Big power lines is scary. (Off-Topic)

by Funkmon , Thursday, July 16, 2015, 15:04 (3424 days ago) @ iconicbanana

I was doing some hiking a couple years back in one of the state recreation areas around here and I heard a hum. Not the standard power line hum. It was more musical. I went up to the big power line pylon and it didn't get louder. I put my head on the ground and there was no change. I looked all over for the sound. Couldn't find it. Finally I went to get my phone to record the sound and put my walking stick in my teeth to have it vibrate on them. My STICK was making the noise!

The electricity hum was the resonant frequency of my walking stick and was using it like a tuning fork. I don't know why I found this so unsettling.

I've also given thought, like most people, I imagine, for good ways to steal power. I had an idea for a coil placed underneath these to use the magnetic field to generate power for me, but it's too minor. I could try capacitive conduction (the same stuff you get when you use fluorescent lights under power lines), but it seems like nothing too.

I bet if I found a nice big fat radio transmitter I could use that for sure. Enough to power lights at least. But at that point, I might as well buy some car batteries and solar panels. Less effort, more legal.

Anyway high tension power lines are scary to me and look scarier in the dark.