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If scientists have their way, we may someday be tapping maples—not for pancake fixin’s, but for power. Because researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle have found there’s enough electricity flowing in trees to run an electronic circuit.
If you’ve ever made a potato battery, you know that plant material can generate current. But the energy in trees is something else entirely. The potato experiment uses electrodes of two different metals to set up a charge difference that gets local electrons flowing.
But in the current study, researchers use electrodes made of the same material. Sticking one electrode into a tree and another in the soil, they found that big leaf maples generate a steady voltage of up to a few hundred millivolts. That’s way less than the volt-and-a-half provided by a standard AA battery. So the scientists designed a gadget so small, with parts just 130 nanometers in size, that it can run on tree power alone. Their results appear in the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology.
If you’re nuts for renewable energy, you probably can’t get much greener than a forest full of electrici-tree.
—Karen Hopkin
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14 Comments
Add Commentwhat effect does this have on the trees; our trees and forest need protecting rather than being destroyed to satisfy anthropocentric needs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfnelson, if the trees become a power source, that would insure their protection and cultivation rather than their destruction. However, unless you are willing to live with alot less power, I am confident that the trees could not create enough power to run anything other than basic sensors, etc. Don't expect household power anytime soon.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe current generation is a natural consequence of the osmotic and chemical action of the life processes of the tree. Tapping that generated electricity should harm the tree in no way other than wound it where the electrodes are placed but trees heel well around wounds.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat would a Giant Sequoyah produce?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat would a Giant Sequoyah produce? I'm sure we could find a way to amplify or recreate this and mas produce it on larger scales in order to put to use. we still haven't figured out how to use photosynthesis... That would be a truly magnificent product.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAhem. 1) Trees don't generate electricity. Batteries don't generate electricity, either. Batteries, and apparently a maple tree produced electrical energy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this2) As in this experiment, lead acid batteries the same metalic element on both positive and negative plates. We're not suprised they produce electric current.
3) fnelson writes, "what effect does this have on the trees; our trees and forest need protecting rather than being destroyed to satisfy anthropocentric needs."
One wonders how one establishs that there is a need independent of the wants of people.
"a few hundred millivolts" ok - a few tenths of a volt. The real question is: how many watts (potential work) or how much current? (I*E=P)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCome on no one thought seriously of tapping forests.. the authors work with nano machines they just used the tree battery to underline their work..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow about a name of an author or the title of the article? I can't seem to find it in the IEEE web site.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisone day this is how we'll be recharging our nano-batteries for our nano-implants that we're going to have in our brains. one electrode is going to be in our body, and another we're going to stick in the soil. then we'll just wait untill the nano-battery nano-indicator on our retina fills up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthis will annoy us for years untill they find a way for the nano-implants to feed directly off our own ATP. future's gonna be so cool.
I think I'd have to read more on this to determine why there is a charge. Couldn't this just be residual static electricity caused by the wind? Or a natural charge that is present between air and ground? (much smaller version of a thunderstorm). If I stuck a big metal pole in the ground I think I'd get a small current flowing as well.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhich makes me think. Why mess with such a small current when we have lightning to harness? ;)
But due to the uncertain-tree principle, if no one is around, would it still generate a current?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishi
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishi. i would like to have a copy of this article. a full article discussing this, so that i could share to our class, so that many will be infrmed abt this amazing dscovery. Please? im a chemical engineering student here in the philippines.
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