Need Light? Boiled Potatoes Can Supply Enough Power To Light A Room For 40 Days
Woah – now this is some cool science!
If you ever find yourself without power (ya know, like poor Texans did last month) you might be wondering what you can do for light aside from traditional battery operated flashlights and lanterns.
Well, this might just be the coolest way to light up the dark… boiled potatoes!
Yes, I said potatoes as-in the food everyone loves!
Potatoes are used for so many delicious foods such as mashed potatoes, fries, tater tots and the list goes on.
But aside from being delicious, potatoes can actually be used as an energy source much like a battery.
Cool, right?
A professor named Haim Rabinowitch at the Hebrew University Of Jerusalem found that by putting two metal rods into a potato, it created a chemical reaction allowing it to supply power.
What’s even cooler, they found that if you boiled the potatoes for 8 minutes, it gave a ton more energy.
In fact, boiled potatoes are about 6 times more inexpensive than a regular 1.5 v AA battery.
And a boiled potato can provide enough power to light a room for up to 40 hours! Isn’t that amazing?
So, sounds like we all need to learn how to create potato batteries in case we are even in a bind and need some electricity! I say, keep these items handy in your emergency kit at all times!
You can see how these Potato Batteries are made below.
Where can you buy and what are the wires and clips called?
@Evelyn, any radio shack. Alligator clamps.
@Steve – Hilarious!!! Radio Shack! There hasn’t been a Radio Shack within 50 miles of my house in five years. LOL
@Evelyn, Try Harbor Freight.
What are the names of the items to purchase to make your potato light.
Where can you purchase theses items.
@Patty,
I’m 70 years old and would like to show my grandson how to do this.
Please be patient I would like to learn how to do this. Thank you.
Common sense
For all you morons that can’t think of how to boil if you have an electric stove & haven’t heard of building a fire, gas stoves & bar-b-qs, charcoal grills your survival skills are nonexistent. Just relax you are in essence draining the gene pool of idiots. Thank you for your self sacrifice to mankind.
@Redgater, amen!!!
@Redgater, Ha Right!! ???
@Jaimie Ostrander,
You three are the morons. The woman gave her age and probably never had an interest in things mechanical.
@Redgater,
Play Nice, it’s good for the planet
@Redgater, I guess you just couldn’t wait to show the world who’s the idiot. Disrespectful moron!
What do you use to put on the rods
@Judy Curl, your fingers
You told about the potatoes, now give the directions for doing it
they don’t have to be boiled to work, boiling makes them produce more power and last longer too…an un-cooked one works well also.
@Georgia N landersh, have you tried it yourself
@Theresa – I did this as a kid, but used it to power a small alarm clock instead of a light bulb (incandescent lights used to take quite a bit of power). Yes – it works.
What does it take to turn a potato on? When it gets steamy & then orgasmically light up!.
What kind of cords are they using ?????
@Shawna, Theres a Brand New Concept out there , caLLED ”FIRE” ! ( LIBERAL ..? )
If you don’t have electricity how do you boil the potato duh??!
@Paula, really now…. a few ways!! If you have a gas stove or cooktop light stove with a match/lighter then boil OR build an outside fire pit boil OR wood stove boil!!!
@Paula, GAS stove ?
@Paula, BBQ grill
@Paula, Gas stove, cook on the grill, build a fire in a pit and set the pot on it…..Geez Paula, you are going to be in big trouble if the Sh*t hits the fan and you have to survive.
@Paula, put water and potato in a saucepan , place on gas stove , boil ?!!
@Paula, have you heard of natural gas?
@Paula, burn fuel in a camp stope, like humans have done for thousands of years, until about the last 100. You may find it shocking that many places in the world still don’t use a lot of electricity.
@Sandra Trudeau, If you have gas you do not need to make batteries to make light. Duh!
@Paula, a lot of people have had stoves.
@Lonnie, gas
@Paula, With your husband’s nutsack. ?
@Sandra Trudeau, … LMFAO ????
@Paula, I have a Propane (Many have Natural Gas) Cook Stove; AND, an Outside Propane BBQ.
@Paula, OMG you just didn’t ask that did you? Take a moment to figure this one out Paula.
@Texas Lady, If your stove is electric, heat electric, hot water tank electric, how do you boil potatoes? Take as long as you need to figure this one out, Texas lady.
@Paula, Some people have gas stoves, DUH !!
@Paula, did you every heard about a wooden fire ?. Light up some wood and boil your potatoes for 8 minutes
@Paula, Paula, you are too dumb to live.
@Abe, Did you ever HEARD. Moron.
@Rick, sorry but farts don’t count
@Mara, sorry but “camp stope” have only been around for app. 150 years.
@Abe, learn how to construct a sentence please. ” did you every heard” is not even in the English language.
Question So what do I need to do to make the potato light up a lot?
@Sherri,
@Sherri,
@Sherri, lots of potatoes
How do you boil the potato if you have no power.
@aynne ames, gas stove?♀️?♀️?♀️
@aynne ames, in that case just use tomatoes for a similar experience
@aynne ames
Break out your Coleman camping stove, Your bar B Q, or your survival fire starting supplies.
@aynne ames, wow… How about build a fire? Amazes me how retarded some of you people are.
@Andrew, It amazes me how rude some of you people are! What would it have cost you to have been kind for one nanosecond? Think about it!
its ok to use lightting in the bike
That’s a very simple and interesting project to teach but in countries that have no reliable power source or food I would think eating the potato would take precedence.
@Nit witt,
I agree
@nickname Bug,
I didn’t know. I just went through the Texas blackout. It’s true we learn something new every day. I’m trained in a different area of life. This? Is new info to me…
@Jill, We used to play with this all the time when I was a kid. Best part is that if you don’t mess with the spud too much for those 2 days that you can still have the spud as hash browns. In an emergency situation where supply systems are disrupted, it’s a pretty real scenario. Let permies dot com become your 2021 addiction. 😉 Fm AK.
Thanks for the inspiration of potatoe batteries!
@Theresa (Mendez)Carina,
Potato, no e unless plural
i won second place in the science fair in the 6th grade doing this same demonstration. Nothing new has been discovered.
@P Smith, I don’t know how old you are but I’m a senior and I said the same thing. That it’s nothing new. It is amazing though. ?
@Gail, certainly is amazing! What’s new is the studies being done to make it an efficient power source of energy in third world countries!
@P Smith, The new discovery was that boiled potatoes created more, stronger power than the raw ones.
@P Smith, I think it’s awesome. Did I miss a list or is it just that pic ?
@Lesli, There is a video at the very end of the article on how to do it. ?
@Dana Stoba, so if you don’t have electricity and confined to the house(as many have electrified homes) and you do have potatoes you will have to use more potatoes to get same amount of light as those who were able to cook them.
@Kat, That would be the sun, not spuds.
@P Smith, what was the first place project?
@P Smith,
Where have all the editors gone?
@CoCo, probably electrocuted
@CoCo, I thought you knew that readers are the new editors.
@CoCo, Fiverr ?
But you not saying in detail how to do it bc it nit just boiling a potatoes and inserting the potato inside . Explain don’t know why they come out and say half stories
@Lola, I tried it, Boil the potato for 8 min an screw in a light bulb ? it works !! If you don’t boil it you have to stick 2 metal rods in
@ClAtlanta, if I understand, you put a lightbulb into the potato with no screws or wires? Do it need to be a certain type of bulb or potatoe?
@Lola, There is a video of “how to” at the very end of the article. ?
@Meg,
There’s a video. But nothing about the wires and hook up
Did you know that if you boil a lightbulb it turns into a potato.
@Renrag, ahahahahahahahahahahaha,ahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!’
Saw this in the 80’s on Mr. Wizard.
Now that is what I call a “bud”light
@Richard peters,
A spud light!
@Richard peters, you mean “spud light”
I was hoping they would show in detail how to actually make it work.
@Mo,
@Linda, I had the same question but some of the earlier post said that you literally just boil it for eight minutes and stick a lightbulb in it and they said that it worked. I’ll have to try it myself, sounds like a great idea!!
@Mo, There’s a video at the very end of the article ?
The title says light for 40 days, the article says 40 hours, which is it?
@Dan, probably 40 hours, as a potato would rot well before 40 days
No electricity make a small confined fire and boil your water in a pot….. if you have a fire pit or make your own with stone find branches, whichever to give you a decent sized fire to work with.
@Charladan Berger, Right! And if you can boil your potato using fire – you’ve already got light, so go ahead and eat the spud
Super cool about the potato light.But unless you have a way to bake that potato without electricity it won’t do in a pinch. Hope it will give enough light without the baked boost.
@LeeAnn, will if you have a gas stove. we keep water because we are on a well. we could do this
@suzanne, Article says boiled potatoes…… wonder if method of cooking makes a difference….. perhaps needed water content ?
@suzanne,
@Greg, We should all go an pay a visit to the Professor Haim Rabinowitch at his University in Jerusalem an get some answers,we just need the FACTS ?
Hopefully you have gas
@LeeAnn,
@suzanne, what interests me is the copper and zinc foil. Copper salts are toxic; you might not want to eat the potato after using it with copper. What other metal foils would be safe enough and cheap enough to be useful? (For example, as mentioned, zinc might be OK, but avoid using plutonium.)