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Dutch designer invents lamp that runs on dirt
Whoever said playing in the dirt was bad apparently never met Dutch designer Marieke Staps. Staps has built a lamp that will run indefinitely on the power of mud.
The soil lamp uses the chemical reaction between copper, zinc, and slightly moistened mud to create enough electrical current to power an LED lamp. More cells can be used to create a brighter light or power more bulbs. Perhaps inspired by Tesla's wireless energy, Staps might be on to something. If there's enough energy in dirt to grow huge redwoods, why not power a tiny little bulb? No word on when or if the soil lamps will ever hit the market. Lord knows we have enough dirt to go around — might as well use it for something.
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Via Marieke Staps
By ITrush at 10:04 AM ON 03/13/09
This is definitely a mud invention! Keep us posted.
By Grinchdog at 2:14 PM ON 03/13/09
Not knocking the gyt or anything, but here's another Nikola Tesla idea coming to fruition. He started this train in 1893.
By crickets at 5:41 PM ON 03/13/09
Sir, that is ridiculous. we don't have nearly enough dirt around to waste it on this kind of frivolity.
I'm serious. what do you think people are going to plant grass/food in with all the dirt piled in desktop lamps?
soil degradation is a fairly serious problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soils_retrogression_and_degradation#Influence_of_human_activity
By Brass Orchid at 2:42 AM ON 03/16/09
The power comes from the disparity in electronic valence shell pulses between the copper and zinc. Like metronomes on a balance board, the frequency synchronizes through the circuit. The mud supplies the electrolyte that allows the exchange of electrons between the metals in the assisted bimetal junction. It might as well be a glass of seawater or lemon juice, or a potato. More impressive would be a valence cascade deriving power from quantum vacuum fluctuations. A quantum fudge brownian power cell, as it were.
By Lexomatic at 8:52 AM ON 03/16/09
"If there's enough energy in dirt to grow huge redwoods..." In our world of science illiteracy, that's not even funny. It shouldn't need to be said, but the energy source for plants is *sunlight*. What soil provides is trace minerals, nitrogen (via nitrogen-fixing bacteria), and structural support; and it conveys moisture (unless you're a plant in a "fog forest," where you can absorb it from the air).
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Lexomatic:
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