"On that note, Nokia is keen to emphasise that no-one should try this at home: pointless playing with machines of lethal power is best left to the chaps in the white coats"
And probably Lester Haines....
It sent a DeLorean back though time, brought Frankenstein's monster to life and nearly got Benjamin Franklin killed, but now the power of lightning has been harvested to charge a mobile phone. White-coated boffins at the University of Southampton were co-opted by Nokia to catch a 200,000-volt spark and step it down before …
I don't know, I thought he looked a trifle pissed off that the proper research he'd like to be doing has been hi-jacked and turned into a publicity stunt by a dying mobile phone brand, probably in return for some much-needed funding. But that's just my interpretation...
Not a/c because, although I also live near Southampton (hey neighbour!) I don't think Dexter has my address. Oh hang on, there's the door...
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It's DC but no AC component, just fluctuations. Alternating component implies a current polarity reversal.
I think the concept you are trying to describe is that DC has bandwidth, owing to the fact that it was switched on, and at some time will be switched off.
Of course the demo is pure b0ll0cks. Any sensible filtering arrangement will smooth the current fluctuations. What's nice is that the phone isn't destroyed by the RF field. Perhaps that makes the point for metal cases.
Might be a slight difference between the output of a 200kV transformer and lightening strike though. You know, the odd few orders of magnitude. Much easier to take that continuous 200kV transformer output and step it back down again - after all, that's done on an everyday basis by electricity grids around the world.
"If you watch the film very carefully, you'll find that lightning send the DeLorean *forward* through time, not back. ("Back" was powered by stolen plutonium if memory serves, and at the end by "Mr Fusion".)"
And if you watch the sequel you will note that lightning does indeed send the DeLorean back in time to the wild west
Being slightly serious for a moment, there used to be a UK company that made lightning suppressors for telecoms and the like. They attempted to sell them to the railways to protect the data lines on electrically controlled signal boxes, but were told that lightning had never been a problem.
God* was obviously listening and not too keen on hybris, because shortly after she zapped Westbury signal box with a massive bolt and did about £20 million worth of damage.
My point, such as it is, is not only don't try this at home but don't try it in the office either, unless you really, really know what you are doing. And have big ceramic gas-filled surge suppressors.
*I don't believe in God, but the God I don't believe in is female, detests patriarchy, and has an evil sense of humour, to rework Catch-22.