Designers MischerTraxler built these coffee-powered clocks for an installation at Venice Design Week. The claim is that the power comes from the coffee, however I think that it actually comes from a Galvanic reaction between the copper and aluminum strips, with the coffee just providing an acidic solution for the reaction to take place in. Anyone know for sure? [via inhabitat]
6 thoughts on “Used coffee capsules repurposed as clock batteries”
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Two hundred years of electrochemical science knows for sure!
Half potential of Aluminum is 1.66V, Copper is .34V so he successfully set up a 2.0 V cell.
Cool, thanks! I really need to get some metal out and test these things for myself. :-)
A: The coffee grounds!