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Two dissimilar metal rods in a septic
tank turning turning it into a battery.
It gets refreshed every day.
Household chemicals like liquid
draino only make it stronger. Could
be used for an emergency back-up
power system as a way of getting out
of the house safely.
Urine
http://health.disco...clopedias/1524.html
Yeah, there's electrolytes. [sartep, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
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This is, I guess, a real shitty idea...But is sewage an electrolyte? |
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Which leads directly into the septic tank. |
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Assuming a high fibre diet, how much would the porta-potti in an RV (caravan) generate? |
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It's the "like a potato clock" part that worries me. [sartep], what kind of potatoes have you been eating? |
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//Is sewage an electrolyte?[ DrCurry, Aug 14 2003]//
//This is a good idea if you can show what [DC] has asked. [CTrebor]// |
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[CTrebor] Biogalvanic electric batteries work. For an elementary school science fair project in 1962, I built a battery comprised of layers of cow feces sandwiched between alternating copper and galvanized iron plates. A small 4"W by 8"L by 4"H wafer created enough electricity to power a flashlight bulb. The project won the school fair, but was eliminated in the County regionals because it wasn't sufficiently original. |
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Since when do elementary school students ever come up with original science? |
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I'd like a potato wrist-watch |
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Your fecal battery was eliminated even before you built it, [jurist]. |
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Rods in a septic tank turning turning
And my digestive tract churning churning
Keep the electric lights burning burning
More better to see [sartep] gurning gurning |
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// That depends upon how thick they are, I'd imagine.// |
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True, but the amount of metal required to get a certain amount of energy out of the battery would be excessive for the amount of energy produced. |
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A normal zinc-carbon battery is constructed so that the acid will (usually) run out before the zinc has been eaten through, but the real limitting factor is the zinc, not the acid. Battery makers could easily and cheaply include more acid, but doing so would increase the leakage rate. |
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//Your fecal battery was eliminated even before you built it, [jurist].// |
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You're right, of course, [bungston]. The design of the science fair project I described was based on Volta's Pile (circa 1800), though with several design modifications that would seem substantially more significant if you were 10 years old and the ARPAnet had yet to be invented. |
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Eliminated - winkwink-nudgenudge |
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So Volta had piles?
(I can *not* believe I said that.) |
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Just one pile. I guess Volta didnt have any cows handy. |
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Good idea, sartep.
jurist: please don't use "feces" and "sandwich" in the same sentence. |
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The metal rods could have
scrapers that keep the unwanted
material behind when you pull
them up. That way you won't have
to replace them as often. |
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Wow, that's deep. I like it. :) |
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seriously though, would there be a problem with metal contamination of the waste? |
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The quantities of zinc and copper
in leaching into the waste would
be minimal. Such metals are not
strangers to many soils. |
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When I was a kid, I tried all kinds of things to power my 2 potato clock. Surprisingly, I discovered that 2 house plants worked. So I figured why someone couldn't just put 2 very large copper and zinc rods into the middle of a corn field. |
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I suppose that a few rods in the septic tank couldnt be too far fetched. |
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