Flower pot proof of electron flow?

[shylo]

Hi Steve I'm not sure if this is really on topic....but I took a three inch piece of bare unisulated house wire....wrapped 2" in moss off of a piece of firewood......wrapped that with tinfoil....stuck it my wifes' house plant ...it's been in the dirt for over a month now still reads .75 volts....copper is positve ....sorry it does involve a flower pot so its kind of relavant......shylo

[Low-Q]

Hi Steve I'm not sure if this is really on topic....but I took a three inch piece of bare unisulated house wire....wrapped 2" in moss off of a piece of firewood......wrapped that with tinfoil....stuck it my wifes' house plant ...it's been in the dirt for over a month now still reads .75 volts....copper is positve ....sorry it does involve a flower pot so its kind of relavant......shylo

OT, but just for answering your question: Tin and copper have different voltage potentials. The acids (Which it sure is in small portions) in the flower pot will "eat" the tin and leave the copper when you "load" it with a volt meter. This process results in your voltage readings. Further OT: put your tongue on an aluminum pencil sharpner and cover both the steel knife and the aluminum. You will feel the same as when you put your tongue between the poles on a 1.5V battery cell. The aluminum, in greater extent than the steel, will be affected by the acids on your tongue and create an electric circuit.

Vidar

[shylo]

Hey Vidar......thanx for the reply .....are you saying that .....the acids in the soil will eventually disolve the foil?....thereby killing the cell....and if so , how long will it take?....btw does OT mean "on topic or off topic".....sorry I'm kind of new to discussion boards I don't know all the abbreviations..........shylo

[stevensrd1]

@Shylo
Shylo, im assuming you have not heard of the earth battery? Back in the early 1800 when they used the telegraph they were using earth batteries even then to power the telegraphs, and earth batteries ran for many many years, sometimes still running 30 years later. All in all earth batteries did not make it to main stream media by any means, as they found more profitable ways to make batteries. What is an earth battery you may ask? Just take a zink and copper pipe, stick them in the ground/earth say a foot apart. Take a digital meter and measure the voltage on the two piped, it will usually read around a volt of electricity, could be more or less depending on many things, such as how deep the pipes go, or how moist the earth is and so forth. Funny thing bout earth batteries, they work like regular batteries, meaning if you wire them in series, you get more and more power, depending on how many are wired in series. And the power keeps coming seemingly forever. However many different kinds of pipes will work like this as well. Just google old earth batteries used in the telegraph, you might be amazed what you learn.

[shylo]

Hi Steve I tried rods in the ground but couldn't get them to add ...Electrime(Jim) said you have to insulate the outside of the zinc to get them to add .....I haven't tried this yet but I will...in the mean time were all three rods you used of the same type?..........shylo