Earth Electrical Energy Datalogging Experiments

[jeanna]

@Jeanna,

Thanks for your input..
Today I had a friend give me some free copper ,pretty good bit , Some time in the next day or two I will make two isolated cells with nothing but dirt , and plan to do one dry and one dripping wet and and get some readings that way .

Great!
For these tests that is perfect.
For this thread, as I already said, getting the most is not the point.
---

In your search to get the highest volts and mA, be sure to make the combination of Carbon and Magnesium.
(I use welding rods for the carbon.
Bill has a fluted welding rod which he sawed into 2 pieces  and which he uses for the north). For the south, maybe you or a friend can find a magwheel from the 70's. Bill gets almost 2 volts out of his C,Mg EER all the time.

I am looking forward to seeing your results.

thank you,

jeanna

[sm0ky2]

magnesuim wheel??

only Mg source i know of is ignition strips, which im not sure would be good for this, they're flexible and break easily.

also,.. im curious to know wether or not the Mg is consumed in this process??

i have plenty of small carbon rods ( i salvaged from 6v batteries)
those are what i use for my electrolyzers.

[IotaYodi]

magnesuim wheel??

For cars and trucks. Very expensive new. A hot water heater element would be cheaper. Most of these are made from magnesium as they attract impurities in the water to stop rust.

[jeanna]

magnesuim wheel??
...
also,.. im curious to know wether or not the Mg is consumed in this process??

Yes, they were a popular high end thing in the 70-80's
(So popular that people in Boston would go to their car and find it on blocks with the wheels removed... Love that Boston!)

I too would like to know if they are consumed, which is the reason a thin plating of magnesium is a better idea for tests.

Then again the microbes in the soil could continuously add ions that replenish the Mg.
It would be really nice to know.

jeanna

[Pirate88179]

I searched and searched all over the net for a long time looking for a source of magnesium.  I too saw those mag. anodes for water heaters.  Most are not made of magnesium now though, the ones carried in Home Depot are made of al.

I found by reading articles on the net that a good source is any bottled gas company that set tanks underground.  They use magnesium anodes to attach to the tanks to keep the galvanic action from eating the tanks.  This is where I found mine locally.  It is nothing more than a 5 pound solid block of magnesium in a canvas sack full of potash with a very heavy lead coming out of it.  It was like $40.00 which was cheaper than the water heater anodes I could find.

A really good source now is located on user Gadgetmall's website.  Just search for him on here because at the bottom of all of his posts, he has a link to his store.  He sells a nice sized carbon rod and a similar sized magnesium rod in his earth battery kit and it is very reasonably priced.  I think they are like 1" dia x 12" long or thereabouts.

***EDIT***  Here is a link:  http://www.sunpowerwindpower.com/documents/49.html


Bill