+- Hack Forums (https://hackforums.net)
+-- Forum: General Topics (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)
+--- Forum: World (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=445)
+---- Forum: News and Happenings (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=89)
+---- Thread: Charge Your Phone With Urine? (/showthread.php?tid=3628314)
Pages: Pages
1
2
Charge Your Phone With Urine? - Revamp - Jul 17, 2013
Quote:Often forget your phone charger? Well, scientists in the United Kingdom have devised a way to conceivably charge a mobile phone with something for users on the go -- or, more aptly, for users who have to go.
Researchers at the University of the West of England say it's possible to charge a phone with urine by using microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which convert waste into electricity.
The team tested the potential of urine power to energize a Samsung mobile device, effectively using the mechanism to make a phone call, send texts and browse the Internet, according to the Press Association. So far tests have been successful, but the team still needs to perfect the method so that MFCs can provide a full battery charge.
Ioannis Ieropoulos, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at the university, compared the unusual design to other alternative forms of charging, such as solar power.
"The beauty of this fuel source is that we are not relying on the erratic nature of the wind or the sun, we are actually re-using waste to create energy," he said, according to the Telegraph.
The research is part of an ongoing project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Though Ieropoulos has labeled the urine-powered charger a "world first," the concept of turning human excrement into battery power has been introduced in the past.
In 2005, scientists in Singapore unveiled a battery that could be activated by biological fluids. Yet, unlike the U.K. team's tech, the Singapore team designed the urine-powered battery with the intention of designing a disposable power source for medical kits, National Geographic reports.
However, it seems, scientists have struggled to apply such urine power practically. As one chemical engineer pointed out in November, after three teenage girls unveiled a urine-powered generator, such mechanisms fail to provide enough energy output to match the input.
So while a urine-powered phone charger sounds like a resourceful -- albeit gross -- renewable energy source, it may not be feasible for the typical mobile user.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/charge-mobile-phone-with-urine-samsung_n_3605662.html
* - webdev77 - Jul 17, 2013
That's both disgusting yet also pretty cool. You would never be without power for your phone...
* - blu3 - Jul 17, 2013
Crap, power is out. Let me go pee....
* - 70k - Jul 17, 2013
I havent read anything inside the thread, but just from the title.. Oh my god science...
* - nick__name - Jul 17, 2013
(Jul 17, 2013 07:08 PM)StarShip Wrote: Crap, power is out. Let me go pee....
After your phone died, you'd have no light (assuming it was night and you had no candles). It would be pretty easy to miss and piss on your phone, wouldn't it?
* - Superstition - Jul 17, 2013
LOL, WTF Science...
Ohh hang on mom, My phone is almost dead! Le hears sound of dude pissing into the charging port
* - Vᴇᴀxᴏʀᴇ - Jul 17, 2013
(Jul 17, 2013 07:08 PM)StarShip Wrote: Crap, power is out. Let me go pee....
Was the pun intended? 😏
Seriously though, this is kinda stupid and I don't see myself ever using it. but maybe someone will find it helpful.
* - Coton Pker - Jul 17, 2013
you can also charge your phone with an onion soaked in gatorade.
but that doesn't make it practical.
* - 4/20 - Jul 17, 2013
Let me take a guess.
It's powered by electrolytes, so I'm sure you can use gatorade also.
* - Condoms - Jul 17, 2013
Can you imagine this is going be the future gas for cars?
* - ovac - Jul 18, 2013
Why couldn't we just power cities on our piss if we can power Cell Phones.
I'm sure it would have problems, but still.
CITIES POWERED ON PISS.
* - Mommy - Jul 18, 2013
Im gonna take a huge shit on my phone to see if I can get coverage in the unusual places :D
* - Wrecked™ - Jul 18, 2013
Why don't toilets just conserve all of the pee we have and keep it in a tank, and then convert the pee into energy?
* - Hacker 0860 - Jul 18, 2013
Lol.Thats simply Great..
Awesome trick founded by them..
Thank you..
Keep doing these kinda Tricks..
* - y try it y - Jul 18, 2013
HAHAHA,
On the train, unzips jeans - takes piss , full battery.