Onion-powered iPod

Posted by Miss Cellania in Gadget on November 24, 2008 at 4:41 pm


21-year-old Owen Lewis found a way to charge his iPod -with an onion and an energy drink!

Owen, from Portsmouth, said the idea was a foolproof way of staying green as the onion decomposes and the drink bottle can be recycled once finished with.

Phil Stubbles, a physics lecturer from St Vincent College in Gosport, Hampshire, said almost all vegetables could power iPods because they contain ions which react with energy drinks to create a charge.

‘The only problem is you have no control over how long it may work for … and it can be smelly,’ he added.

Has anyone here every tried this type of battery? Link -Thanks, Allison!


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COMMENT

18 comments to "Onion-powered iPod"

  1. seekshelter
    November 24th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    ill pass... wake me up when you've got a garlic powered one....mmmmmm garlic...

  2. Johnny Cat
    November 24th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    meh...if it could sync as well, he'd be on to something.

  3. Clotho
    November 24th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    not such a fool proof way of staying green, when you think about it...it will take energy to recycle the Red Bull can, it took energy to make the Red Bull, and it takes energy to transport the Red Bull and onion to the market near this kid's house - probably more energy than he gained by doing this experiment

  4. Restless
    November 24th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    I have seen this on myth busters and somewhere else and apparently it doesn't work at all. I think the conclusion was that Onions + energy drinks do create charge but nowhere near enough to charge an I-pod.

  5. funkmeister
    November 24th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    I saw it too, doesn't work

  6. paperboy05
    November 24th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    Yep, urban legend. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/21880/1176/

  7. ted
    November 24th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    Dreamkillers.

  8. Alex
    November 24th, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    Twenty one? He looks twelve!

  9. Justin
    November 24th, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    here you go guys. This is the section on mythbusters where they look at this exact video and test it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX6-jZpXDp4

  10. Ali S.
    November 24th, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    @ Alex

    That's what I thought...I thought he was in junior high.

  11. rageagainsttherobots
    November 24th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

    Good call Justin.

  12. rhcpaul
    November 25th, 2008 at 5:39 am

    it weirds me out when stuff i read about on neatorama references places near where i live. st vincent's college is really near here and i work in a rival college. nuts.

  13. JamesM
    November 25th, 2008 at 5:55 am

    "paperboy05
    November 24th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    Yep, urban legend."

    More like outright fraud.

  14. ChrisW
    November 25th, 2008 at 8:41 am

    He should have used currants.

  15. skb
    November 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    The story reminds me of the potato clock I had as a kid. Wonder what happened to that thing??? Must be 20 years gone by now, but tne coolest thing ever!

  16. Rocky Rook
    November 25th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Stupid.

  17. vero4902
    November 25th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

    I think I'll just go ahead and plug mine into the wall... yep, that was difficult. ;)

  18. sweet_baby_t
    December 8th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    This actually does work. When I was in elementary school in Virginia, we had a special summer program for Gifted students. My classes in the summer after 4th grade (1985) were physics, algebra, woodshop, crafting, sign language and computer programming. In physics, we made our own electrical circuits and wires and built a clock that ran on a regular white potato for a battery.


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