Is it possible to transmit electricity (say 110/220 volts) without wires, i.e., Wi-Fi?
Yes, it is possible to transmit electromagnetic energy from place to place without wires. We use a device called radar to do it. It is not lossless, though– the beam spreads out and some is lost. There is another way. Using a device to make the microwaves coherent, or by making light waves coherent, we have a maser, or laser. These can direct energy to a point at a distance. Yet even they have their problems. The atmosphere still attenuates the beam. and power is lost. Plus, they are dangerous for anybody who might walk in the way of the beam! If you want to transmit enough power to run, say a microwave oven, you could get cooked! For a classic story about the ailments society would experience if we were to start using beamed power systems, read Robert Heinlein’s Waldo.
Nikola Tesla attempted to do what you are talking about, he built a massive telsa coil at Colorado Springs, his idea was to transmit energy into the atmosphere and have this energy in phase with other transmitters around the world, there was strong opposition to his ideas even though they may have been more efficient than Edison’s DC and wire system. The biggest problem was working out how people would pay for the energy because there was no way of working out who was using the energy, anyone could simply put up a length of wire and collect the energy. The idea died when Tesla, in his experimentation burnt out a hydroelectric power station, had this not have happened history may have delivered our generation with wireless energy.
