Hi all,
I'm wondering what the best way is to convert the energy of a rotating axle into heat. The goal is to boil water by pedaling a bicycle. It doesn't have to be a lot of water, and it doesn't have to be all at once. I'd love any suggestions. Thanks,
-Addison
You could convert the mechanical energy into electrical and use a resistance heater to boil the water. I have no clue how long that would take though.
Trippy
28th October 2007 - 10:00 AM
You can do it even more directly by friction, or, you can bare inmind that beating an egg raises it's temperature (a little).
meBigGuy
28th October 2007 - 10:40 AM
As nomchu said, seems simple enough to get a generator and an electric immersion heater. Or, just resistive elements that can be immersed in the water. Anyway, I think the immersion heater technique will be the best for transferring maximum energy to the water.
You can calculate how many calories it will take to heat a litre of water, since 1 Calorie (big Calorie) will heat 1 kg of water by 1 degree C. Then factor in the generator's efficiency and the heat loss in the container.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie