Ask-a-Physicist: Pulling "Juice" Out of Thin Air

This week, Andrew from Quincy, WA wrote in to ask: I'm writing a book, and trying to think of small-scale power sources--I want the ideas to be at least theoretically possible. Is it theoretically possible to slightly compress an atom to cause the electrons to vibrate? Also could that cause heat as well, and could you harness either of those to produce electricity? Hi Andrew,I love answering questions like this one--so often, it seems like the best way to learn about our own world is to invent n...