now THAT is inventive..

This can actually be made pretty easily with just using a few random parts.  It doesn’t take a scientist or physics student to make one of these its pretty easy.  Here is how this home experimenter describes this device:

In this video, I make a pancake coil for inductive heating the surface of parts that wouldn’t make sense to build a regular coil for. It can also be used for cooking. Induction cooktops are more efficient than a gas or electric stove because there is less wasted heat.

NOTE:  DO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A PROFESSIONAL

It is called a pancake coil for the obvious reason that the shape and color somewhat resemble one 😉

What is happening here in terms of physics is induction heating.  Have you ever heard of that term before?

Here is more information on the phenomenon from wikipedia:

Induction heating is the process of heating an electrically conducting object (usually a metal) by electromagnetic induction, through heat generated in the object by eddy currents (also called Foucault currents). An induction heater consists of an electromagnet, and an electronic oscillator that passes a high-frequency alternating current (AC) through the electromagnet. The frequency of current used depends on the object size, material type, coupling (between the work coil and the object to be heated) and the penetration depth.

The comments on the video thread are very enthusiastic.  Many are even stating they aspire to incorporate this type of energy efficient device in their homes.  What do you think is there a future to this type of heating?  Feel free to comment with your ideas.