Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Monday, July 07, 2008

Niruttam Kumar Singh

He invented the cow dung battery with the help of his student, Harvansh Yadav.

Ok, so the basic premise of the cow dung battery is that you mix together about a pound of dung with salt water in a clay pot, using a discharged alkaline battery attached to a couple of colored copper wires-- generally black and red, that is at the top of the pot, surrounded by the dung.

Each unit produces about 1.5 volts of electricity, and lasts for about forty five days. You can use sulphuric acid instead of salt water for greater efficiency. It works because the decaying cow dung produces methane, which reacts with the electrolyte, either salt water or sulphuric acid.

This sentence links to the Times of India story on the battery.

1 comment:

Krissyface said...

that is so gross.
And incredible!!!