[Lab] Homemade Capacitor

[Emily Daniels]

Here is my work so far, in case anyone would like to try it:

http://www.emilydaniels.com/2011/10/making-rochelle-salt/
http://www.emilydaniels.com/2011/10/sweet-n-salty-capacitor/

Emily

On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Emily Daniels <emily.daniels at gmail.com>wrote:

> Good idea! I'll try that- thanks Andrew!
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Andrew Plumb <andrew at plumb.org> wrote:
>
>> Ah, mixing the two salt solutions could be part of the problem.  Perhaps
>> try building up your structure in discrete layers, i.e alternate between
>> layers of Rochelle and Epsom, or make your primary Rochelle crystals then
>> coat them in Epsom+Rochelle mixture.
>>
>> On 2011-10-28, at 12:09 PM, Emily Daniels wrote:
>>
>> > @Andrew- way ahead of that. Already grew and tested piezo crystals at
>> home from cream of tarter and washing soda. The problem with Rochelle salt
>> is it is fragile and can crack and fragment easily under pressure. In my
>> salt mixture I combined Rochelle salt with Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate)
>> and heated it to liquid then poured it into the candy molds. In seawater
>> Magnesium acts as a sound absorber- meaning it can carry vibrations over a
>> distance. The piezo crystals suspended in the Magnesium seems to allow a
>> reverberation to happen, despite it's nearly solid state. Both salts are
>> highly hydroscopic and suck in moisture from the air, allowing some movement
>> of ions in the mixture. I channel the electricity generated through a copper
>> and an aluminum wire spiralled for maximum surface area and inserted an inch
>> apart in the solidified solution. The copper wire acts as the anode and the
>> aluminum is the cathode.
>> >
>> > @Darcy I saw your homemade hand crank- really neat! In this experiment I
>> was trying to challenge myself by creating an energy source from common
>> household items so that a person with limited access to electronic
>> components could make it without relying on refurbished piezo buzzers and
>> the like. Seems I have a way to go..
>> >
>> > Emily
>> >
>> > On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 11:36 AM, Andrew Plumb <andrew at plumb.org>
>> wrote:
>> > Colin's "Homebrew Piezo" blog post may be a good place to start:
>> >
>> >
>> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/03/collins-lab-homebrew-piezo.html
>> >
>> > Andrew.
>> >
>> > On 2011-10-28, at 11:29 AM, Emily Daniels wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hi Folks,
>> > >
>> > > I've been working on a design that I thought would be a different type
>> of battery but it seems to discharge too quickly for that, but so far it can
>> take a charge of 6V DC in 30 sec from a 9V battery and discharge about 3V
>> when a load is applied (in my test case a 3V LED) in about a minute. It has
>> a resting charge of .6V DC and 1V AC per cell. I have 4 of them wired
>> together for the above load tests. It's a type of dry electrolytic cell made
>> of a non-toxic salt mixture in a hard sugar candy shell with piezoelectric
>> Rochelle salts (yes you could eat it but I don't think you'd want to) and
>> I'm wondering if anyone has any experience generating electricity from heat
>> or vibrations of Rochelle salts or quartz that they could help me with. I
>> already tested the cells on top of a subwoofer and by heating them with a
>> hairdryer, which both times there was a .1V fluctuation, but not a build up
>> of charge, and I cracked a cell. Thanks!
>> > >
>> > > Emily
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Emily Daniels | emilydaniels.com | @emdaniels | awesomefoundation.org
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > "The future is already here.  It's just not very evenly distributed" --
>> William Gibson
>> >
>> > Me: http://clothbot.com/wiki/
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Emily Daniels | emilydaniels.com | @emdaniels | awesomefoundation.org
>> >
>>
>> --
>>
>> "The future is already here.  It's just not very evenly distributed" --
>> William Gibson
>>
>> Me: http://clothbot.com/wiki/
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Emily Daniels | emilydaniels.com | @emdaniels | awesomefoundation.org
>
>


-- 
Emily Daniels | emilydaniels.com | @emdaniels | awesomefoundation.org
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