As I was watching our gardeners try to rake the leaves out the front of our office as they continued to blow away the idea came to me to... either...

1.. Feed all the trees a dose of iron (copper would kill them, so would iron probably) so that not only would their leaves be heavy, they would also turn a really nice rust colour to give that Autumn appeal, but when the leaves fell to the ground they would be magnetically charged... Then you would break out your magnetically charged broom and drag it around the yard closely followed by a huge pile of leaves.

2.. Positively charge the trees with an positively charged ion generator that statically charged all the leaves as they fell. Then with your negatively charged ion broom, just cruise around watching the leaves zoom to your broom... Cautionery Note: Ensure to earth yourself as you may end up positively charged and covered in leaves.
-- Supercruiser, Jun 03 2003

leaf vac http://www.hammache...p?promo=te_homecare
different in that it works [squeak, Oct 04 2004]

//Ensure to earth yourself//

Wire on earth are you hiding underground? ;-)
-- Tiger Lily, Jun 03 2003


Just get the poor buggers one of these. [link]
-- squeak, Jun 03 2003


Well wheres the fun in that, I'd much prefer to be like the Pied Piper running accross the lawn followed by a trail of leaves...
-- Supercruiser, Jun 03 2003


Negative image: I gather up a huge pile of leaves with a large magnet. While I'm off getting a bag, a neighbor kid dives into the center of leafpile - striking the magnet with his forehead. Ow.

Positive image: Tree is strongly charged, leaves sticking out straight in all directions. Then I start banging on limbs, and leaves go flying off...
-- lurch, Jun 03 2003


If you've ever tried picking up iron filings with a magnet, or dealt with statically charged fluff, you'll realize this is not such a good idea. Easy enough to pick the stuff up, impossible to get it off again.
-- DrCurry, Jun 03 2003


So better still, Curry. We'll make it a disposable item. Use it once, throw it away and grab another one.
-- snarfyguy, Jun 03 2003


(going out on a limb) is it not possible to turn magnets "off"?
-- lintkeeper2, Jun 03 2003


Turn the magnet off you can, reverse polarity to release leaf litter you can (sorry guys, having a Star Wars moment...)
-- Micky Dread, Jun 04 2003


lint, yes, it's called an electomagnet and is quite easy to make.

Problem with 1: just won't work. If you really don't know why, ask and I'll expand on this.

Problem with 2: You do realize that the only way you can //positively charge the trees// is by charging up the entire earth, right? I hear that's expensive. Plus you'd have to re-engineer all grounded circuits on the planet.
-- Worldgineer, Jun 05 2003



random, halfbakery