experiment at the Palais de la Decouverte in Paris, a fundamental Faraday theory around electromagnetic induction is demonstrated.
In the video of this experiment, you will see a 1kg aluminium plate levitate, as if by magic. And, it gets hot. Super hot. So hot you can cook a steak on it. (Mmmmmm, steak.)
It’s incredible to watch. But, there are two downsides that will stop this remarkable device from becoming a mainstream cooking appliance.
Firstly, the coil of wire that is used to create the electromagnetic induction is being pumped with 800 amps of AC current. To put that in some context for you: a typical 50 kV transmission line on those structures that look like a small versions of the Eiffel Tower carry about 17 amps.
Again, this levitating BBQ plate requires 800 amps to create the induction field.
Not enough to shock you? (Yes, that awful pun was intended.)
If you come into contact with electricity, it’s not the volts that kill you. It’s the current, the amps.
A fatal shock occurs at about 0.2 amps.
So, this amazing floating BBQ plate has about 4,000 times the amount of current that can be fatal.
On second thoughts, there is only one reason why this won’t become a mainstream cooking appliance.
But, it also makes what is possibly one of the most annoying sounds ever. Yes, it’s more annoying than that car alarm that goes off in your street at 3 am every morning.
There you go. Two reasons why this won’t be in your backyard this summer.
Sometimes you can’t have what you didn’t you know wanted. Or, something.
