I find your answer leaving me unsatisfied.
If, as you say, millions of people know this info already, millions of people will have tried already what I am going to try. And you only have to look around you to see they did not succeed. So, what gives? I have already seen that voltage & amps can be increased indefinitely using these 'cells' (or whatever you want to call them) and from here we only need maths to calculate what we can do with our constant stream of free energy. Am grateful to @j85063 for helping me find the right maths of course, but now that I have understood this fully, I don't get what is the block between here and a bank of batteries which gets charged over-night to power a home?
You mentioned dozens of independent discoveries and I am wondering if you ever tried this particular experiment yourself?
Like I said, I did it in Physics 11, which for me was in 1990, along with millions of other students. It's required of anyone who takes physics, chemistry, and most general science courses. Your specific setup is called a galvanic cell, and I'm surprised your wife (who you say is educated/trained in this subject) could not fill you in, if you don't want to discover the answer to your own question yourself.
Unfortunately Sabrina's training has been largely forgotten. She didn't even believe this would work when I told her what I was doing! Hence my having to pick up her old educational books which were all in French so even harder for me to understand.
I checked your link and I see a whole bunch of reading and potentially further research just to understand what I am reading. It's like another language to someone who knows nothing about this! But I don't see any mention of using the earth between the cathode and anode in there?
I was hoping, if you knew the reason why this isn't going to work, that you might share it with me prior to the buying of a car battery and inverter? This little adventure has already cost me a fair bit (copper isn't cheap).
I rely on the experience of people like yourself & @j85063 at times like this and it doesn't seem in line with your character to let me go ahead with something knowing I am doomed to fail, without alerting me to what the stumbling block might be.
The answer is: it doesn't really last forever. The diodes are used up in the chemical reaction. You've created a rudimentary battery, just like a Duracell, which converts chemical energy into electric energy. It wears out and is not rechargeable. This information is available with a quick look on any search engine, but I guess you would rather read it from a fellow blogger. There are thousands of YouTube videos about it.
I'm not withholding information from you! If you're looking for further experiments to try, consider using distilled (100% pure) water instead of tapwater (or dirt). Also try adding table salt to your water. Also try baking soda or vinegar (to change the pH of the conductive solution).
Nothing wrong with trying to recharge a car battery this way. That's something I haven't done and would be interested in the results. Being able to solve a dead battery on the side of the road, with nothing but some water, wires, and pieces of 2 different kinds of metal, even if it's not "infinite", would be cool.
Absolutely! I can prove anything I like with a "quick look on any search engine". So your experience is always preferable.
Thank you for enlightening me. I feel much better now knowing the potential problem at the outset. Though I am confused a little by your words "used up" and keen now to see how a zinc plated bolt can be used up when placed in the soil inside a copper pipe? In time the answer will become apparent I suppose!
Hey, I think you will find my current post on electroculture interesting and potentially helpful in your garden. Would be interested to get your thoughts on that topic too!
Thanks again for the pointer here.
My experience is 30 years old, which is why I refer you to Wikipedia and YouTube for details.
The metals are dissolving into the water. It's not immediate so you wouldn't notice much in the short timeframe you're testing it for. Like I said, you've made a simple battery, much like a "coppertop" Duracell etc. They are not "infinite" as your title claims. You're also giving off various gases, some of them deadly like Cl2, and some flammable like H2, so be careful where you run your tests.
You keep mentioning soil, but as I keep saying, you're just making your rudimentary battery dirty. You might as well be adding orange food colouring, or broccoli juice, or eye of newt to the water. In fact, that would be preferrable because then you wouldn't have dirt all over the diodes.
As far as I am concerned your 30 years experience trumps the highly censored Wiki and YouTube by far!
What if there were other energies present in the ground not mentioned by Wiki?
I didn't get into it in this post but I believe the orientation of these cells (when placed in the ground) is important because when they are placed in alignment with our magnetic north/south they will produce a higher output. You'll see...
I also intend to paint the outside of my copper cells in a particular way with red lacquer paint before they are buried which I believe will protect them from long term corrosion.
Something else I considered is that an open field of soil is not at all the same thing as an enclosed cell of water (or whatever the transfer medium is). The reason for this is the micro-organisms in healthy soil which are constantly moving around and doing their thing. As pointed out in my most recent post, plants and soil respond very well to this kind of low voltage electricity and so the micro-organisms will continue to be super active around the cells, constantly replenishing the soil. The only thing which then needs to be added from time to time (if it doesn't rain) is water.
And while these earth batteries may not last forever, they will certainly last a long time. As long as it takes to corrode away the diodes. Which surely must be years or even decades?
Childish disingenuous comments, dude. You're on your own from here.
I do apologise if I have offended you with my words. That was not at all my intention.
Was finding this conversation super interesting and rather hoped you might point me towards some solid data which shows how long these cells can last in the soil. But I guess you're not up for that.
Thank you for your guidance on this. And as I mentioned before do please check out my electroculture posts. The information there has the capacity to change a person's life.