Hamster-Powered Night Light

An anonymous reader writes "Though Skippy the Hamster powers this night light by running on his excercise wheel, the same concepts and low-rpm alternator design could be applied to a school science project using different energy sources! A small wind or hydro turbine could easily power this alternator. The Otherpower.com staff thought of building a hamster-powered nightlight a couple years ago at a rather, uh, soused company Christmas party. Then recently Analise, an 8th grader from Albuquerque, NM, contacted DanF through the AllExperts.com Science For Kids forum, asking 'Can a rodent generate enough electricity to power a light by running on it's wheel?'"

Comments

Heh.

[London Bus]

I guess this article should really be under "It's funny. Laugh.". Using animals' movement to power a nightlight (which presumably has to be on for upwards of 10 hours a day) is about as good an idea as teens4christ. Still, it's a neat way to teach kids about dynamos and the like, I'll grant them that! Anything that gets kids interested in science can only be a good thing.

Re:Heh.

[LWATCDR]

..about as good an idea as teens4christ. Still, it's a neat way to teach kids about dynamos and the like, I'll grant them that! Anything that gets kids interested in science can only be a good thing.

One could also argue that getting kids interested in Jesus Christ can only be a better thing.

Getting kids interested in Science, Jesus Christ, Art, History, and books are all good things. Actually getting kids out and doing something positive and real instead of sitting in front of a screen all day is all good.

childpower

[dresseduptoday]

Hah. This reminds me of my favourite power source, children. Everybody knows that kids have an infinite supply of energy. Now, if kindergartens had toys that absorbs this energy from the children in their games, the kindergartens can actually become very lucrative power plants, paying the parents to have their kids there. Hyperactive kids are of course the ideal ;-) _ /Bjorn.

Harnessing the power of people opening doors?

[ChoyLeeFut]

When I was working in downtown Toronto and participating in the morning pedestrian rush hour in the underground tunnel network beneath the financial sector (for those unfamiliar with the area, it's pretty extensive), I started to wonder if there were some way to harness the power of the motion of the many doors (including the fire-break doors). Now it seems that, like the hamster on the wheel, we have a way to transform the mindless movement of the masses into something useful.

Now if only we had a way to just plug people directly into the power grid....