In their search of alternative energy resources, scientists have stopped at a phenomenon that, although known for ages, brought them surprises. They want to harvest electricity by profiting from the fact that air is loaded with electric charges, and work on a prototype for such a harvester.
Fernando Galembeck, a PhD from the University of Campinas in Sao Paolo, Brazil, leads the study. He and his colleagues busted the myth that water droplets in the atmosphere are electrically neutral and even after touching charged dust particles or droplets of other liquids, they remain neutral.
Through experimentation and research, Galembeck and his team found out that the water in the atmosphere picks up charges. They proved that by measuring the charge of silica and aluminum phosphate. When the air is humid, silica turns negative and the aluminum phosphate gets a more positive charge.
The scientists may even solve the mystery of lightnings and could serve to protect the buildings from them. The phenomenon they study is called “hygroelectricity”, and we might just have a collector or two in humid areas around homes to get some juice for our TV or lights, in the future. For the moment, it’s less than a prototype. “We certainly have a long way to go, but the benefits in the long range of harnessing hygroelectricity could be substantial,” says Galembeck.
Opening a way for hygroelectricity to grow and developing working prototypes would stimulate others in their research and the industry in developing new ways of producing electricity, so this is something we should watch more closely.
Galembeck’s work has been presented at this year’s ACS meeting.
Liked it? Share onFacebook and Google +1:
| |  See them here! |  E-mail Updates |  |
| Also share story on: | Become our facebook fan |
Read next:
Flexible Charge Pump: Harvesting Mechanical Energy Through Zinc Oxide WiresResearchers from Georgia Institute of Technology developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator, based on stretching and releasing zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic with two ends bonded.
New Type of Sand to Store Methane Safely and EfficientlyHydrogen gas is the most clean-burning gas known to man. Yet methane, even if it’s a sibling of petrol, got its way through the alternative fuels industry, and it is more widely used nowadays, as fuel prices oscillate between skyscrapers and small houses. Methane is also one of the cleanest burning fuels, and that makes it viable for a while. Methane reservoirs still exist all around the world, and there’s plenty of it to help make a clean transition to hydrogen.
Powering The Future: Discovery Channel's Newest Show on Alternative Energy Premiering June 17The 4 hour show is going to be hosted by a specialist in alternative energy: Dr. M. Sanjayan, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy. Its purpose is to identify how humanity could tap “a clean, limitless, secure energy supply and addressing how it could possibly be delivered.”
Kept Under Secret: New Type of Super BatteriesZenn already has a small electric city car with small performances, but they plan to make that car go further and cheaper than it can go now by 2009. Their new model is said to reach 80mph (128km/h) and have a 250miles (400km) range. How will they do that is yet unknown, due to the [...]
Volvo puts its mind towards alternative energyOn climate, on energy security, time is not on our side. Researchers at NOAA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, say that the record heat of 2006 was, in large part, caused by us. Researchers at NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, conclude in a article in Earth Observatory – “Greenland’s Ice Island [...]
#1 by daniel ombaka on September 23, 2011 - 4:01 pm
i am interested in the technology.
#2 by sajjad hussain on October 4, 2010 - 6:30 pm
anybody want a complete power point presentation and hard copy on hygroelctricity .. mail me at saz2nitk@gmail.com …