Converting Heat Into Electricity

Source: sciencedaily.com

There is a law in science namely the 'law of the conservation of energy' in simple terms it means that energy in a closed system can not be destroyed. But it can change into another form of energy. What is meant by a closed system is that the system is isolated from exterior forces, in this experiment it is an open system. So some of the heat energy will be lost to the outside air and it will result in a reduction of the amount of electricity created. Energy in this case are heat energy and electrical energy.

There are other experiments that also exploit heat differences to produce electrical energy but this one is very low cost. The materials needed are a pencil, conductive paint and copier paper.

The scientific name for this process is the 'thermoelectric effect'. This effect was discovered by Thomas J. Seebeck about 200 hundred years ago. His theory was based on two different metal at different temperatures, a potential (electric) different will exist between the two metals. Technically heat will flow from a hot object or space to a colder object or space. As this transfer occurs, electrons will also flow in that same direction. Since electricity is defined as the flow of electrons, you'll have electricity between the two metals.

The body gives off quite a bit of heat due to a biological process. This device will be able to harness this heat difference. It is still in its testing stage and the energy has not been verified so applications are not yet available. But if is found to produce significant power, it may be viable as a source to power your mobile device.

Some of the barriers which need to be addressed are developing a material which is electrically conductive and less thermally conductive. Since the electricity is created from the difference in temperature, if a conductor is a good thermal conductor it will bring the two objects to thermal equilibrium and the electricity will stop.

Another barrier is to develop a material which is flexible so it will maintain the connection between objects of high thermal differences. Also if these will be used to harness heat off someone, it has to hold up with the motion from the person.

The use of nanocomposite materials is proving somewhat promising.