A type of Battery

[PismoBeach]

True, that would generate it.

But then, how would you use it?

Falling water in the experiment produced only brief, if powerful, discharges, not a steady current.

[PismoBeach]

It would seem to be only static electricity, like that generated by the moving rubber belt in a Van de Graaff generator. Not useful to power anything. But still, a clever demonstration.

[seapoidog]

Open your mind. We can harness static electricity from water being pulled by gravity, which happens every day all over the earth.

[seapoidog]

The point is WE CAN HARNESS ELECTRICITY FROM FALLING RAIN. THINK ABOUT IT. Tesla's dream: free energy for the entire world!

[linkizpure]

Dude she was so ugly... lol

[FreeGovernmentCheese]

my science classes were never this entertaining.

[newton2060]

yeah, I saw the sparks at 4:20. ooh la-la...

[AustinHansen]

lol

[vampirezeth]

THIS guy is amazing

[japanda]

WOW!! i did physics at Imperial Collage in London, but none of my lectures were as fun as that!!!

would've LOVED to take his lecture...!

[grantwine]

It's pretty obvious how this works. He undoubtedly has hamsters running on tread-wheels in those trash cans.

[holychickengod]

Funny, but if I were a hamster, I wouldn't waste my time running on a wheel. I would be trying to find a way out before I drowned. =)

[linkizpure]

lololol

[whereisthefuture9]

lol that reminds me of something...

[breadloser]

That is so interestin.

It is mysterious to me how this generates charge when the anode and cathode are symetrical.

The whole set up is apparently symetrical. I guess inherent asymetry starts the process and then it build from there. Would be interesting to see what would happen if you put a control on the symetry. Definatly sparked my interest.

[kgrzeg]

It's just an electrostatic machine, based on electrostatic induction. There's always small asymetry in potentials, which like you said will build up. It's a positive feedback device.

[Chikkkk]

thisisapreviewvideo - get your facts straight.

This is not a new form of energy, and no it cannot be used as a perpetual motion machine. It may generate huge voltages, but P=VI, and the current will be very, very small.

to wattrlz - it must be water, as it conducts electricity. Ever seen sand conduct electricity? Aww, too bad then.

How about you read some information about Lord Kelvin and his experiments before jumping to wild conclusions about "new energy" and "free energy".

[wattrlz]

Wouldn't this work a lot better if he did it with sand?

[TheFerruccio]

Wow, what a cliche thing to say. No, you have not made "free power"

And where did squabbling over neutrons come from? This video isn't even related to neutrons. It's related to electrons. Do you think before you type?

[fetymann]

and is quite nice looking :-O'''''''

[H2earth]

The professor is commiting a very common basic freshman physics error in how he is operating the experiment. The water is supposed to come out in droplets, not a continuous stream. The stream allows conduction back through, partially shorting the charge buildup. The sparks would be bigger, brighter, and more frequent otherwise.

[MTLAccord]

way to go citing wikipedia

[holychickengod]

Although Wikipedia is usually correct, I do not believe it is correct in this case (although I am not sure). The reason the water seperates into droplets in this video is because the electric field is increasing, attracting the droplets to the can, thus pulling apart the water.

[DSMeTailer]

Actually, it has been proven to be generally at least as accurate as the average printed encyclopedia.  I regard those who doubt the veracity of Wikipedia in the same light as those who refuse to stand in front of a microwave oven while it's on...painfully misinformed and amazingly stubborn.

[ncbookz]

hillarious comment

[ncbookz]

lol this cracks me up... women in general is what he meant to say

[donnaboo17]

YOu cut a magnetic feild every day walking around,breathing,shaking hands. Think about it turkey.Open those closed mind cells to reality as it is ,not as you wre told by them that mean to keep you down and in place and away from having free anything.

[donnaboo17]

what if the aether providses much more magnetic energy and all than you could oculd ever create so what if that were true. what if you created your own magnetic energy when you utter poor un opened minded thoughts out.

[Vinniebearinpa]

And to think I waisted money at Radio Shack when I could've made one of these things for my flashlight...

[OrganicDrew]

Electro Static generator! its static from falling positive ion water brushing against the air!

[Zarrinkoub]

i didn't see anything

[donnaboo17]

YOu dwell on exterior nonsense,if you were drowning,he would look just fine ,now wouldnt he? Lose the ego facad of lookst hat will come and go,be more intense a being and look at what a person is about not thier looks . They will come and go.manners learned,a heart or the mind to try to do what is told impossible. rare indeed. Specialize on things that are special and keep mouth shut if nothign nice to say.

[finalart2005]

First of all not all mass has a magnetic field, secondly nothing can just cut a magnetic field, and thirdly even if you COULD cut a magnetic field it would COST energy, not make it. Still nicely thought, but just wanted to point this out.

[donnaboo17]

I suppose you think that that there is no such thing as free energy in the vaccuume and it would lead to the earth baking itself,no such thing as free energy Well your wrong. Make a dip9ole babe. and stop paying your electric bill.But have an oepn mind at least. Your gonna trust them that keep you down or someone who is trying at least? Try too,will ya please?

[Greatwhite75]

donnaboo17 Take easy it was just a small comment I'm sure that he's knowledge is a gallon to my pin drop. Just don't take it personal.

[finalart2005]

As a matter of fact I'm open to that free energy thought but that's totally different from cutting a magnetic field. I guess you never had any basic science in whatever school you went to. I do have an open mind, but there's also something like exagerating. I could say 1+1=3 and say I have an open mind. I just trust on what I learned, what I can see and what fits in my reality. If it doesn't fit in yours, just don't take it personal.

[finalart2005]

and thanks Greatwhite75 for pointing that out as well :p

[revengeofsuperman]

girl is so beautiful that I can forget the amazing show!

[eman737]

that is crazy man i want more info on this

[subn0rma1]

an explanation is here

rmcybernetics DOT com/projects/experiments/exper­iments_kelvins_thunderstorm_el­ectrostatics.htm

[Danielrobbyshor]

haha the girl at 4.17 looks sooooooo fucking bored

[howbigis1gb]

wow.. Its 10 hours now. Now if you are not a bot. I expect you to exercise restarint. PLEASE DO NOT POST BS. If you are UNABLE to do that. STFU

[CaputNoodle]

A Wikipedia article that describes this phenomenon:

en.wikipedia [dot] org/wiki/Kelvin_water_dropper

[kev3d]

Very cool. I notices that a charged comb will "bend" water from a faucet, I always wondered what a charged tube would do.

[jayc5413]

this is quite amazing, and i would LOVE for someone to please fill me in on this process. my email is JayC5413 (A) hotmail. com. Please if someone could email me with the explanation I would be greatful!

[agungk]

self charging Kelvin Thunderstorm?

[MetoKnight]

Hey he looks like that einstein dude

[Mavoss]

The frictional electrification of droplets was discovered by accident in 1840, when the driver of a steam locomotive (itself a new technology) working in a colliery near Newcastle in northeast England, put his hand near a jet of high-pressure steam escaping from the boiler, and discovered that when he touched the boiler with the other hand, he received an electrical shock and saw a spark. -Please flame away.

[threelegduck]

i can't figure out how one can becomes negatively charged, and the other positively charged - for me it must be random every time the capacitors discharge

[arcanewinds]

Well, why is there a positive and a negative end on any battery?

It's just the way that the power travels around the circuit, it can only go in one direction.

[howbigis1gb]

tsk tsk. Flamebait. Well, for one, it IS amazing. Somethings are amazing before you understand them, and some even more so after you understand it. The bottomline it - you must and seek to understand. And HaveYouEverNoticed, I am sorry for deleting that comment. It was an accidental click, nothing more.

[Mavoss]

the water drop strips the air of static electricity and collects it like a capacitor... when the caps are full the DC voltage jumps the air gap.

[threelegduck]

aaaah .. that's pretty cool.

[alin0steglinski0]

huh

[howbigis1gb]

Why is everything about bigger and better? There's nothing to be impressed of here. Sheesh. Really.

[phat989]

Take that same water and pour it on a water mill wheel connected to a generator and I bet you get the same amount of electricity.

They both work on gravity pulling water down.

Not impressed. :/

[howbigis1gb]

Why is everything about bigger and better? There's nothing to be impressed of here. Sheesh. Really.

[rosshildick]

Word.

[HaveYouEverNoticed]

well the physics professor seems to think its the most amazing thing he's ever seen dumbass. I think i'll take his word before some irrelevant internet retard liek you. Thanks for commenting tho .. now sit down and shut up.

[DigitalVG]

The point isn't efficieny. He's trying to get the students to think about how it works. Most people wouldn't immediately expect this to work. Understanding and considering this kind of stuff is really important for good design of electromechanical devices.

[holychickengod]

Actually, I think you get less because water is only one part in ten million particles ionized (or something like that- I forget the exact number). However, I agree with you. The point isn't efficiency but the concept behind the design.

[Ledatru]

Jaime Escalante turns white!

[sebacorp]

that was the source of electricity in lost atlantida i think

[JonMW2]

It might be possible on a large scale if you used the evaporation of water (from sunlight or something).

[bhudi]

Waterfalls all over the world...

[fubar247]

Yeah, the MIT prof does seem eccentric...go figure. Check out some of the Tesla Coil builders, it's like eccentricity and electricity go together.

[thorie79]

I didn't see the spark

[dayammerkid]

wow - thats a pretty cool demonstration

whats even cooler is that there is a cute girl in this obviously technical class - AMAZING!

[howbigis1gb]

i do agree about the cute bit, but she does seem interested

[rocktheclock]

could this work on a larger scale?

[HiddenCurriculum]

It could and would work on a larger scale.

The problem that isn't obvious is that more energy is used to bring the water above the conductors than is produced by allowing the water to travel between the conductors.

Just had to say this in case you were wondering about any chance this could be used to make a perpetual energy machine.

[ncbookz]

perpetual motion from rain water you you you you ..doubter

[Crucible1001]

When is going to just come and and say, "I vont to suck your blood!".

[lordmetroid]

Spreading of the wayer, metal cylinder... Not very difficult to explain and I only read 1 small course regarding the basics of electricity on university level and of course covered some electricity in chemistry classes. But this isn't at all hard!

[marcuschi]

haha i love your user name. not big enough in my opinion.

[AdminOnDuty]

each bottomless 'paint' can adopts an opposite charge of the other. This charge draws (attracts) water molecules with the opposite charge. So, one nozzle is plus (Positive) and the other is minus (negative). Consequently each 'trash can' fills with opposite charge molecules and transfers that charge to the 'paint' can on the other side (see wires hardly visible cross connecting). The charge builds until it is so large it begins to bend the stream of droplets. Thats where you want the spark.

[vaulb]

Goddamnit tell me how it works!? xD

[adessochris]

Esaruoho, please explain in more detail...

[esaruoho]

a dropping waterdrop #1 accumulates a charge. #1 drops through A, onto C (C is below A). #2 drops through B, onto D (D is below B). D is connected to A, C is connected to B. #1 accumulates one charge, #2 accumulates the opposite charge. static electricity results. look up Hans Kutil, Lord Kelvin and Viktor & Walter Schauberger :)

[adessochris]

Thanks for the reference esaruoho!

[pahhoehoe122]

This explanation doesn't explain why waterdrop #1 accumulates a charge and why #2 accumulates an opposite charge, which is what the professor in the class really wants to know.

[vitto]

very impressive..

[Thor82]

O_O that's impressive!!

[CrashOrgasm]

Please tell me there is a part 2 !

[fubar247]

a capacitor in the 'spark' zone would store the electicity

[pahhoehoe122]

Yeah, air (which below a certain potential is an insulator) is between two conductors. This is a capacitor. The setup already stores electricity, and it already is a capacitor. It's just that the charge eventually exceeds what the "capacitor" can handle, and it regularly discharges.

[esaruoho]

never in a million years did i expect to see a Lord Kelvin Water-thread-experiment on youtube. (electrostatic water-charge by falling droplets of water). well done for posting! Viktor+Walter Schauberger also did one :)

[fubar247]

From observing, it actually appears to be simply a Static electricity generator. The water will spead almost spraying into the 'trashcans'. If you touch the paint cans you can interrupt the buildup.

[esaruoho]

its only a battery if you figure out a way of storing the electrostatic charge. any ideas how? :)

[pahhoehoe122]

It already is storing charge, it just gets released on a regular basis. Don't use the potential to make sparks (i.e. remove the balls where the sparks appear). Then more energy will be stored.

[adessochris]

So how does it work?

[cagrisenel]

It is absolutely amazing. I will try to explain how this battery works. Maybe I can make one for myself.