how do those wireless chargers send electricity through plastic

Question

I might be dumb but I assumed plastic isn’t conductive. How do those wireless chargers work?
I’ve tried googling it but the answer is too complicated for me to understand lmao

In: Engineering

Answer 1

You know those black boxes connected to your laptop charger chord? If you follow the wire from the socket plug end and the wire from the laptop plug end, you’ll be surprised to know they don’t actually ever touch. That’s right, your laptop charger isn’t one big wire, it’s two disconnected wires.

So how does all that power get to the other end if there’s a big gap in the way? Scientists found that if you wrap the wires up like coils, the moving electricity creates a special magnetic field around it (Like fridge magnets). Scientists also discovered that this works two ways – another coil in this special magnetic field will get electricity flowing through it.

And there you have it. Electromagnetic Induction. A way to get electric power across two wires with stuff in the way.

In fact, if you could get a strong enough magnet and consistently jiggle it quickly enough near your phone, it could start to charge it. It would be pretty exhausting though. (The power charging your phone is coming from your body!)