19 replies to this topic

[Sarah C.]

I know this may sound strange. I once went out on a date with a guy that was extremely intelligent. He had a theory, that potatos could generate enough power to supply the world. He said that he brought this theory to his professors in college, and they could not disprove it. I do know that there are those childrens kits where they use a potato to generate electricity. Has anyone given this any thought, or do you personally have information that this is possible?

[still learning]

Sarah C., on 01 April 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

I know this may sound strange. ..... information that this is possible?

Let's see, lots of interesting stuff pops up on April 1....

[aspen]

Ethanol of course can be made from the humble spud. In 1925,Henry Ford, according to the site below, told a New York Times reporter that "There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years."
Read more http://www.motherear...uel-basics.aspx

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Oh yes, this is certainly possible as I've tried it when I was a kid! I didn't have kits, but made my own set-up from scratch. The biggest problem with potato power is that the darn things go rotten after a day and stink to high heaven! Yes there is enough potatoes in the world to power stuff (for about a day!), but there are also so, so many people who die of starvation each and every day! We need your potatoes to feed them.

If you want to experiment, you can get a whole heap of graphite rods and zinc cans (both from old dry cell batteries) and put one of each in each spud and series and parallel them together to run a high-brightness LED.

[still learning]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 03 April 2012 - 03:21 PM, said:

Oh yes, this is certainly possible as I've tried it when I was a kid! .....

Stuff we did in grade school.
Learned more about what was going on in highschool chemistry.  Stuff that guys with names like Volta and Galvani and Ampere figured out in the early 1800's.  http://en.wikipedia....i/Lemon_battery

Note that the potato is only part of the setup and provides only part of the energy output.  One of the electrodes is consumed also, providing the other part of the energy.

I figured that the "date" of the original poster pulled an April Fool prank.  If not, had ignorant college professors...

[artistry]

I heard this theory a long time ago, but do not remember how it would work. Thank you tri-n-b for posting how it's done. With only one days supply of energy, I guess the better thing would be to eat them. Interesting though, that it works.

[UmiNoor]

I've seen this done on tv. Never tried it before. But the electricity that is produced would be so minuscule as to be useful. I think it's best just to use the potatoes to feed the starving children in Third World countries.

[Sarah C.]

His theory was not about providing power for just one day. He felt that whole communities could be provided with energy. Maybe Ford had it right. I was told that the energy companies do not want this theory explored as it would be competition.

[katdolores]

Even though this may be true, that potatoes can supply large amounts of electricity, you would need a LOOOOOT of potatoes. And yes, I believe, that they may be more useful to feed the hungry.

[mariaandrea]

My son powered a light bulb and a clock with potatoes in grade school. It was very cool. Until the potatoes went bad. And as much as I love the whole idea, it does make me twinge a bit to see food go bad.

On the other hand, potatoes are easy to grow and plentiful, so maybe this should go in Shortpoet's Outrageous Green Ideas thread.  

[zararina]

I already read about that  potato and some other crops being used to power or being used as a source of energy. The new "thing" for me is the idea that it could supply power for everyone's needs.
Hard to use foods for fuel knowing that there are lots who are starving. Although it could be best if there would be potatoes enough to feed everyone and be used as a source of energy.

[Phil]

I think there was a video on linked on this forum that said pretty much any bio fuel is impractical as an oil replacement because growing enough would take up a substantial portion of our arable land.  From what I understand Brazil is cutting down their rain forest to plant ethanol crops as it is. I don't think we want to go that route.

The problem with any oil replacement is it's energy density.  We'll need oil for another quarter to half century while we perfect electric vehicles, (batteries in particular), and deploy solar and wind.  I think we are on the right track, it just takes time.

[Usty]

I've always wondered how many potatoes it would take to power every room in my house, for an hour. When you have a lot of time on your hands, you tend to wonder random things like that a lot.lol

[Phil]

Sounds like a fellow retiree!

[dconklin]

I am not sure that it would work for the whole world tho.  It seems that it would take a lot of potatoes and there are people who cannot even grow potatoes-like people in cities.  The other problem I think we would see is where we would continuously grow them? Don't they require a circulation in the garden in order to get the right nutrients? I think it would be hard to supply enough potatoes for everybody, but I could be wrong.  

Would be great if we could get the supply up!

[4leafclover]

No offend but I find his theory funny. If its for the whole world, we might need the whole land area of the Earth to be covered and planted with potatoes! :) I guess he is just trying to impress you! :) I'd rather see those potatoes eaten then being used to create energy. :)

[JBMedia]

It's definitely possible that you could use potatoes to power some sort of lower energy using things. However, potatoes are also used for eating. I guess it could be possible for more potatoes to be made for something like this. However, I don't see it actually being a viable source for extreme amounts of energy.

[katniss]

As a side note, it's not the potato itself that generate the electricity, but rather the redox reaction that occurs between the copper and iron/zinc plate; this'll also work in a lemon, or even ionized water.
That said, it's much more efficient to use two massive plates of metal and a big basin of salt water, than it is to fill the same space with potato batteries.

[Phil]

Oh yes!  I do remember lemon batteries.  We did that in grade school.

[steph84]

What about the possibility of a potato famine? I think that human waste is the way to go. Seriously, there is an endless supply of it and I already know that people on communes are using urine for farming.