Posted on 10/19/2003 7:37:18 PM PDT by John Jorsett
A team of scientists has discovered a completely new way to make electricity from nothing more than flowing water, it was revealed today.
The breakthrough, the first new method of electricity production for 160 years, could provide free, clean energy for devices such as mobile phones and calculators.
On a large scale, it could conceivably be used to feed power into the national grid.
Dr David Lynch, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta in Canada, where the technology was developed, said: “The discovery of an entirely new way of producing power is an incredible fundamental research breakthrough that occurs once in a lifetime.”
A “water powered” mobile phone would contain a small reservoir pressurised by a hand pump.
Electricity is generated as the water is released and surges through an array of tiny microchannels.
The system relies on the natural “electrokinetic” effect of a fluid flowing over a solid surface.
An interplay of forces results in a thin layer of water – where it meets the surface – with a net electric charge.
This region is known as the Electric Double Layer (EDL). Normally it goes unnoticed, but the Alberta scientists found that forcing water through a channel with a diameter similar to the EDL produces a flowing current.
The amount of electricity generated by one microchannel is minute. But millions of parallel channels can produce enough power to operate electronic equipment such as a mobile phone.
Professor Larry Kostiuk, a thermodynamicist at the university, hit on the idea after a chance conversation with a fellow scientist about surface-interface phenomena.
It was a case of the figurative light bulb turning on inside his head. Later, he and nanofabrication researcher Professor Daniel Kwok – the other party in the conversation – illuminated a real light bulb by passing water through a porous glass filter.
Their findings were published today in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.
Professor Kostiuk said: “This discovery has a huge number of possible applications. It could be a new alternative energy source to rival wind and solar power, although this would need huge bodies of water to work on a commercial scale.
“Hydrocarbon fuels are still the best source of energy, but they’re fast running out and so new options like this one could be vital in the future.
“This technology could provide a new power source for devices such as mobile phones or calculators which could be charged up by pumping water to high pressure.”
The laboratory test generated a current of between one and two microamps using the pressure delivered by a 30 centimetre column of water.
By using a saltier solution, the scientists found they could obtain a larger current.
A spokesman for the Institute of Physics, which publishes the journal, said: “This research is very exciting, and could open up a whole new way of generating electricity in the future, including batteries for use in small devices such as mobile phones.
“In future, we might be able to produce electricity on a large scale this way, perhaps even enough for power grids.”
No other method of generating a sustained electric current has been developed since 1839.
Alessandro Volta discovered the original electrochemical effect used in batteries in the year 1800.
In 1821 Thomas Seebeck introduced the Seebeck Effect, the basis of thermoelectric generators. He showed how electricity can be produced from two adjoining metals with different temperatures.
Ten years later Michael Faraday revealed how current can be generated through electromagnetic induction.
In 1839 Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect used in solar cells. Sir William Grove demonstrated the technology behind the fuel cell in the same year.
No, I really didn't get it. LOL! I was intrigued enough to ask my husband to explain it. Thanks for your help! Sometimes my husband isn't around and I just have to be puzzled all night long.
That's disgusting. Everyone knows those are bars of soap.
I coulda swore I heard that 40 years ago!
The folks selling phone sex will fight that.
Hydrocarbon fuels are still the best source of energy, but they’re fast running out...
In the first place, Paul Erlich lost the bet; There are more petroleum reserves now that at any time in the past.
In the second place, what about zero-emission, environmentally-friendly nuclear power?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.