Amor Pulchritudo
08-12-2008, 03:01
How to Charge an iPod using electrolytes and an onion:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GfPJeDssBOM
Onions will save the day
Sick of annoying/expensive batteries? Fear no more; onions will save the day. That is, if you fancy carrying a Lucozade-soaked onion around with you.
Just in time for the "Crap, I left my charger at home now I have to listen to bad pre-recorded radio" car trip, some kid in Britain is making headlines for his onion-charged iPod. That's right: an iPod (supposedly) powered by nothing but onions. Hurrah! Finally, all the vegetables purchased due to guilt/health kick/new girlfriend can be put to good use.
How does it work? Well (and this is the version we understand), different metals when combined in an acidic medium, such as an onion, start trading ions and electrons between each other as fast as they can. The acid has different chemical reactions on each of the metals and this is what causes the electrical charge.
All it takes is five volts of onion to get your iPod charging. Thank goodness for those chemistry majors at uni who have nothing better to do on the weekend but come up with crazy and time-consuming hypotheses.
How did someone come up with this organic idea? Does someone smell a hoax? To the traditionalists (that is, those of us who charge the iPod the old-fashioned way – through the computer) at FHM, it seems crazy!
But at least it's something interesting to come out of the UK this month. Who gives a ^&*k if f^&*ing Gordon Ramsay has been bonking his missus, plus three on the side?
Coming soon: see the onion-powered iPod on Mythbusters! (Cue excited nerds "digg-ing" all over the Net)
Bonus: Nothing to do this weekend? Try it out for yourself (warning: this activity is not endorsed by FHM
Link: http://www.fhm.com.au/onions-will-save-the-day.htm
So, what do you think this means for the future? Are we on our way to finding more environmentally friendly energy sources, and will they become easy and cheap enough to utilise on a larger scale?
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GfPJeDssBOM
Onions will save the day
Sick of annoying/expensive batteries? Fear no more; onions will save the day. That is, if you fancy carrying a Lucozade-soaked onion around with you.
Just in time for the "Crap, I left my charger at home now I have to listen to bad pre-recorded radio" car trip, some kid in Britain is making headlines for his onion-charged iPod. That's right: an iPod (supposedly) powered by nothing but onions. Hurrah! Finally, all the vegetables purchased due to guilt/health kick/new girlfriend can be put to good use.
How does it work? Well (and this is the version we understand), different metals when combined in an acidic medium, such as an onion, start trading ions and electrons between each other as fast as they can. The acid has different chemical reactions on each of the metals and this is what causes the electrical charge.
All it takes is five volts of onion to get your iPod charging. Thank goodness for those chemistry majors at uni who have nothing better to do on the weekend but come up with crazy and time-consuming hypotheses.
How did someone come up with this organic idea? Does someone smell a hoax? To the traditionalists (that is, those of us who charge the iPod the old-fashioned way – through the computer) at FHM, it seems crazy!
But at least it's something interesting to come out of the UK this month. Who gives a ^&*k if f^&*ing Gordon Ramsay has been bonking his missus, plus three on the side?
Coming soon: see the onion-powered iPod on Mythbusters! (Cue excited nerds "digg-ing" all over the Net)
Bonus: Nothing to do this weekend? Try it out for yourself (warning: this activity is not endorsed by FHM
Link: http://www.fhm.com.au/onions-will-save-the-day.htm
So, what do you think this means for the future? Are we on our way to finding more environmentally friendly energy sources, and will they become easy and cheap enough to utilise on a larger scale?