Electricity from thin air -- apparently not a hoax??

[profdant139]

Protein nano-wires that generate juice -- now imagine your awning covered with these little devices:

Article

But don't hold your breath waiting for this to be commercially available.

[Gulfcoast]

I don't doubt anything in technology anymore..... look how far we've come since even 1950.

[drsteve]

profdant139 wrote:
Protein nano-wires that generate juice -- now imagine your awning covered with these little devices:

Article

But don't hold your breath waiting for this to be commercially available.

From the article:

The researchers say that the current generation of Air-gen devices are able to power small electronics, and they expect to bring the invention to commercial scale soon. Next steps they plan include developing a small Air-gen "patch" that can power electronic wearables such as health and fitness monitors and smart watches, which would eliminate the requirement for traditional batteries. They also hope to develop Air-gens to apply to cell phones to eliminate periodic charging.

[bighatnohorse]

Its a dead-serious possibility.
Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
For a more fun and educational read try "The Alchemy of Air" - how the discovery that nitrogen could be produced from air led to WWII and enable modern day food production - it's an eye-opener.

Nitrogen fixation machines can now be purchased on Amazon for less than $2,000.

Don't discount the OP's article.

[Heisenberg]

I recently went south to Abilene. I saw thousands of windmills. I remember when the windmills were considered a joke here.

Until the coal power plant ran out of well water.

[Fizz]

Remember what they say.
If you can think it, you can build it.
Give it time.

[profdant139]

Well, maybe it's a hoax -- but remember you heard it here first!

[Learjet]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

[ItsyRV]

p220sigman wrote:
While I'm a believer that it is possible, I noticed the lack of description of how much energy is produced per given amount of nanowire and how much current is actually there? It is going to have to be pretty significant to scale up for energy replacement, not to mention just how fragile is a nanowire that is less than 10 microns thick. I would think just looking at it too hard would break them. Still, it will be a game changer if they can scale it up even for just small electronics.

It's more of a working concept and not an actual working model. They did compare it to an AirGen at about 1/3 the AirGen capacity. So using laboratory operating AirGens as an example, it would take this newer technology about 2 acres of surface area to product 1 amp at 12 volts.

[cavie]

gbopp wrote:

philh wrote:
I read about this perpetual motion machine that ran on the earths natural frequency vibration, but the oil companies bought the patent and buried it.

Really, it's true, I read it on the internet.

Was it similar to the article from the 1960's about the super secret carburetor that got 100 MPG and somehow ended up on a customers car?
GMC sent a Ninja SWAT team to recover the carburetor. I remember reading about that before the internet. It must be true.

I remember that. I was just a kid. It was in P M Magazine. Only had 3 moving parts.

[p220sigman]

While I'm a believer that it is possible, I noticed the lack of description of how much energy is produced per given amount of nanowire and how much current is actually there? It is going to have to be pretty significant to scale up for energy replacement, not to mention just how fragile is a nanowire that is less than 10 microns thick. I would think just looking at it too hard would break them. Still, it will be a game changer if they can scale it up even for just small electronics.

[2oldman]

Trump ads on a science page? That's a first.

[joebedford]

I have a bridge to sell you.

[gbopp]

philh wrote:
I read about this perpetual motion machine that ran on the earths natural frequency vibration, but the oil companies bought the patent and buried it.

Really, it's true, I read it on the internet.

Was it similar to the article from the 1960's about the super secret carburetor that got 100 MPG and somehow ended up on a customers car?
GMC sent a Ninja SWAT team to recover the carburetor. I remember reading about that before the internet. It must be true.

[philh]

I read about this perpetual motion machine that ran on the earths natural frequency vibration, but the oil companies bought the patent and buried it.

Really, it's true, I read it on the internet.