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

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....