Fire starter magnesium, activated carbon, salt water battery cell

[hockeyknife]

would just like to say thanks for the video, it helped alot with a university project. We had to build a battery to power a car carrying a load. We spent weeks working in a zinc/manganese dioxide battery and we tried your design once and it worked. cheers.

[hockeyknife]

would substituting the electrolyte for something like HCl or commercial vinegar be more effective? (ie- produce more amperes or volts)

[pyrolytic]

@hockeyknife I've not tried hydrogen chloride nor I don't know. Vinegar isn't very

effective for any stronger results.

[pyrolytic]

@hockeyknife HCI in it's liquid form is hydrochloric acid; but I've not tried such; it would

be a much stronger health hazard; and in that sense; I doubt it's worth any trial effort

just because of the hazards. Vinegar (acetic acid) is too mild and it's noxious smell

long ago drove me away from such. Any chemical presents hazards of course; one has

to research the resulting hazards BEFORE the use of any chemical or compound.

[hockeyknife]

can you substitute regular magnesium for the fire starter magnesium alloy that you use?

[pyrolytic]

@hockeyknife Any magnesium will work; whether it be high grade lab strips, structural, auto

or other manufactured parts or thin strip roll.

[Iseekoutthetruth]

could you make a car battery out of this stuff?

[pyrolytic]

@Iseekoutthetruth I've read where their is plenty of research going on with magnesium; but I don't know of

any battery that is yet capable of presently capable of surplanting the amperage of "standard" battery's presently used.

[COBladesmith80]

So by the experments you have shown, the amount of carbon, and magnesium used will not effect the initial voltage of 1.4 V... as long as they are proportional...

Will the duration or voltage of the battery change with a change in the amounts of each element used?

[pyrolytic]

@COBladesmith80 The voltage per each unloaded specific cell will stay roughly

the same; even if its dried out (but no current). However, the area of the magnesium and/or the activated carbon does determine the current capability....i.e.,the larger the surface area the more current can be seen. When loaded, the voltage will drop down for any home brew or commercial battery.

The activated carbon surface area here is larger than a solid piece of graphite.