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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight
A Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight
Are you ready to play everybody's not-so-favorite guilt game: what was I doing at that age? Ann Makosinski, a tenth grader from Victoria, British Columbia, has created a simple LED flashlight powered by body heat. So instead of having to recharge it or swap in a fresh pair of AAs every so often, you literally just need to hold it in your hand for it to start glowing.
Makosinski has been entering science fairs since she was in grade six, and has an interest in alternative energy, particularly harvesting all the wasted energy around us. And while researching her favorite topic she came across a device called a Peltier tile which produces electricity when cooled on one side, and warmed on the other.
After crunching the numbers, she determined that the warmth from a human hand could produce enough energy via a Peltier tile to power an LED in a flashlight. And after several prototypes, a few dead-ends, and plenty of frustration, she managed to produce two working prototype flashlightsone made of aluminum pipe and the other PVC pipethat earned her a spot as one of the 15 Google Science Fair finalists from around the world.
Video at link:
http://gizmodo.com/a-fifteen-year-old-has-invented-an-incredible-new-kind-609647364?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)I was listening to Science Friday yesterday and they had on two young ladies that had come up with a plan to use soybeans to derive hydrogen in order to make fuel. This is all so very cool!
aquart
(69,014 posts)How far behind are we because of idiots who kept girls like this barefoot and pregnant?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Just think of the wasted brainpower because some patriarchal cultures are determined to clutch onto misogyny to their dying, collective breath, even assassinating school girls in the name of their mythologies.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Young woman diminishes the darkness around us once again.
AnotherDreamWeaver
(2,854 posts)Jim__
(14,094 posts)I am impressed by what she's done. But she says she uses the ambient air to cool the "cool" side of the tile; that sounds like it could be a limiting factor as to when and where this will work.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)Either at night, or in places well hidden from the sun. She demonstrates it in what looks like a normal heated (or temperate summer) room. Perhaps there'd be a problem in the tropics right after sunset.
On edit: the CBC report goes into temperatures:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/27/technology-google-science-fair-finals-ann-makosinski.html
I'd think you'd want it to give decent light at 20C for worldwide use, so perhaps it will need more work.
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)and she only demoed it working for about 2 seconds. Will it work for a longer period of time?
She is very smart and "bright". But I don't think we'll be seeing these in the stores anytime soon.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I don't see why there would be any reasonable limit as to how long it works
and it was presented as a prototype
I am fairly impressed
MADem
(135,425 posts)where she can go from there...?
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I am thinking ceramics along the same line as what was used to protect the space shuttle during reentry. Nothing that extreme would be needed but something that dissipates heat more efficiently would presumably increase the efficiency of the flashlight or radio or watch or whatever is being powered this way.
Hell, you might be able to put one of these cells in your pocket, or clip it to your belt, and then plug in your cellphone to charge (slowly).
I hope that brilliant young lady is working on a patent for this.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Trillo
(9,154 posts)Just wire up as many of those body-energy drainers that you can, and make sure you keep eating the same amount of food (just don't increase your food intake). Watch the pounds melt off.
Well, okay, I don't know if it will work that way, but the energy to light the bulb seems to be coming from the body.
Wasn't this the story in the movie The Matrix? The machines had wired up all these humans to be energy generators, batteries if you will, and created an artificial dream world from which the humans never, or rarely, woke up from.