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Asked by Dr.ricktofen to Keegan on 25 Apr 2016. This question was also asked by Derek, Dustin.
Question: How do you make electricity out of dirt bacteria?
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Keegan Cooke answered on 25 Apr 2016:
I’m so glad you asked! If you want to see a video/pictures on this, you can check see those on our website here: http://www.mudwatt.com/pages/how-mudwatt-works.
Among the diverse communities of bacteria that live in soil, there are particular species with the unique ability to munch up nutrients and release electrons outside their own bodies. We collect those electrons in our MudWatt components and run them through our circuit to power things.
Comments
Clay commented on :
I knew Keegan will be excited about this question!
But my answer is, “Yes and no.”
Mud does not make electricity, but electricity can happen in mud.
Electricity is the flow of electrons, tiny negatively-charged particles that orbit the nucleus of an atom, but sometimes electrons get out of orbit.
In photosynthesis, chlorophyll in plant leaves releases oxygen while using carbon dioxide and water to capture the energy in light and store that energy as electrons in carbohydrates such as sugars and starches.
We think of breathing when we hear the word respiration; we breath in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. But breathing is only the process we use to supply oxygen to the cells in our body where respiration occurs. You can think of respiration in cells as the opposite of photosynthesis; cells use oxygen to digest the carbohydrates, releasing carbon dioxide and water, and energy as electrons. When animals eat food, the energy is released during digestion. In soil we call it decomposition.
Mud is just soil and water, and so there is not always a lot of oxygen available in mud. But not all organisms use oxygen, and it is these organisms that live in mud, certain kinds of bacteria (single-celled organisms) that can use elements or compounds other than oxygen for respiration, including iron, manganese, or compounds of nitrogen, sulfur, or carbon. And since these organisms are only a single cell, most of the digestion (decomposition) occurs outside the cell. The cells release substances into the soil that cut the bonds holding the sugars and starches together, releasing the electrons into the soil solution, the water that exists between the soil particles in mud.
Nature always wants things to be balanced, so the electrons go looking for a new home, and may react with any of the elements or compounds listed above. Soil scientists and microbiologists can place certain kinds of electrodes in the soil that induce a flow of the electrons released during decomposition. Now electrons are flowing, and we have electricity.
So, you cannot make electricity out of mud, but you can use the organisms that live in the soil to function like a battery if you capture the electrons released during decomposing organic materials such as sugars and starches.