Why Use Two Wires When You Can Transmit Electricity With One?
Every so often, I get to thinking I have a pretty good handle on this whole electricity thing. Then, almost immediately, some new bit of information will inevitably come along that forces me to admit that I don’t know anything. Today, that new information was learning about Goubau lines in this video from Dr. Pete Jones that demonstrates how you can you can transmit electricity (including a video signal) over a single wire.
This is very, very counterintuitive, because it relies on real physics and not the approximations we’re taught in school. Those approximations always tell us that there needs to be a complete circuit with a potential difference for electrons to flow. Sometimes, the literal ground can complete the circuit — commonly used in Australia for rural power transmission at very high voltages (12.7kV or 19.1kV). But even then, you still have a complete circuit.
According to Dr. Jones’s...
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