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Scientists Powering Batteries with Soda, Tree Sap
BobB writes "St. Louis University researchers have concocted batteries fueled by almost any kind of sugar, from tree sap to flat soda, and that could be used to power everything from computers to cell phones. Their thinking: If sugar can jack up the human body, why not electronics?"
It's hygroscopic. Of course, if the batteries can deal with that, that's cool.
Sugar is sticky and it can jack up electronics. I don't think that's a good thing...
Funnypics
I recall some previous stories about better batteries than this that could be about the same amount of eco-friendliness. What's up with all the batteries lately? Automobiles could probably be the most worthwhile reason to invent all of these batteries, but that means that it's incredibly likely that the portable power market will become the next oil market.
Electronics + conductive sugar water, not a good combination.
If you can do it with sugar, what about Caffeine?
;-)
I don't know about you, but I get a lot more out of Caffeine than sugar.
If people are bothering to create batteries run off food, why would they pick one of the least energy dense macronutrients?
At 9 kilocalories per gram to carbs' 4, fats kick the crap out of carbohydrates with regard to energy density. Strikes me as odd.
The idea is neat and has been around for some time, but the article fails to answer some pretty basic questions. The most important question is if they can actually get these batteries to pump out enough juice to power anything of importance. They said that they got the battery to run a calculator, but calculators are EXTREMELY low powered devices. The fact that you can run a calculator with a tiny primitive solar strip gives you an idea of how little power some calculators actually need. When they get one of these batteries (even a large one) powering a MP3 player, I will be impressed. Until then, I am deeply skeptical that there is anything to this.
The other issue here is size. Even if they can pump out enough juice, they need the batteries to be small to be useful in most modern applications. The batteries for most electronic devices need to very small. There might be a niche market for this sort of thing, but I am very skeptical it is going to make any sort of splash in the consumer electronics field.
There's better coverage of the story at Physorg (via Engadget).
Question: If the fuel cell contains enzymes, couldn't a 2-stage fuel cell be created that has cellulases, thus making waste switchgrass/etc. a potential direct fuel? Why would we need to even bother with cellulosic ethanol then? Or is this even possible?
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
"Sorry mom, I'll have to call you back later, my battery's about to die. I promise I'll call back just as soon as I've shagged my phone.."
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
How uneducated do you have to be to use the term "jack up" when describing power systems to a technically-literate audience?
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Sugar is sticky and it can jack up electronics. I don't think that's a good thing...
Unless your blood is the nearest source of sugar.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Just like corn.
There are some serious downsides to finding ways to use human food as fuel.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
" If sugar can jack up the human body, why not electronics?"
Next up, caffiene for your cell phone, and cocaine for your PDA!
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Well, we getting so close to have real nanobots in our bodies.
One of the obstacles is how to power them.
The answer - make them absorb blood shugar!
The possibilities are endless.
On a lot less futuristic note, think of a pacemaker that you don't have to
recharge every so often.
Making electricity out of sugar would be a first step towards limitless energy for implanted devices (the other steps would be making sure that the whole process doesn't kill the recipient). Many of those don't need a lot of power (for example pacemakers).
That's nothing - my clock runs off a potato. (e.g., http://www.unit5.org/christjs/Potato%20Battery.htm )
Sometimes I wonder if the Slashdot editors are really junior high school drop-outs...
In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women...
Generally, when people in Britain talk about 'jacking up', they mean injecting Heroin. So is the next news story going to be:
When first reading that summary I seemed to be trapped in the movie Trainspotting. Meanwhile in other news: Pete Doherty's been spotted outside a local shop after buying all their batteries.
I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
Now, if only they can make it draw sugar from human blood and make the device and all its waste products fully biocompatible, they will revolutionize the parts of the medical industry that deal with electrically powered implants. Think artificial hearts, for example. Of course, lots of hurdles in that direction will remain.
...trying to charge their batteries with diet coke.
What happens when after a few years of sugar consumption our notebooks get diabetes? You thought the finger-prick was a pain...
Touting MyEclipse AJAX Tools
Offhand, sugars are water soluable, relatively small molecules and probably easy to harness for their energy (the fuel mixture will readily mix to keep the remaining sugar moledules exposed to whatever catalyst and other molecules it is reacting with). Because they're simple molecules, there probably is only one major reaction required to split the sugars and obtain energy.
Fats are not water soluable, more complex chemically and thicker in general. I would think coming up with a stable reaction for the entire amount of fat in the tank would be difficult since they are not water soluable (you would need to mix them in a lipophilic solution) and they are thicker. I would imagine they would be more diffult to handle, especially if the idea is to make they reusable.
Then again, it been awhile since I've done any chemisty. Sounds like an interesting concept.
Way to go SLU (graduated from med school there)!
Due to the necassary chemical reactions, now everyone will be able to blame their IPOD!!!!
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I mean is this a viable alternative to hydrogen fuel cells and oil? Hydrogen has always bugged me since it's main source is from fossils, and requires kinda bulky storage. Being able to fill up with sugary syrup would solve both of these problems since sugar is easily produced in the form of sugar beet and cane it sounds like it could be produced viably and used a lot directly than bio-ethanol.
Finally, more than an aesthetic reason for Jolt Cola's battery-shaped cans. (They're even Duracell copper-top inspired.)
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I'm hopped up on Mountain Dew and I'll be on you like a spider monkey! Silcon chip, that is.
Throw in the pop cans as well and we have ourselves Mr. Fusion!
I mean, could you put regular coke in and get diet(low-sugar) coke out?
maaaaah, Frankenstein's monster says, cute chick wife .... save ... planet .... maaaaaaaa
Why cant you other geeks get laid? http://snipurl.com/17u9k
SOLAR ENERGY! Wow this means that Sunny D is really a form of energy.... or at least a liquid capacitor!
I prefer my electronics to have that aroma that only real maple syrup fuel can provide.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
My cell phone got into the HoHos again, and now I can't fit that fat MF into my pants pocket.
It seems to me that technology functions by putting a chemical (sugar) into the cell, and it produces electricity by breaking down the sugar. It isn't a directly reciprocating process like a lead-acid battery (i.e. you put electrical power back into it and it produces sugar). Its operation would seem to be more akin to that of a fuel cell than a battery, would it not?
During off-peak minutes, dial into one of those poorly run "customer care" centers and let it sit on hold for a few hours at a time. That should work off those extra pounds.
If my laptop reacts to a sugar spike at all like my body does, it'll overclock itself for the morning, the hard drives will ramp up to the next RPM standard and then by afternoon the speed stepping on the CPU will drop to the lowest level, the drive will spin itself down at every possible chance and the screen brightness will be minimal.
CommentBot 0.7a running with args "-module irritate,disagree -target random"
...that where possible, taking a lesson from nature and evolution on how to most efficiently accomplish something is a likely best start. It won't always work, but as we get better and better at understanding biology we are likely to keep returning to the methods honed in competition over millions of years.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
but it was rockets powered by mentos and diet coke.
Hydrogen's main source is water (seawater, ideally), not fossils, unless you're referring to the fact that hydocarbons store their energy in form of carbon-hydrogen bonds. But seeing as you mentioned bulky storage, probably not. Also, bio-ethanol (which is a bit redundant) is quite different from the "oil" you mentioned, which is bio-diesel.
The scientist from the story was last seen driving his DeLorean at 88 miles per hour while an WV beetle minivan driven by alleged Libyan terrorists was chasing him through a parking lot.
You can't handle the truth.
If batteries can run important things such as computers and cell phones, why can't they run something as worthless as my body?
Can you power a Linux-running machine with it?
Basically, hydrocarbons (petroleum, etc) are very sugar-like chains. Basically carbs, with less oxygen. So is this technology adaptable to that? Then you have the energy density problem completely solved (though losing the renewable aspect).
...and if 20kV can jack up electronics, why not the human body?
SWEET!
Finally the missing peice needed to build my coconut radio. The sugar can power it. PS if anyone reads this I'm stuck on a deserted island after a 3 hour tour.
My laptop drinks Coke!
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those that know binary, and those that don't.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
Think about it. You can mow your lawn. Then you can throw the grass into your lawnmower to power it for the next time and get you to and from work for a few days. (Obviously it probably wouldn't be that simple).
Since they are running off of candy and soda, would they be edible? That would be sweet.
...to pour sugar in your gas tank! oh, you don't have an electric car? sorry...
There is a great deal of sci-fi in which cyborg parts (artificial limbs, sensory organs, even full cyborg bodies) are fueled by extracting energy from sugar and carbohydrates in special cyborg "food" consumed like normal food (usually it tastes pretty awful).
Obviously, this research hasn't succeeded in providing nearly enough power to fuel most artificial body parts, but I wonder if it's a first step.
Using a power source like this would be a great boon to any medical devices that currently run off batteries - i.e. pacemakers, infusion pumps,cochlear implants etc. Hell, you could use it to power via induction external gadgets - your cellphone, watch, computer wireless modem, heck - internal computer with computer terminal glasses, etc.
Build in a failsafe so that it doesn't reduce your blood sugar to below a critical level, so that you don't go into a hypoglycemic shock, and you're good to go. This would be really useful to diabetics to maintain their constant blood sugar level at a more physiologic normal value. "Crap - my blood glucose is 250. Anyone need their phone charged?"
..........FULL STOP.
Or work in the cold? Or be simpler to use than plugging in my charger?
If not so, why would I even be interested? Fuel cells running alcohol, gasoline, or LPG, sounds like a much better idea.
With the recent problems of using food sources as fuel, it seems obvious that we need to find another source to power our luxuries. Food is not a given for everyone in the world yet, so we shouldn't start using food as fuel.
I can see the moral dilemma now... My computer is almost out of "juice", but so am I. Do I sacrifice all of my Mountain Dew in order to log back in to WoW at the risk of falling asleep or do I ration the both of us equally and go for better performance over a shorter time?
sugar effect it the same way as my 4 year old son? Give him a bunch and runs around a 4x regular speed for an hour, then throws a fit and sugar crashes...
Can we rethink this?
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Sugar has long been a highly subsidized crop. With all that's happened for corn since we decided to make ethanol a national strategy, perhaps we can justify keeping crazy sugar subsidies so we can power computers.
It's about time "jack up" entered the scientific vernacular.
Idiocracy, here we come.
SIERRA TANGO FOXTROT UNIFORM
We can start worrying when the machines insist
"Eat this snickers bar and get into the pod, copper-top"
Well I for one am really curious to see how they plan on jacking up my body with electronics...
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
A link on the same site on the same page has a product that will actualy make it to market this year:
2 6
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/110
Bruce Sterling talked about sugar based energy sources 15 years ago in one his books. -- It is not a commercial product yet.
Copying nature doesn't mean you do it that way for everything -- but for places where the task is very much the same, it likely will be that evolution will have found the best compromise.
At some point, we'll fully understand how plants mix CO, Sunlight, and Soil to produce carbon then get heated and pressurized into coal and oil. We're closer now than ever, but that doesn't mean we will do it any faster than the millions of years it took nature -- so no instant coal from sunlight on the horizon.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm not so sure I want my electronics, and hardware, consuming the same "food" I do. Especially if we are going to continue down this path of complete automation, and pursuit of AI.
> Food is not a given for everyone in the world yet, so we shouldn't start using food as fuel.
Not a problem. There isn't any shortage of food. Think about it. Here in the US, even with the BS of the government meddling in the marketplace with subsidies, tariffs and paying other people NOT to grow stuff the US not only grows enough to make us all obese we export a lot of food. Same in most other civilized nations with the exception of a couple of very dense populations such as Japan. So why are people starving?
Lack of civilization and liberty. In North Korea they starve while across the DMZ life is good. Cuba can barely feed itself where it used to export. All it took was one asshat in Zimbabwe [sp?] (and a few million idiots to put him in power) to turn a nation from exporting food to having a few million starving kids with flies in their eyes for Sally Struthers to throw into our faces in desperate pleas for us to throw money down a rathole. Sure I'd donate money.. if it was for buying guns to overthow a despotic tyrant AND educating the people how to avoid installing yet another charismatic socialist.
And at any rate, getting a low level product like sugar is fairly easy, often with marginal crops or tailings from stuff raised for human consumption. Biofuel is pretty much the last word in green power, carbon neutral almost by definition, few exotic chemicals required, etc. Whats not to love?
Democrat delenda est
Now me and my computer can be powered by the same thing.
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
The mental image of your average /. reader having a yeast infection is just not one I wanted over lunch.
Now I know why there's no new episodes of McGyver on TV anymore.
Ken Lai
Let burn down some more rain forest to grow more cane to feed this monster. What's wrong with using algae that requires one fifth the space as corn or sugar and probably less maintenance? If it can be made into bio-diesel, then I'm sure it will make great battery "acid" too. Obviously all biomass will provide some kind of energy, but for the best bang for the buck and highest energy density, algae is it. Check out the yields here to see why we should NOT use corn.
What?
Later on, someone will think, "hmmm... iron, hemoglobin... let me think... oxygen carried to fuel cells for oxidation of fuel..."
"Mommy, Billy stabbed my laptop to death! It won't move or play Christina Aguillera anymore! No, it wasn't the music that killed it. Bobby, I am sooo poking you in the eyePod!"
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
sweet.
ôó
Instead of setting you on fire your laptop pisses on you?
"Like other fuel cells, the sugar battery contains enzymes that convert fuel - in this case, sugar - into electricity, leaving behind water as a main byproduct."
:-)
:-)
lol, so if you had a laptop powered by sugar, both you and your laptop would have to get up and "go" after a long gaming session and lots of soda
for the record, i had this idea a while ago, but am not smart/rich enough to have built one. oh well, at least somebody else actually did it, so maybe down the line i can buy one
sometimes, i wonder if i'm the only conservative on teh intarweb. ah well, back to mah hogs and warmongerin'....
Steve Jobs once said (to John Sculley):
;-)
"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?"
In this case, it is better to sell sugar water...
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