

Kelvin's hydroelectric generator - jibiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_water_dropper

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Femur
That is fascinating. Other than with solar panels, I was unaware of any other
non-mechanical* method for generating electricity. I wonder what the
efficiency of this would be compared to a conventional hydroelectric
generator.

*Solar panels I suppose are technically mechanical because they rely on a photon striking a surface.

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jws
Maybe they are just waves when they interact. Never can tell with those
duplicitous photons.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Having seen one built before my eyes during a physics lecture, I had to make
one. There are some "gotchas," it's harder than it looks, but I've generated
enough voltage to spark a one inch gap.

It is cool.

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pkrumins
here is a video of it:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY1eyLEo8_A>

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skwiddor
the link at the bottom is also interesting
<http://amasci.com/emotor/kelvin.html>

esp. this bit see WEIRDNESS: really really gigantic generators

