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Is it possible to generate electricity by passing a laser beam, or shooting electrons (or some other charged particle) through a solenoid (not the wire itself, but passing the beam through the solenoid where one would normally find an iron rod)? Or would it be possible to generate electricity by having a laser, or electrons, pass through a magnetic field (Due to Faraday's law of induction)?

Question Date: 2010-04-15
Answer 1:

On the stream of electrons, it maybe possible to generate electricity - on the laser, no, because lasers generate their own magnetic fields. However, it wouldn't be practical: the electromagnetic interaction would retard your initiation beam, and you would get less energy out of the system you put into it.



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