#electricity

Electrified Samurai Sword by Allen PanAllen Pan of Sufficiently Advanced is testing something new and it looks super cool (and dangerous): an electrified samurai sword!Pan posted a TikTok video clip showing him wearing a stainless steel metal chainmail suit then charging himself to 250,000 volt with a Tesla Coil. Then, he drew a samurai sword and electric bolts arcing from the sword to a metal hoop that is connected to the ground.#TeslaCoil #samurai #samuraisword #AllenPan #IanCharnas #electricity #chainmail

Underground Sun Conversion Uses Sunlight to Produce Natural Gas Deep UndergroundSolar energy is great ... as long as you have the Sun shining in the skies.For many countries in the northern hemisphere, long and dark winters limit the practical amount of solar energy that can be generated each year. That's why it makes sense to "store" sunlight energy during the summer months so it can be used during the winter months.  But how can this be done?This is where Underground Sun Conversion comes in.  As the name implies, the system use sunlight to produce natural gas deep under the Earth's surface.Developed by energy company RAG Austria, surplus electricity generated by solar panels are used in an electrolysis process to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Then, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are injected into the porous sandstone deposit (such as those found in a depleted natural gas reservoir).The injected gases are then converted by archaea, naturally occurring microorganisms that live thousands of feet underground, in a carbon cycle into methane gas and water. The methane, in turn, is pumped back up during the winter months as natural gas that can be used to produce electricity.#electricity #solarenergy #methane #hydrogen #electrolysis #archaea #naturalgas #carboncycleImage: Karin Lohberger/RAG Austria

Your Sweaty Finger Can Generate ElectricityThat's not a Band-Aid. Instead, it's a thin flexible strip that converts chemicals in human sweat into electrical energy. Best of all, since fingers consistently produce sweat, the device will work even without you having to move a muscle!The 'passive perspiration biofuel cell' is invented by Joseph Wang, a professor of nanoengineering at UC San Diego, who said to CNET, "By using the sweat on the fingertip -- which flows out naturally regardless of where you are or what you're doing -- this technology provides a net gain in energy with no effort from the user."Though the amount of electrical energy produced is small, advancement in the technology may one day potentially power low-powered electronics such as wristwatches:As a subject slept for 10 hours with the device on a fingertip, the wearable collected 400 millijoules of energy, which is enough to provide 24 hours worth of power to an electronic wristwatch (but not a smartwatch). The researchers note that strapping devices to additional fingertips would generate even more energy.#sweat #perspiration #electricity #chemicalreaction #biofuelcell #nanoengineering

How Aerial Marker Balls on Power Lines Are InstalledSurely you've seen them: bright colored balls strung on overhead electrical power lines.These are called "aerial visibility marker balls" or "aerial marker balls" and they usually come in "International Danger Orange" color (yes, that's the official name of the color). These marker balls are used to make power lines and wires visible to low flying helicopters and aircrafts.But have you ever wondered how these balls get put up there in the first place?If the power lines are being put up, the balls are installed on the wires as the lines are being erected but for existing power lines, a helicopter and a brave operator are called for.From Core77:But in the case of existing wires, aerial marker balls are installed, ironically, by helicopter. A guy sits on the side of a platform over the skids and hangs onto the ball. Arriving at the right spot on the power line—which is pre-marked on a separate, earlier trip with spraypaint—he then has to open the ball like Pac-Man, muscle it over the wire and bolt it shut. He then wraps some attaching wires on the sides around the power line itself.Sometimes the ball is so large and heavy that it has to go up in two trips. Because it's not like it's mounted in a bomb rack; the installer has to hang onto it. Despite its name, this SpanLite model made by P&R Tech can be up to 51 pounds and due to installation requirements, it's carried up and hooked up one half at a time, with the helicopter touching down in between.