I have no way of testing this out. I don’t own an iPod and I don’t think my wife would loan me hers to try this – and risk frying her audiobooks.
But, I have a lifelong appreciation of field expedients. This one is pretty trick – if it works.
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You can actually get a small current from a lemon (citric acid) and strips of 2 different metals (electrodes) but power from an onion? Ha. Hahaha. Oh, hahahahahaha. 😆
Eideard, you’ve made my whole day. Geez, I hate spewing coffee this early but what a gem! Thanks!!
Don’t forget — you can run a TV from a AAA battery, too.
http://www.householdhacker.com/?p=5
I seem to remember alarm clocks that ran on potatoes… same principle?
There are a bunch of these types of videos floating around the ‘net.
FAKE, of course.
Why are the cables looped UNDER the iPod???
Notice the cable actually connected to the iPod – it goes through a hole UNDER the iPod to an actual charger. The rest of the cable is another USB cable. All made to look like it’s looping around the back of the iPod.
Nice try, though.
Yes, this works exactly as shown! …assuming you also have the real cable running under the ipod into a hole in the case and out the back under a giant towel…
…failed by 2 minutes…
BubbaRay, why do you think its so hil-larious to think you can get power from an onion? So you can get power from a lemon and a potato, but man oh man its completely ridiculous to think that an ONION could provide current.
Let me add, I don’t believe this video for a second… I was just commenting on the idea of an onion providing current as being ridiculous.
It got me started.
JUST RELEASED:
An emergency update to iTunes will detect an attempt to charge any iPod or iPhone from an unauthorized (unsigned) non-mechanical source. This is for your security.
/sarc
http://www.marksinfinitesolutions.com/tutorials/ <—-great stuff
#6, David LeBlond, It was hilarious because the dude just crammed the usb connector straight into the onion and he kept using the word ‘electrolytes’. Since there are no different metals in usb connector pins (ie. zinc and copper on two different pins), and little separation between pins, it’s impossible to generate any kind of current. It was the absurdity that made me spew the coffee.
The max you can get from a potato or lemon is 1.5V at about .1mA. I have no idea what V or A can be generated by an onion.
A lemon contains citric acid, a potato – phosphoric acid, an onion – sulfuric acid , so power from an onion is possible. Just not that way, and you certainly don’t need the Gatorade. Just the thought of someone standing around waiting for an onion to absorb a cup of Gatorade is still darned funny.
I think it would have been much more hilarious with a watermelon, an auger and a quart of Gatorade — that way some moran would actually have to spend some money to try it out. 🙂
Nice try for the BRDDA for making me explain, though! And I’ll bet that with 200 or 300 onions in parallel and some zinc and copper, you could charge an iPod.
Ah, the irresistible pull of self-delusion. People with such a poor model of how the world works will fall for just about anything.
Ai
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What is even better, at the website that has this video and others from what sound like the same dude, http://www.householdhacker.com, he has a tutorial on powering ANY TV for a brief while using an AAA battery and an RCA jack! I can’t believe I even traveled to the website, but it’s funny that he sounds so sincere and content with his experiments when making these idiotic videos…
Thank you, admash, I needed that laugh today
hey um im gonna use this 4 the seventh ggrade science fair soooooooooooooooooooooo it BETTER WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow, this is such a lie lyk omg i cant even get over it. its wronggggg ewey!
y’all dis frieeeddd my ipod like teen times. y’all don be tryin dis or joo will fri ya’llz ipod.
i be tryin it fo science class and they all laughed in ma face. so embarrasinn’ belive me honeyz. but itz k naw cause ma boo bought me a new one.
at least i got sometin outta dis.
peace out yall.
I tried this experiment for my sixth grade science project and it did not work. I first couldn’t get the onion to soak up any gatorade. I then let the onion dry out in the window for a week. It soaked up some of the gatorade after that but still would not charge my iPod. This does not work as described in the video.