crystal radio: the first real free energy device

[pomodoro]

Well, I have spent quite a few hours with the doped galena, using it in a crystal set and unfortunately it behaves like the other galena.
No amplification of signal at all. No way it can drive a speaker directly.
Loading of the tuning coil is the same when a load is connected. Curve trace is the same as the undoped sample.  The good old germanium diode is still king.  Not sure what else to do with it at the moment.

[profitis]

Have you got any chunks germanium crystals lying around pomodoro

[pomodoro]

I don't but a friend might. What have you got in mind?

[profitis]

The guys at hong-kong polytechnic got current from ambient with silicon touching aluminum foil: http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.4622

--- Quote ---We report experimentally that the electricity is generated from ambient thermal fluctuations across a non-ideal diode consisted of a silicon tip and an aluminum surface. The output is tuned by the contact force which modulates Schottky barrier heights as well as rectifying ratios of the diodes. The interaction regime between the silicon and the aluminum locates at the quantum-classical boundary where thermal fluctuations are appreciable, and the rectification of thermal fluctuations leads to the electricity generation. This finding offers an innovative approach to environmental energy harvesting.'

I got similar results with germanium crystals(same periodic table family as silicon) but my crystals are very small(less than o.5mm each)was wondering what larger crystals will do.

[gyulasun]

Well, I have spent quite a few hours with the doped galena, using it in a crystal set and unfortunately it behaves like the other galena.
No amplification of signal at all. No way it can drive a speaker directly.
Loading of the tuning coil is the same when a load is connected. Curve trace is the same as the undoped sample.  The good old germanium diode is still king.  Not sure what else to do with it at the moment.

Hi pomodoro,

By pure luck I came across an article on the web some time ago and it may be useful for you. It is in The Electrician, Vol 77,  April 21, 1916, page 82 and the title is "On Radium Antennae"...    what is more it refers to tests done by Leo Szilard on radium coated lightning conductors and that is what prompted the author of the article to test somehow antennas with radium.
Sorry for the bad quality of the picture I uploaded,  you may be luckier to extract a better quality, the original scan is low quality.

You can find and download Volume 77 from here:

https://archive.org/details/electricaljourna77lond   

Gyula