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Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
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Heliophage
10/17/09

In reply to The Solar Decathlon Winner
I didn't read the comments back when this post had an Apple Store reference, and now I fear those few minutes of entertainment are lost forever. :(

I am reminded, however, to rewatch 2001: A Space Odyssey. #solar
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ripfire
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
Sorry blondes. Brunettes only.
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anon
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
I was waffling on whether or not this was a hoax, so I did some Googling. I found this article entitled "Semiconductor Properties of Natural Melanins".

[www.researchgate.net]
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ripfire
09/09/09

@craighyatt: That title right there contradicts this article.

How can melanin (a semiconductor) be a good conductor?
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anon
09/09/09

@ripfire: I assume you aren't pranking me. :) As I understand it, semiconductors make good solar cells because it's easy or photons of light to knock electrons loose. That being said, I tested some of my wife's jet-black hair and got nothing. Not conductive. No electrical potential when exposed to UV. Not a definitive experiment, of course.
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acuraboytl
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
Interesting to note, conductivity has only been attained in subjects with high concentrations of Eumelanin (Black and Brown), so this would only work with black or very dark brown colored hair. Sorry Matt, you'll have to buy hair by the kilo for this project...
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anon
09/09/09

@acuraboytl: My wife's hair is jet black, but does not conduct at all. I tested it. She must be used to me. She didn't even blink when I said, "Honey, I need to cut off a chunk of your hair to check conductivity and semiconductor properties." :)
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Rosa Golijan
09/09/09

@craighyatt: Now that's love. :)
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CaesarDia
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
I am horrified that Gizmodo has published this article verbatim, without even questioning the basic science behind this "invention". If hair were a good conductor then you couldn't staticly charge a baloon with it!

Also, melanin is really bad at charge separation, a basic requirement for solar cells. It evolved to efficiently turn UV radiation into heat to protect us from the sun. If it produced charge it would to more harm than good!

My PhD is in this field so I think I am qualified to say that this is really suspect. This needs much more rigorous reporting before people should be gushing about this kid being the next "Edison".
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MePerson
09/09/09

@CaesarDia: The oil in your hair stops any charge from dissapating. Also, it's a semiconductor.

But hey, you have the PhD, so I'm probably wrong. :)
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theimmc
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
Erm.. Solar Green is People?
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MaQ
09/09/09

@theimmc:
It's MATRIX I tell you !!
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anon
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
Wow! Next thing you know, they'll be generating heat from regular old wood.
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor

Hw Sn Frncsc wll srvv th pcl
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dolo54 blows minds and blows engines! promoted this comment Edited at 09/09/09 7:26 PM

Rosa Golijan
09/09/09

@Shamoononon Beer Lover: There went my breakfast.

I'm not trying to diet, so let's keep pics like that out of the comments for now. Deal?
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dolo54 blows minds and blows engines!
09/09/09

@Shamoononon Beer Lover: that's inappropriate and possibly bannable. But I laughed anyhow...
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maztec
09/09/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
What is the efficiency? Four times cheaper, but just how much energy is put out by it?
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deanbmmv
09/09/09

@maztec: Who cares. Its hair, its cheap, as long as it'll power something its good.
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redangel7
09/09/09

@deanbmmv: But it won't be funny if it requires 100 square feet panel to charge an iPod
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deanbmmv
09/09/09

@redangel7: And why would people who can't afford batteries be wanting iPods?
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appletoad
09/08/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
I just realised that this kid is recycling Edison's discovery that led him to use hair in his first working light bulb.
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Mason Ice
09/08/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
We will all be bald but we will have cheap energy. I guess that is why so many people in futuristic movies have no hair.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/09/09

@Mason Ice: They aren't bald, it's a solar panel for a sex machine.
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Weihovah
09/08/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
hair is not a renewable resource for everyone
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spannu
09/08/09

@Weihovah: Just because you don't have any drapes doesn't mean we can't use the curtains.

...I'm talking about armpits, of course.
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InvaderPhlegm
09/09/09

@spannu: You guys have to think outside the box a little more. He's got it working with human hair, but there is nothing to state that the same process cannot be made to work with animal hair.

Not all animals produce fur. Some animals, like poodles for example, don't grow fur, but grow hair instead. Harvesting enough hair to make it worthwhile, would be similar to harvesting wool; an industry that literally cloths hundreds of millions of people for thousands of years.

You make a list of which animals grow hair, figure out which animals on the list are the best for farming, and then you farm them and harvest their hair periodically. And since like sheered sheep, they will simply grow more back . . . well, you get the picture.

And like with sheep, you can even breed whatever animal you chose, to produce offspring which grow more hair per season than the parents did. There is no reason why in a couple of decades, the entire hair for solar power thing, could not be a multi-billion dollar, global industry.

And best part, many of the same countries that desperately need a cheap, renewable energy source to power their nations, are also primarily agrarian - they can grow their own energy/hair industry, and not get caught up in owing trillions of dollars to the major Western powers in the process.

To think, the results of this simple experiment by a Nepalese teenager in the right hands, could very well completely change the face of the world over the next century, and may actually go down as one of the most important discoveries of the 21st Century.

It's weird when you think about it in those terms, but if anyone could manage to provide adequate Green energy for the entire developing world by any other means, we'd be calling it just that, as they would effectively have created one of the most important discoveries in modern history.

Cheap, affordable solar power through hair? Who'da thunkit?
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appletoad
09/08/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
Rosa, maybe you can use this tech to charge your laptop battery, you might be able to completely avoid plugging into the mains! [I mean this in the nice way, obviously]
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Rosa Golijan
09/08/09

@appletoad: Are you trying to say that I have a lot of hair?
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Walljasper
09/08/09

In reply to Forget Silicon, This Teenager's Solar Panel Uses Human Hair as a Conductor
The next time I get my belly/back wax or have other manscaping performed around gooch gulch, I shall put aside the hairs for this worthy cause. Pounds.
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InsidiousTuna
09/08/09

@Walljasper: Gooch Gulch sounds like a FernGully-themed porn.
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Walljasper
09/09/09

@InsidiousTuna: lol. The road-less-traveled between Marble Bag and Balloon Knot.
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MaWeiTao
08/28/09

In reply to What Is This?
These things are cool, but I'd say they're only feasible in the desert. I'm fairly certain those mirrors wont hold up to much abuse and any amount of debris on the surface will kill efficiency.
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