Urine Powered Battery Developed

Saeed al-Sahaf writes "Research investment into developing smaller and cheaper chips to process information in disposable health tests has been significant, but they were still reliant on an external power source. The researchers at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology think they have overcome this problem with their latest urine powered battery. From the article "The battery is composed of paper, soaked in copper chloride, sandwiched between layers of magnesium and copper. The whole thing, once laminated in plastic, is just a millimeter thick, and 6cm by 3cm in size." The breakthrough promises a cheap and disposable power source for home health tests."

Comments

Two words: RED DAWN

[robyannetta]

Don't bother pissing in the radiator. Now you can piss in the GAS TANK!

Re:Two words: RED DAWN

[nocomment]

Gives whole new meaning to a "leaking" battery.

Next up:

[WilliamSChips]

Next up: Bullshit powered battery. John Dvorak would probably be able to fuel his entire home from the stuff he spews!

First Piss

[Anonymous Coward]

First

cool

[Anonymous Coward]

this will be great for those car trips where my laptop's battery dies and I have to wiz at the same time.

Pardon me

[Aadain2001]

I'll be right back, I have to go fill up my laptop's battery....

Re:Pardon me

[WwWonka]

Great...now Everready and Duracel are going to get into ANOTHER pissing contest over batteries!

Re:Pardon me

[Lemmy Caution]

What if you miss and pee on the laptop?

Wouldn't be any worse than installing Microsoft Project.

Technical Question.

[tarquin_fim_bim]

The whole thing, once laminated in plastic, is just a millimeter thick

So how does a reasonably sized chap introduce his electrolyte?

Why don't we have hand cranks?

[hellomynameisclinton]

Why don't they just give us a hand crank? They're more than efficient to power or charge all sorts of small electronics. All we need is a universal plug interface, and we can all be our own emergency backups.

"Pee in this... and turn this."

While they're at it, why doesn't my car have an emergency gear/wheel/crank system that I can connect ot my battery on cold days when my Jolapy won't start?

Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I have a legitimate reason to piss all over the Compaq laptops at work.. No more awkward thinking up spur of the moment excuses

In the bathroom of a dive bar...

[TheOtherAgentM]

What's that smell?

Absolute power!

Piss off? No....

[BigWhiteGuy_27]

...piss ON!

Prior art

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I saw that once in a bar near LA: there was a urinal with a 3x3 square hole and the top half of a small paddlewheel behind it. A small sign advised that it was an electronic pissing contest machine, and that men who could turn the paddlewheel the fastest would win a free supersize softdrink (to play again no doubt). A bulb on top of the urinal would go brighter and brighter as the paddlewheel would turn faster.

Re:Prior art

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

That was no urinal, son... that was a glory hole. Twenty bucks says that there was someone behind that hole dressed like the Gimp.

Trademarked: "UP Battery"

[Henriok]

The copy writing muse wispered to me.. These are going to be called "UP Batteries" Urine Powered...

Wow

[Murphy Murph]

So, let me get this straight...
It's a battery.
Shipped dry.
Electrolyte added only when needed.
How is this new?

(It's not really urine powered anyway. Urine is just the electrolyte.)

Re:Wow

[Angst Badger]

How is this new?

Near as I can tell, it's new like most everything else is new -- the folks who slept through basic science classes missed how simple galvanic cells work, and now they're surprised by PR from an engineering firm whose employees didn't sleep through science class.

For those just tuning in now, Wikipedia has a nice explanation of this cutting-edge 1780 technology.

For those inclined to experiment, stick a copper rod and an iron rod an inch apart in the dirt in your backyard, and piss in the space between them. Connect wires to the tops of the rods and then to a voltmeter. Wooooeee! You've got current. And you can recharge every time you need to pee.

Of course, technically speaking, you aren't recharging anything. Rechargeable batteries involve a reversible chemical reaction, while a galvanic cell just slowly dissolves its anode and cathode in the intervening electrolyte. For the purpose of providing a feeble current to a disposable medical device, it's not a bad idea. The battery is, however, really old news -- like more than three hundred years old. It's the microelectronics that can take advantage of such weak currents that are the real news, but those aren't exactly at the bleeding edge, either.

This just in

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Calvin becomes new Enron CEO. News at 11...

I Have A Feeling

[kevin_conaway]

This battery is going to take the pressure off the industry. It doesn't take a whiz to see that they're looking out for number one. Trust me, these guys are going to make a big splash very soon!

Logical extension:

[GeneralEmergency]

A Pee-Powered Peltier Six Pack Cooler!

Ok, so the first two beers are warm. I could live with it.

End of sentence missing

[Tom7]

The breakthrough promises a cheap and disposable power source for home health tests. ... that you pee on.

Sigh....

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, battery piss on YOU!

Re:Is it powered by urine?

[tobirius]

The urine is only the electrolyte, the chemical reaction would be: Mg + Cu2+ --> Mg2+ + Cu The battery would also work with pure water. But the whole thing won't be a very "clean" source of energy. Copper chloride is not good for your environment.

Are they sure that it's urine powered?

[ChiralSoftware]

It sounds like it's using urine as an electrolyte. That's like a "potato battery", which again is just using the potato as an electrolyte, and is not getting any power from it.

----------------
mobile search - try it on your phone

Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

1 battery outputs 1.5 mW / 1.5V = 1mA

theoretically you could get 1A at 1.5V by wiring them in parallel, OR 1mA at 1500V by wiring them serial, both outputting 1.5W of power.

Finally, Dog-Powered Street Lights

[ScentCone]

Just my bigger male bird dog alone should be able to light up my block at night, and he's very accurate.

Couch potatoes rejoice!!!

[lcllam]

Great! Now I don't even have to get off the couch to change the batteries in my remote anymore. And as a side benefit, I don't have to *share* the remote anymore.