Can you pass electricity through Glass?
 

I am thinking about using two magnets connected to the +/- wires to magnetically pass electricity through a thin sheet of glass. Would this work?

If you put a coil of wire on each side of the glass and make a transformer of sorts, it might do something with AC.

There is a reason why the things that connect electrical lines to poles are made of glass.

If the glass is really thin, and the voltage is high, you might get a current flowing, but you'd be losing a lot to resistance.

And so something like this? (wireless inductance?)

You can get an induced current and produce a bit of heat as well, a stationary magnet is going to do nothing, the magnetic fields need to move in order for it to do anything, the motion can be mechanical, or by using alternating current with an electro-magnet.

Just saw the image that you posted in your first post... no, that will not work, not like that, the circuit is open, there is no closure, it's like an open switch, remove the glass and use conductive magnets and it would work.

But the big questions is... why? what are you trying to do?

I want to make an aquarium pump that doesn't have the cable hanging out the fish tank. So simply cut off the ac cable that all pumps have and "pass it" through the glass without drilling it.

I see this is possible with "inductive charging" like all electric toothbrushes have, but i don't quite understand them. If there are two coils, exactly like one another (like in my drawing) would they both produce the same magnetic field? (all the DIY "inductive chargers" I find have all these diodes and capacitors to make them resonate at the same frequency... but i dont get why if instead you can just make both coils the same exact size...)?

...the answer is "no" if you're talking DC-voltage, but "yes" if you're talking AC-voltage and using CAPACITIVE COUPLING. Glass can be used as a dielectric media in capacitors, but it's gonna take HIGH-voltage AC to work.

...the dielectric constant ( c ) of two types of glass are:

Glass, crown.............6.2 ±1.0
Glass, flint.............8.5 ±1.5
Mica.....................6.2 ±0.7
Insulation, elec.cable...4.1 ±0.1
Diamond.................15.0 ±0.2
Air......................1.000537 @ 20ºC

Yeah thats what im worried about, high voltage.

I guess I just need to look into inductive charging (like a toothbrush charges) as opposed to simply trying to build a simple transformer huh? (so as to not use the glass as a means of getting the energy transferred at all).

Yup, that is how the toothbrushes do it too. Now you need to make it a "step down" transformer if you want "safe" voltage levels in your aquarium, still I wouldn't deliberately expose any circuits, as the exposed circuits will become electrodes and "dissolve". I don't think the glass cares much about magnetic flux, it won't be the worlds most efficient transformer but if it is low power then no biggie.

You need to adapt one of these to pump your aquarium:

Porta Stirrer Magnetic Stirrer - Utah Biodiesel Supply

http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/i...rtastirrer.gif

^^ I would but they already make pumps like that and they are held by a patent so i can't copy it :/

Plus I want to modify my existing pumps so I can just cut off their AC cord and 'splice' this "wireless inductance" gizmo in between it.

The AC cord would carry the 120v that gets stepped down at the pump, so I would need to do this kind of thing;

AC wire -> 120vac to 12vac -> "wireless inductance" | GLASS | "wireless inductance receiver" -> 12vac to 120vac -> pump

But now I am stuck at the "wireless inductance" phase lol. need to pass 12vac to 12vac on the other side of the glass.

seriously though, why cant the leads go in through the top like a normal fish pump?

Aesthetics.

You can copy and build any patented item for your own personal use or for research without penalty. It is when you sell them, use them in a commercial setting, or even give a number of them to others that gets you in trouble.

One of the requirements of a valid patent is that others with reasonable skill are able to duplicate it from the patent description.

It is possible to drill through glass too, i.e. through the bottom, slow, with lubrication dam and special bit, google.

Note: I would replace the plug end of the pump after feeding the wire through the hole, to keep the in-tank pump power with the original sealing.

That's all I got for asthetics. Except that you could also put the tank on a vibrating table and wirelessly transmit some energy to it that way ;)

VorTech MP10 | EcoTech Marine

That's what you want, but without the incredible price. Aesthetics makes or breaks an aquarium IMO. I've seen these in person, and they are awesome, certainly worth the price. But the principle on which they work is simple, and doesn't require such a hefty $$$ premium. (I know those two statements conflict, but want and need have the same analogy)

...look-up their "patent" on how the system works and see if you think it's worth your effort to attempt DIY building one for your own use.

yah, if you can design your own pump. 3 phase coils on the outside, pm rotor on the inside of the glass, forget all that connectivity weirdness.

There are a lot of magnetic pumps out there that have the impeller sealed off from the motor with out any direct mechanical connection, El Sid pumps are an induction pump that the only moving part is the impeller that is on the other side of a Stainless Steel plate, separated from all of the electronics.
Come to think of it, why not just a small diaphragm pump? much easier to build and on the out side of the tank you just have a coil that pulses on and off with a little iron or magnet button in the center of the diaphragm.

re: diaphram pump, that may require valves, which could get fouled with fish poo. I expect an impeller pump can deal with chunks better.