Fluorescent Lights And Pylons

Whilst waiting for a take away curry at Tasty Bites in Hampden Park last night, I was reading a copy of the Daily Mail. One story caught my eye in particular. It was of people standing under pylons with fluorescent lights lit just by the radiation from the power cables.

Being fascinated by this, I took a quick trip to B&Q's to get a cheap fluorescent tube. This evening Kev and myself went walking under high voltage cables with this light. To our surprise it did flicker into life just under the power lines.

It's certainly worrying to think that the tube can light up just by holding it under power cables. If the tube can do that, just what is the electric field doing to your body?

Another thing I've appreciated conducting this experiment is the extent of light pollution in Eastbourne. It was hard to find somewhere dark enough to clearly see the light generated by the electric field from the power cables.