Homemade Batteries #4

[wooliver]

The new cell design - 3/8 soft copper tubing. 16 penny zinc coated nail. Quarter sheet of typing paper. Roll the typing paper up so it fits down the tubing. Put the nail down the center. You can put the whole assembly into a glass of salt water you get .8 to .9 volts. The prototype was with ½ rigid copper tubing. I sweat a cap onto the tubing. Rolled up the paper stuck it into the copper "test tube." Stuck in the 16 penny nail and added water. That one is still pumping out .9 volts. FYI the slightly more complex and larger copper tubing and conduit cells are still functioning. I do understand all these will cease to function when the zinc is gone. They really can't be replenished. I'm investigating aluminum instead of zinc next.

From what i've gathered, the reactions at the nuclear level in a Pb/acid cell have to be the best/cheapest so far. So many have hung their hat on this design combination that you'd think that if there were a better way, it would have been discovered by now. But no two people think alike. Folks tend to approach things differently.

[electrondady1]

 

  whats "Pb/acid"  ?

 are you reporting that the .9 volt is a natural reaction between dissimilar metals?

if i suspend an old carburetor in a copper pot will i still get .9 volts?

will i get more amps by increasing the surface area ?

what becomes of the zinc?

[Chagrin]

"Pb/acid" is lead/acid.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_electrode_potential_%28data_page%29

A zinc coated nail is a funky choice for half of the battery because it could act as either an anode or cathode to copper depending on if it wears enough zinc away. Look for something made of "pot metal"; a weak cast object like the finger pulls on a screen window or the window handles/locks, for example, for your cathode.

I'm not saying you should dismantle your windows, but you get the idea

[wooferhound]

Here is an old posting about making batteries

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/9/12/215944/234

[wooliver]

Sure, if you chew a 1/4 stick of gum, but don't chew it until all the sugar is gone. Squish the gum between a penny and a quarter (leave about a sixteenth). You'll make between .7 and 1.2 volts. Hold one probe on one of the coins, the other porbe on the the other coin. This also works with a bit of soapy paper in between the coins.

It's voltage potential at submicroamp current capability. Radio circuits can run on such low power. We all know a crystal set needs no other power than the radio signal itself.