• Question: Could you harness energy from the useless movement of feet, e.g. tapping? Maybe a movement harnessing generator in the shoe?

    Asked by evereynolds to Akram, David, Gill, Jack, laurenceharwood on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Jack Snape

      Jack Snape answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Yes, there are some technologies that can do this using something called “Piezoelectricity” …. which means whens you squash them in some way, they produce an electric current.

      The problem is, there isn’t much energy in those movements compared to the energy from a power station, so we can only use them for little things.

      That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them though 🙂

    • Photo: Akram Alomainy

      Akram Alomainy answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Hi Everynolds, great questions and I cannot add any further to Jack’s answer except that if we have a dancing room then that tapping and moving will create good energy t maybe charge one device or more 😉 So get moving and grooving guys 😀

    • Photo: Laurence Harwood

      Laurence Harwood answered on 17 Mar 2012:

      Here’s somewhere that apparently “useless” movement is useful. When we get cold we shiver. This repeated and rapid contraction and relaxation of muscles causes them to generate heat (just as we get hot when we do lots of physical exercise for instance). This warms up the body and fights against cold, stopping us from cooling down so that we eventually die. Of course, this is only a short term measure. Sooner or later we need to get warm again as shivering can only cope with so much temperature drop and for so long before we need to replenish out energy supplies by eating.

    • Photo: Gill Menzies

      Gill Menzies answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      I like your thinking – sometimes idle thoughts like this are the birthplace of the best inventions …. the story goes that Isaac Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell from a tree and hit him on the head…….

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