Standard laser pointer with a hand grip built in. Squeeze the grip, and piezoelectric power runs your laser pointer.-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 Piezoelectric lighter http://chemistry.be...ht/pages/piezo.html [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] How BBQ Lighters Work http://home.howstuf...com/question383.htm [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Hand powered flashlight http://www.4physics...h/28/products_id/89Like this, but a laser using piezoelectrics and requiring less squeezing [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] I always have trouble with that word,i read it as a
'pudding powered spinning illusion trick'.-- skinflaps, May 06 2004 I think the sound would get annoying, no?-- phoenix, May 06 2004 Do piezoelectrics make noise? Or you talking about the "Bzzzt" "Zap!" of the laser gun?-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 Hey World, could you give a crash course in Piezo whatsis for artists 101? I looked it up and it made no sense. or a link that explains it. Thanks.-- dentworth, May 06 2004 The piezoelectric effect is a property of certain crystals to generate a voltage in response to pressure (and a pressure in response to a voltage). The piezoelectrics you're likely familiar with are in lighters. When you press on the lighter button, a mechinism takes all of your button-pushing energy and concentrates it into a quick action (the "click" sound). The large sudden pressure on a small crystal generates a voltage difference, which causes a spark.-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 OH, thats why one website was talking about piezo shoe inserts, pressure from the walking, etc. Thanks guys-- dentworth, May 06 2004 another question, could this be used in an automobile to create the spark?-- dentworth, May 06 2004 I don't know why not. Though I do wonder why you would want to.-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 dent - artists 101! great name.-- po, May 06 2004 So, instead of a laser, you could have a blow torch lighter with a really long, blue flame.-- FarmerJohn, May 06 2004 Wouldn't that be distracting?-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 So turning back to the original idea, how long would the laser light stay on?, and wouldn't you have to spark it repeatedly to maintain say 5 seconds of light?
and po, that's PiezoWhatsisforArtists 101-- dentworth, May 06 2004 Lasers require very little power, which is why I think this would be a good fit (versus, say, a piezo hair dryer). I haven't done the calculations for the force requirements for 5 seconds of laser light, but it seems reasonable to me that this shouldn't be a problem.-- Worldgineer, May 06 2004 Plenty of volts, but no amps. Piezo crystals have a very high internal resistance. The output power is important, not the voltage by itself. Laser pointers consume a few mW. Off hand, I don't know how much power could be generated from a typical crystal.-- Ling, May 07 2004 "another question, could this be used in an automobile to create the spark? dentworth,"
My uncle actually made a few prototypes of self powered spark plugs using piezo crystals and used one on a single cylinder moped for years without problems. The problems arrived when he tried to apply the setup to multicylinder engines, and engines with high rpm's, there was too much lag in the setup and it would fire at the wrong times. These were self contained units all incorporated on the spark plug not attached to anything else. Was a very cool idea, he was using the pressure from the cylinder to fire the an auto resetting hammer that would pound the crystal.-- mawgadog, Sep 18 2005 random, halfbakery