For those who were asking

[jeriendhal]

I have no idea how the Student managed to make the intellectual leap from two pieces of silk rubbed together or scooting your socks across a rug (not that Wazagans wear socks) to creating an electromagnetic generator. The five minutes surfing Wikipedia extensive research I did on the matter was not helpful in showing how research on the subject proceeded in the real world.

As for why it's big, the poor guy is a scientist, not a watchmaker. :)

Hmmm, of course they may have pretty good watchmakers anyway, if their astronomy (and by extension navigation) technology is suficiently advanced...