Quote from: Creativity on January 29, 2009, 05:06:18 PM
well i want this drip,but it just does not happen

@all
Thx for advices,i will experiment on it.

Ahhhhh, I get it. You want it to wick back up and drip back through the open can. I don't think you can do that, but if you wick it back up to the original water reservoir then hang it over the edge, touching the inner side of the container, then this should keep the water flowing back into the original water-holding container. That is very clever. I was always just looking for a low voltage pump that could run off the static spark. I like your idea better.

untill now the best were the paper towels,rolled like a cigar.
I thought to use distillated water to solve the water impurities problem.If it will be in closed system it wont get dirty i hope.

In the last experiment i could soak the wick up to 13 cm.I tried to hang it over the edge of the coffie cup like gyula suggested but it didn't drip.I had to let it hang well over 5cm below the coffiecup water level to make a water drop :| i will try to reduce the contact sufrace by hanging the wick on the fishing line.But i think the water just loves the wick more than another cup

@Jardo i like ur idea of phone cables(u mean twisted pairs i guess ) will have to try this one.

@ResinRat2
Yep that is the idea.To transport the water from the lower cup up the hill to the main bucket of Kelving generator using capillairs.I thought it will be straightforward
U meant low amperage?voltages are high in this generator

something just came into my mind.If the wick was very heavy it would squeeze out the water by itself when laying on a hard,thin surface(like fishing line).What do u think?

Quite some time ago, I also had the idea of using the capillary force to "lift" water. But the problem is, the reason why it actually rises higher than your source water is also the reason why it doesn't drip from your capillary (e.g. towel): Surface Tension/Adhesion. Due to surface tension it will attract itself on the walls of the capillary and therefore climb upward. But you will not be able to get the water again out of the capillary at the top by itself, due to the same surface tension...
But with some tricks, there has to be a way to do it, as plants obviously do it. And on some plants (like a bambus) you can easily empty the "water chambers" which are quite high.
The other problem is the amount of energy you can get out of it. I once calculated what would be the expected energy you could gain with this, and it is very small.
You could also do it like the "water wheel" which is always shown on the left, namely let the water evaporate, when it has been sucked into the capillary. Like that, ambient heat will do the work. Like that you could get work 1st by the climbing of the water in the capillary which will obviously change the gravitational center point, and second by the mechanical deformation of the capillary due to water sucked in. (E.g. like a sponge which gets bigger, when it gets wet).
Unfortunately in the "water wheel" sold here the two forces are working against each other...

Quote from: Shanti on January 30, 2009, 11:02:21 AM
Quite some time ago, I also had the idea of using the capillary force to "lift" water. But the problem is, the reason why it actually rises higher than your source water is also the reason why it doesn't drip from your capillary (e.g. towel): Surface Tension/Adhesion. Due to surface tension it will attract itself on the walls of the capillary and therefore climb upward. But you will not be able to get the water again out of the capillary at the top by itself, due to the same surface tension...
But with some tricks, there has to be a way to do it, as plants obviously do it. And on some plants (like a bambus) you can easily empty the "water chambers" which are quite high.
The other problem is the amount of energy you can get out of it. I once calculated what would be the expected energy you could gain with this, and it is very small.
You could also do it like the "water wheel" which is always shown on the left, namely let the water evaporate, when it has been sucked into the capillary. Like that, ambient heat will do the work. Like that you could get work 1st by the climbing of the water in the capillary which will obviously change the gravitational center point, and second by the mechanical deformation of the capillary due to water sucked in. (E.g. like a sponge which gets bigger, when it gets wet).
Unfortunately in the "water wheel" sold here the two forces are working against each other...

bambus and trees they do it this way.They evaporate water in leaves and that creates suction.This water i want to elevate is not to do any considerable mechanical work,it is just a carrier for electric charge when it drips down.
depends for what size have u calculated it.But even to make it mechanical work u can always scale it up to like 2m2 crossection area wicks..depends what u need to get.
cheers