No electricity? Charge an iPod with an onion

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 01 December 2008, 20:30 IST   |    4 Comments
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Bangalore: An iPod powered by vegetable will be in vogue, with Owen Louis, a UK citizen, using onions to charge his device. The onion is soaked in an energy drink solution, which in turn reacts with the vegetable to create a charge. To counter the growing electricity bills, Louis adopted the veg-charging method which was shown to him by one of his friend in a feat of experiment. However, the environmental friendliness and the relief to his electricity bill made it a lucrative option. The entire process of charging involve boring two holes in an onion, soaking it in an energy drink (like Gatorade) then sticking a USB cable into it, and device enables him to charge his iPod for an hour. This unique method is a foolproof way of staying green as the onion decomposes and the drink bottle can be recycled once finished with. Infact, researchers has pointed that almost every vegetable is apt for the action as all of them contains ions. Apart from charging, the common household items such as a copper coin, a lemon and a galvanized nail, can be used for making low-powered batteries. However, the only negative aspect associated with the process is that one would have no control over how long it may work for and it can be really messy and smelly.

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