can you imagine making about five hundred of these things, without the glass, and poking them into the ground at some graveyard?

I wonder how "haunted" myths come into being...

JohnLannon

@CMU_Bueller: I understand what you're getting at, and I appreciate you bringing that oft overlooked fact up, but it seems to me that if the reaction is sustained by organisms in the mud, wouldn't you want to use water with minerals in it? I mean, I have no idea how this really works, without having seen the real details, but if the only thing added regularly is water, how will the organisms continue to thrive without some sort of replenished "food"? The part that makes it unlikely to shock you is the amount of voltage produced. Mud just can't be that potent, or I'd have electrodes in my front yard with the hose turned on and the lights burning bright!

thetiminator69

Does it vibrate?

**Snicker** Teehee!

ripfire

@LiviaSnake: Well technically, pure water is a bad conductor. You need to add ionized elements like salt or other impurities to raise conductivity.

ripfire

From wikipedia about lemon batteries: "The energy used to power the circuit ultimately comes from the energy used in the electrode factories to reduce metallic ions forming the solid metallic electrodes. The lemon simply provides a salt bridge for the reaction to occur."

andruluvsu

@LiviaSnake: It's not, pure water doesn't conduct electricity. There must be ions for it to be conductive.

CMU_Bueller

@LiviaSnake: It's not. Water is a terrible conductor of electricity. It's the elements and compounds added to and/or naturally occuring in the water that make it conduct electricity, ie: calcium.

shenanigans61

... Isn't this lamp still a net energy loss? It looks like it's just like the lemon battery ([en.wikipedia.org]). IE, the "power" really comes from the refinement of the copper and zinc, not from the bacteria.

andruluvsu

@CMU_Bueller: I honestly cant tell if thats sarcastic.

LiviaSnake

Why would you get shocked? Water doesn't conduct electricity.

CMU_Bueller

Ill be the first to say it: Awesome

Ill take 20

LiviaSnake

@CMU_Bueller:
Water molecules have a tendency to occasionally disassociate into hydronium and hydroxide ions, m'kay. Pure water is a conductor due to this tendency. It's not as nearly as good as water with a lot of dissolved ions, but it'll conduct electricity all the same.

You have hereby earned a spot on my shitlist.

DisposableInterloper

@thetiminator69: You're pretty much right. I was just trying to be funny and provoke some discussion.

CMU_Bueller

Oh io9. Even Treehugger (where I first saw this a few hours ago) pointed out that the power actually comes from the slow oxidation and reduction of the metal electrodes, originally "energized" if you will in the refining process. All the mud does is provide ions to make the water you add conductive; the most sterile mud in the world would work just as well as something fresh from your back yard.

icelight

@DisposableInterloper: Anything, even a perfect vacuum, will "conduct" electricity if you put enough voltage across it. (If you know of something otherwise, you could make a fortune using it for an ultracapacitor.) We're talking about relative conductance here, or as the kids these days call it "resistance". Pure water has a very high resistance of about 18.2 Mohm cm^2/cm, something easily achievable with a benchtop reverse osmosis filter. Compared to about 0.5 ohm cm^2/cm for seawater, I think we can feel fairly comfortable calling a difference of more than seven orders of magnitude "not much".

icelight

@icelight: My bad, thought this was your sister site. That first sentence should read "For shame Giz."

icelight

... Are we sure that's mud?

Dakota Courtois

@icelight:
Saying pure water has much greater resistance than seawater is a far cry from saying it's not a conductor.

I'll concede that anything could go from insulator to resistor given enough voltage, but under mundane conditions, the concept of an insulator holds water (no pun intended).

DisposableInterloper

@CMU_Bueller: Dude...take it easy. This is a rough time. You need somebody to talk to?

shenanigans61

@DisposableInterloper: Ohhhhh, an internet shitlist. I'll try to make sure I don't lose too much sleep worrying about you actually leaving mom's basement and discovering daylight.

CMU_Bueller

@CMU_Bueller:
Blind insults. The last result of someone that can't form a coherent argument.

For the record, though, I'm roughly 4000 miles away from home, and Gizmodo happens to be an excellent time killer. If you're really curious (which I doubt, given the cavernous nature of your skull), I don't have an actual shitlist. Just mental tabs on who's stupid, which I'm pleased to inform you, you've just proven yourself to be.

Good day to you!

DisposableInterloper

Free the cells! equal rights! we will not stand idly by while our fellow cells are enslaved! viva la revolution

aeroworks

Ech. I could really use some coffee right now. "Resort," not "result."

DisposableInterloper

I think the experience would be more like sticking a mostly depleted 9 volt battery to your tongue.

misterwho

@CMU_Bueller: Well, that'll teach you to try and be smart and funny around here. If you want to be smart and funny, go post over at Slash Dot. Please. They need the help.

hnkelley