Re: Finger power?

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Re: Finger power?

Thomas, 

You can boost voltage, or current, but you can't boost power without a separate power source.  The electrical power that your body supplies is less than 1% of what you need to run your calc.  The best that you could do is charge a battery that has not leakage current (does not exist yet) for a week, to get 1 minute of calc operation.  Transistors do boost power, but that power has to come from somewhere.  The only energy that your body has a surplus of is mechanical energy.  I saw a radio/flashlight that had a spring that you wound up for 1 minute, and it ran the radio for 30 minutes.  The spring turned a generator that provided the power.  It was large (0.5 cubic feet).  I am looking for a smaller one from the surplus houses.

As a side note, a modulator puts a message signal on a carrier signal.  I think you may have meant to say rectifier, not modulator.  A rectifier turns an AC signal into a DC signal.  The batteries in your calc are DC sources.

I agree that it is "quite possible to make" but it is quite impossible to get enough direct electrical energy from your finger to run a large calc.  Maybe one of the vary small solar powered ones.  I'm glad you started the discussion.  I do like the idea of freeing myself from batteries.


Mike

-----Original Message-----
 From:  Thomas J. Hruska [SMTP:thruska@TIR.COM]
Sent:   Tuesday, March 03, 1998 6:52 PM
To:     CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject:        Re: Finger power?

At 02:40 PM 3/3/98 -0500, you wrote:

Okay you guys, I will clear everything up here and now as to why I
suggested the finger power topic in the first place and why it would work.
I have scientific proof from my Chem II teacher (who also teaches Physics
and Chem I) whom I talked to during lunch today about this and it is quite
possible to make.  However, I don't have much knowledge in the area of
circuitry design (but have enough knowledge to know what resistors,
transistors, and capacitors do to make sure my ideas work) so I can only
give general circuit layout ideas.

>Well of course that would work.  However, if I could quote the message that
>started this:
>"Here is a crazy idea for those who want to save batteries.  Your body is a
>salt bridge and conducts a small amount of electricity, right?  Okay, what
>if we created a small device that connects two wires to the sides of your
>pinky finger and boosted the output from your body to 6 volts to power your
>calc?"

You can boost the power that is output from your body to 6 volts very
easily with a couple transistors.  Your body supplies a somewhat unstable
supply of electricity, so the circuit has to stabilize it before boosting
it to 6 volts (that was why I suggested a modulator so that no circuits
would be blown out by the fluctuations).  However, you are wrong when you
say that the body doesn't conduct electricity all the time.  Try holding
your fingers still for a moment.  You can't.  This is because there is a
pulse to the electricity which means that your muscles spasm a little when
the equilibrium is changed.  So, all you have to do is put that electricity
to good use by powering your calc.

Another topic that was brought up was the use of solar power.  Solar power
is great but I really need a sensitive cell where I live (Michigan isn't
all that it is cracked up to be...no sunshine but 5 times this month and
only short intervals at that).  So, the cost to create 6 volts using solar
power would be greater than the cost of finger power (this is why I brought
finger powered calcs up in the first place).

For the person who asked about the CD-player thing.  Do you ever read U.S.
News and World Report?  There was an entire article based on a new style of
clothing that will come out..."techie wear" is what I like to call it.
CD-player, cell phone, pager, and what-not were all powered by a device
similar to what I just described (and everything was attachable to the
clothes in some way or other...crazy).

The only disadvantages that I see with finger power are that your pinky
finger on your non-writing hand (or the other hand whichever is more
comfortable) will be tied up (or you could even make it a wristband or
armband but I think the pinky will be the most comfortable method...but I
could be wrong).  The other disadvantage is that you would need an extra
"port" (by cutting a hole in the casing) for the jack to go into to
re-route the power so your finger could be used (you would have to do the
same thing for solar power as a secondary source of power).  So, really
this is the best way to go if you live in a cloudy, smog-filled city where
very little light gets through the clouds.

Now that I've cleared up a few things on this subject and MOST people like
the idea.  Now the question is:  Is anyone willing to design the circuit
that runs on finger power?


                 Thomas J. Hruska -- thruska@tir.com
Shining Light Productions -- "Meeting the needs of fellow programmers"
         http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/8504
                    http://shinelight.home.ml.org