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The Straight Story

(48,121 posts)
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 03:34 AM Jun 2013

A Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight

A Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight

Are you ready to play everybody's not-so-favorite guilt game: what was I doing at that age? Ann Makosinski, a tenth grader from Victoria, British Columbia, has created a simple LED flashlight powered by body heat. So instead of having to recharge it or swap in a fresh pair of AAs every so often, you literally just need to hold it in your hand for it to start glowing.

Makosinski has been entering science fairs since she was in grade six, and has an interest in alternative energy, particularly harvesting all the wasted energy around us. And while researching her favorite topic she came across a device called a Peltier tile which produces electricity when cooled on one side, and warmed on the other.

After crunching the numbers, she determined that the warmth from a human hand could produce enough energy via a Peltier tile to power an LED in a flashlight. And after several prototypes, a few dead-ends, and plenty of frustration, she managed to produce two working prototype flashlights—one made of aluminum pipe and the other PVC pipe—that earned her a spot as one of the 15 Google Science Fair finalists from around the world.

Video at link:

http://gizmodo.com/a-fifteen-year-old-has-invented-an-incredible-new-kind-609647364?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

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A Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight (Original Post) The Straight Story Jun 2013 OP
Superb!!!! Sherman A1 Jun 2013 #1
A GIRL. aquart Jun 2013 #2
Amen! theHandpuppet Jun 2013 #10
Way to go. truedelphi Jun 2013 #3
+1 n/t AnotherDreamWeaver Jun 2013 #4
Will the flashlight work during the summer? Jim__ Jun 2013 #5
Proably still good enough for the times and places it's dark, though muriel_volestrangler Jun 2013 #11
It wasn't very bright, itsrobert Jun 2013 #6
it looked like it was still working when the lights came back on Motown_Johnny Jun 2013 #8
Very neat--she did a proof of concept demonstration, and who knows MADem Jun 2013 #7
aluminum can't be the best material for this Motown_Johnny Jun 2013 #9
+1 nt MADem Jun 2013 #12
Hey, maybe it will become the new diet craze.... Trillo Jun 2013 #13

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
1. Superb!!!!
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 04:34 AM
Jun 2013

I was listening to Science Friday yesterday and they had on two young ladies that had come up with a plan to use soybeans to derive hydrogen in order to make fuel. This is all so very cool!

theHandpuppet

(19,964 posts)
10. Amen!
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 07:02 AM
Jun 2013

Just think of the wasted brainpower because some patriarchal cultures are determined to clutch onto misogyny to their dying, collective breath, even assassinating school girls in the name of their mythologies.

Jim__

(14,045 posts)
5. Will the flashlight work during the summer?
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 06:12 AM
Jun 2013

I am impressed by what she's done. But she says she uses the ambient air to cool the "cool" side of the tile; that sounds like it could be a limiting factor as to when and where this will work.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
11. Proably still good enough for the times and places it's dark, though
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 07:05 AM
Jun 2013

Either at night, or in places well hidden from the sun. She demonstrates it in what looks like a normal heated (or temperate summer) room. Perhaps there'd be a problem in the tropics right after sunset.

On edit: the CBC report goes into temperatures:

Makosinski tested the flashlights and found that both were brighter when the air temperature was 5 C than when it was 10 C, due to the bigger difference between body temperature and the air temperature. But even at 10 C, both flashlights maintained a steady beam of light for over 20 minutes, she reported.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/27/technology-google-science-fair-finals-ann-makosinski.html


I'd think you'd want it to give decent light at 20C for worldwide use, so perhaps it will need more work.

itsrobert

(14,157 posts)
6. It wasn't very bright,
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 06:26 AM
Jun 2013

and she only demoed it working for about 2 seconds. Will it work for a longer period of time?

She is very smart and "bright". But I don't think we'll be seeing these in the stores anytime soon.

 

Motown_Johnny

(22,308 posts)
8. it looked like it was still working when the lights came back on
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 06:44 AM
Jun 2013

I don't see why there would be any reasonable limit as to how long it works


and it was presented as a prototype


I am fairly impressed

 

Motown_Johnny

(22,308 posts)
9. aluminum can't be the best material for this
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 06:50 AM
Jun 2013

I am thinking ceramics along the same line as what was used to protect the space shuttle during reentry. Nothing that extreme would be needed but something that dissipates heat more efficiently would presumably increase the efficiency of the flashlight or radio or watch or whatever is being powered this way.

Hell, you might be able to put one of these cells in your pocket, or clip it to your belt, and then plug in your cellphone to charge (slowly).


I hope that brilliant young lady is working on a patent for this.

Trillo

(9,154 posts)
13. Hey, maybe it will become the new diet craze....
Sat Jun 29, 2013, 11:56 AM
Jun 2013

Just wire up as many of those body-energy drainers that you can, and make sure you keep eating the same amount of food (just don't increase your food intake). Watch the pounds melt off.

Well, okay, I don't know if it will work that way, but the energy to light the bulb seems to be coming from the body.

Wasn't this the story in the movie The Matrix? The machines had wired up all these humans to be energy generators, batteries if you will, and created an artificial dream world from which the humans never, or rarely, woke up from.

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