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Electric Fork Simulates a Salty Flavor By Shocking Your Tongue (med.news.am)
An anonymous reader writes: It's common knowledge that excess sodium can be detrimental to one's health. So researchers in Japan have built a prototype electric fork that uses electrical stimulation to stimulate the taste of salt. The battery-powered fork was engineered and designed at the University of Tokyo's Rekimoto Lab. It features a conductive handle that completes a circuit when the tines make contact with a diner's tongue, electrically stimulating their taste buds. The prototype fork, which was built from just $18 worth of electronics, creates a sensation of both salty and sour, and has adjustable levels of stimulation.
That not enough sodium in your diet can be detrimental to one's health.
And more importantly, not enough Iodine, depending on location, can be pretty bad also.
Bring on the Iodised salt!
Come on people, is it that complicated? everything in moderation, and a well rounded and balanced diet?
Of course, if they can invent a Chocolate fork... I suspect they will do well.
chances of this device electrocuting you?
Probably 0, because the necessary energy would require a larger storage volume than a fork's handle.
when I was a kid I wore braces. I also tested batteries with my tongue. One day I decided to connect a 9V battery (the one with the poles side by side) with my braces, to see what will happen. One pole on the upper side, the other on the bottom. There was a big shock, my field of vision became bright white for a split second, and I never tested batteries with any part of my face ever again.
I suspect that you could squeeze enough energy into that volume to electrocute someone; but humans are reasonably resistive(even if you accidentally stabbed yourself with the fork, it looks like there is an electrical contact on the handle, so it has to pass at least one layer of skin), so unless some sort of insane enthusiasm for liability led them to design the thing to deliver fairly high voltage at at least moderately punchy current, it would still be harmless.
It doesn't actually take much energy, at all, to kick some unlucky sucker's heart into a life threatening abnormal state; but you have to deliver that very modest jolt to the correct place; and doing that is a matter of either nontrivial brute force or very bad luck.
ahem
Full Definition of electrocute
transitive verb
1 : to execute (a criminal) by electricity
2 : to kill by electric shock
Notice that the definition of electrocute involves dying? When you say "mild electrocution", you're saying "mildly dead", which doesn't really make a lot of sense.
You're welcome to use the word as you want, of course (that's one of the fundamental things that makes English a living language) but when someone else is using the word, you need to be aware of the dictionary meaning of the word or communication suffers.
That having been said, electricity takes the path of least resistance. The only way the path between the tines of the fork will be through your heart or the nerves that drive your heart will be if the fork has been stabbed into your heart or your spine or, I suppose, just the right bit of your brain. In all three cases, you have much bigger and more lethal problems than the minuscule amount of current between the tines of the fork.
ISTR hearing about new research showing that the amount of salt in your diet has little to no effect on coronary heart disease.
While we're on the subject, the amount of fat in your diet has been shown to have no effect on blood cholesterol levels.
Not that I'm suggesting you consume salt by the bucketful or anything.
There's a lot of cynics here, but this kind of thing is great for someone who needs sodium regulation, especially the elderly. Simulated taste could also help a lot of people work towards a healthier lifestyle.
When you say "mild electrocution", you're saying "mildly dead", which doesn't really make a lot of sense.
Unless you're watching Princess Bride, that is.
Unless you're watching Princess Bride, that is.
This is slashdot. We all watch The Princess Bride.
I think most of the morons on slashdot are of the non-fucking variety...
Would this not just make the fork taste salty? Once the food is deposited and you start chewing, the salty flavour will be gone and your food will feel like it needs salt.
Look up super capacitors.
Argh! Supercapacitors are special because of their resistance to leakage and a high energy density. They actually have a lower voltage so they discharge slower, are heavier AND more expensive than regular electrolytic or ceramic capacitors making them exactly the WRONG choice for the purpose of electrocuting someone based on every possible consideration. What you want is an electrolytic capacitor in series with the power supply and a pull-up resistor set in parallel with the resistor going to ground. Go back to the eighth grade you AC retard!
you DC retard!
FTFY