Zap! MIT Developing Wireless Electricity (Again)

A team of scientists from MIT has come up with a way to light a 60-watt lightbulb. The trick is that the bulb is located about seven feet from the power source and no wires connect the two.

Wireless electricity, or "WiTricity" as MIT likes to call it, could one day allow consumers to carry notebooks or cell phones without batteries. It could also make it easy for contractors to remodel homes. Someday. To make it happen, the waves would need to be targeted and tracking mechanisms would need to exist to link the power source and the intended target.

Various techniques for transmitting power wirelessly have been around for years. Radio is an example. Transmitting electrical power, however, is tricky.