Video of me doing what they say I can't

They say its impossible.

Many of us have heard of the Potato battery, lemon battery, and maybe even the water battery. This is where you take something like a penny which is copper and place that in the potato or water based substance with another metal such as aluminum. You put you meter across the metals and you'll get voltage. The voltage is coming from the galvanic reaction, one of the metal plates is giving up electrons to the other plate and over time that plate will corrode away and the cell will stop producing voltage.

Now lets say we get rid of this galvanic reaction so that the plates last longer. This is where we start to run into problems as many textbooks and websites will state that you need two dissimilar plates to get a voltage. If you use the same plates in water, such as distilled water, then what everyone says is that this can not produce a voltage. Well I got proof that you can get voltage from the same plates in distilled water. As to where the electricity is coming I don't know, but it exist.

Its the fact that plates are exposed to a dielectric material such as water that creates the voltage. This same idea also applies to capacitors, they too have aluminum plates separated by a dielectric and also can produce a voltage when never been charged or have been shorted out. There is something mysterious about plates separated by a dielectric that I can't seem to find information about anywhere.

I'm not going to state that this type of battery cell will last forever because water is the universal solvent, so the plates will break down over time. The time frame can be anywhere from weeks to centuries depending on what plates are used. I have test Graphite plates and they work just as good, if not better, than the aluminum plates. Aluminum will dissolve before Graphite in water so Graphite might be something to look at especially since graphite is not a metal.

Series and Shapes

I've been feeling kinda of disappointed in the same metal water battery hooked in series. You see even though there is electricity coming from the cell the voltage fluxuates from around -200 to +200 millivolts. The good news about this is that leakage current from the meter would not do this but the bad news is that it swaps polarity. You can't have one cell change polarity or it effects the output power because now that cell is working against the others. One would think putting several cups in series that I should be getting a higher voltage, but some cell will change polarity and the voltage will not be as high. I even tried my old theory of determining polarity with the trick of using different size plates, I use to think the little plate was negative and the big plate was positive. Well the different plate size idea doesn't work, they still swap polarity's when ever they wan't. I've have tried testing every cell individually but there is always a few rebel cells that will change polarity.

I guess a little bit of better news is that some shapes work better than just a plain plate. Making a U shape out of the aluminum wire with a straight piece in the water made a good bit of power. But the best shape was a coil of aluminum wire with a straight piece in the water, that made over 600mV, thats a huge increase of the regular 100mV normal cell. I've rarely seen a cell go that high, but of source it doesn't stay there like all cell is likes to swap polarity too. Why does it like to swap polarity! What on earth would do this, Its almost like its making its own very low frequency AC current. Maybe a bridge rectifier on each cell might be needed.

Aluminum Wire

So I finally got my aluminum wire in and its working great! Like always when something is working great I run into another problem. The new problem I'm having has nothing to do with the wire but with the straws. The problem doesn't show up right away when i'm making the cells but soon after. When I get both ends of the straw closed with the distilled water inside for some odd reasons some will get a air bubble in the middle of the cell, thus not allowing the water to not touch and then no electricity can flow and now the cell is dead. I really like the straw idea because it was small and used less resources but it seems I might need to go back to my old idea of using the cups.

The only reason why I never like the cups was that they took up a lot of space and water. I'll keep using the Aluminum wire as it is working great when I need to put cell in series.

What I find odd is that the cells straws that had the aluminum nail in them work find and didn't get bubbles in them as much, I may need to combine the two ideas?

I got my aluminum wire in today, I'm using wire to replace the aluminium nails and aluminium foil. It seems to be working great as a replacement but it's thicker than I thought it would be. It's Fi-Shock wire that they use in electric fences. Part number FW-00018 305-614. Its 17 gauge 250ft. The 17 gauge makes it a little harder to twist the wires around I think I should have gone with a 20 gauge wire instead.

The Aluminum Nail

The idea for the smaller straw cell was working fine until I needed to put them in series. When you put them in series they do increase voltage, thats not a problem, it's getting the top of the aluminum nail to touch each other is the problem. Not saying the aluminum nail was a failed idea, it did prove that the same size plates still produce power. The nail as it is will not give me a good connection that I was hoping. I've thought about using screws so that I can use nuts and plates to hold them together but figure that would get expensive after awhile.

Then it hits me, they make aluminum wire. I can use aluminum wire and when I need to connect cells together I can create a pig-tail connection with the wire to wire. Plus the wire will be much cheaper than the screw idea.

This whole project has been mostly hit and miss and discovering new ways of doing things. When I think I got it something else pops up. Also the hot glue to seal off the ends is not work as good as I hoped, I'm thinking about melting the plastic of the straw to create a better seal.

Energy From RF

I wonder if the electricity was coming from radio waves such as microwaves. So to test the idea of it getting electricity from radio waves I put one cell in a Faraday cage (microwave oven) and the cell still continued to produce electricity. So the idea that its getting energy from radio waves is busted, I'm still at a lost as to where the power is coming from.

Many have thought that I'm getting voltage from the different size of the plates. I've have proved this is not where I'm getting power from by using the same size plates in the distilled water. To keep the plates the exact same I knew that could not cup the same size aluminum foil out so I had to rely on something else, something thats manufacturer. So I bought some aluminum nails that are used on nailing siding on a house. These nails are preferred for the ability to NOT rust by builders. Since they're manufacturer they're all are much the same in every way. I place them in straw cell and what do you know it still makes voltage. So even when the plates are the same I still get voltage, but that still leaves me wondering why and where the energy is really coming from?

Past the 15 day mark

I've just passed the 15 day mark on my latest design of using only flat plates in distilled water cell. Why is this so important? After 15 days the cells that had folded plate would start to show corrosion or discoloring of the plate. The latest cell design has passed the mark of 15 days and still looks new.

What this test is very simple, make a cell and short it out for 15 days straight and see what happens. I've narrowed down to a cell that seems very promising. I've started this test with other cells months ago to find the best solution that won't fail. I started with cups with folded plates in tap water with no lid to cups that have both plates flat in distilled water with a lid on them. Everything I learn I put into the smaller straws cells so that I can have cells that will last to a really long time.

As you can see in the picture the water is still clear and the plates still look like new. Since I past the 15 day mark I look forward to the 30 day mark.

Water 2008

I just got done watching "Water 2008" on YouTube and it really open my eyes to all the things about water. I will agree that this movie does get a little crazy. In this movie they talk about all the weird things about water and most will leave you hanging. The memory effect on water was one that was amazing to me and the talk about electricity when comes to water.

I'll post the first part of the video here

Building the straw cells and a update

I'm still working on perfecting the straw versions of my cells. Just like always i've ran into a slight problem with these cells. I thought I would be able to just fill the cells up with water once one end was sealed, but it doesn't work that way. When i try to fill up the cells air pockets start to fill and those air pockets don't allow electricity to flow. I've tried many different ways to keep the air bubbles from forming but It's really hard. The only idea I have is to try a some type of needle that fits in the small hole of the straw and slowly fill it up like that. Putting it under water when one end is capped off keeps the air in and you can squeeze the air out but you get it all out so you're left with air pockets. Pouring water from the top with a cup when one end is capped off creates a water bubble at the top that has the water fall of the sides and not in the straw. So I figure a needle feeling from the inside would be the best bet. Also one important thing is make sure you short the cells out for at least a day, this is how they recharge.

I did get one straw cell working after many failed attempts, heres a video of it working after its been shorted out for a day. I'm hoping to power something soon, like a clock or LED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY7r3DVPzo4

People still think that my same metal water will corrode like a normal dissimilar metal water battery

I don't understand why people insist to think that my same metal water batteries will corrode like a normal dissimilar metal water battery, they're not the same. I do believe that nothing will last forever and my first designs did corrode, but that was because I was using salt and tap water. I've further my designs to where they use distilled water and are sealed off from the environment and still produce power and the plates look like new even when shorted out for weeks. People think that I'm getting voltage from the oxidizing (rust) of the aluminum. What they don't get is that aluminum is already rusted when it touches the air, so the aluminum is already oxidized and the only way to get rid of the oxide layer is things like minerals such as salt water. Using distilled has no minerals so the breaking of the aluminum should be close to impossible. The best factor is that it doesn't have to be a metal placed in water, it can be carbon such as graphite. Graphite doesn't rust because its not a metal but it can oxide when exposed to very high temperatures. My graphite cells sit at room temperatures and don't rust because they're not metal, so the electricity is not coming from the oxidation of the metal and/or carbon.

Again I will state that I don't believe that something can last forever. From my research I've have found that any two same metals placed in water doesn't create a galvanic reaction and thus no electricity can be formed. I've have prove that to not be true with my same metal water batteries, and this is my greatest accomplishment. So even if my cells corroded away like any other dissimilar water battery, knowing that I could get power from same metals shows that not all the electricity from a galvanic cell is purely do to the galvanic action and that there is more going on then once thought.

I merely report what I'm seeing, and so far my latest design don't show corrosion. The especially don't show corrosion when I replace the aluminum with graphite. From my testing of my cells the only things that have destroyed them was as follows.

What destroys the cells:

-Tap/salt water : The minerals thats inside of the water would destroy the aluminum, but the graphite held up better to the tap water.

-Evaporating water : With no water you got no medium for the plates, so no electricity.

-Folded plates: Folded plates cause the water to rise due to the capillary effect, but would also trap air pockets that cause the corrosion of the plates.


How I solved these problems:

I now use distilled water instead of tap/salt water for it pureness. I now fill the cell full of water till it over flows and then place a cap on it to keep the water in and the air out, so now the water doesn't evaporate. As for the folded plates I use now flat not folded plates, and they hold up much better. I also use graphite pencil lead instead of the aluminum plates because graphite doesn't rust or easily dissolve in water. Any thing more pure than using graphite (carbon) would be either gold or platinum.

Compact design

I've further develop the design of the same metal water battery to where it doesn't loose water and the plates don't corrode as easy or not at all. But I didn't won't to stop their. My current design pictured on the main page of the blog on the right is a cup, and that design takes up a lot of room. What I need is cells hooked in series to produce more power but as it stands the cells themselves are too big and take up too much room if hooked in series. So set out to make the cells smaller and I have done that with straws and they produce about the same amount of power as the bigger cells. Further development will be done, I'm looking at using graphite instead of aluminum due to it holds up better in water than the aluminum did.

Heres the latest video of the compact design same metal water battery.