If you ever wanted to turn the heat from your cup of tea or coffee into piston power, I have just the gadget for you. It’s a Low Temperature Differential Stirling engine model. Invented by Robert Stirling back in 1816, this engine produces power from temperature differences. You can place it on top of something warm or cold like a cup of tea, cup of ice, the hood of your car, computer, etc and it will spin. If you’re in to Steampunk type gizmos, this would be a fun addition to a collection, that will actually work. You can find complete models and kits on Amazon at different prices ranges, or if you’d rather go completely DIY, check out this how-to article from MAKE magazine.
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This is cool! When I was a kid I wanted to build one of these and made drawings and plans to make it really big with a gigantic Fresnel len that could also be used to shoot down invading aircraft and power an underground city where people would live and commute inside vacuum tubes… I was eight then
All engines act by exploiting a temperature difference. A Stirling engine is just an example of one particularly efficient design.
Really want to see some one making power from one of these.
Charge your mobile from your morning coffee.
@Paul except that you would have to remove it every time you wanted a sip
HA! Easy! On YouTube you can find about anything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwrWFb4dcDw
@Bob Too cool… and too noisy!