I was wondering if anyone knew of cites leading to evidence of the existence of attempts at electricity generation via a turbine (i.e. “wheel”) powered by a trotting hamster (other than the SDMB 
). Not surprisingly, a Google search turned up only joke lists with this as the subject. While I indeed find this humorous, this question of a serious naturewas on my mind. Thanks!
I can’t imagine you’d get more than a few watts from your average hamster. It would be much more efficient to simply combine the hamster with an antihamster, which would supply enough power to run North American for ten years.
So, does that mean if only a few watts (say 5 for our purposes) were availiable from each hamster, does this mean that a bank of 14 wheels (or a treadmill upon which 14 hamsters are trotting as was used in that car I forgot about initially) connected to a 60 watt light bulb (two extra wheels/hamsters to allow for inconsistency) would effectively power the bulb?
Pretty much, although I suspect a hamster would be barely able to supply even one watt, on thinking about it. I’ve looked, but haven’t located any data on the power output of a typical hamster. I’ll keep searching, in the name of science.
In the meantime, this. was highly amusing.
I would imagine that more energy can be obtained by simply burning the equivalent amount of food that the hamster would eat and using the heat to drive a steam turbine or something.
Anyway, I think you’ll find there’s a ‘p’ in hampster
Or you might be able to get a few watts from incinerating the hamster itself. The downside to this is you’re only able to do it once.
Only in the pronounciation.
from Merriam Webster Dictionary On-Line
But if you type in “hampster” you get:
I like number 9, myself…
No, there’s definitely a ‘p’ in ‘hampster’ <— See? I’ve tried to make it stand out this time.
Nowhere did I suggest that ‘hampster’ is the correct spelling of the term for frail mortal rodents, nor would I.
But without a doubt, there is a ‘p’ in ‘hampster’.
Now, **Mangetout[/p], does hamster “P” really have much to do with this?
On second thought, it might; we wouldn’t want the poor saps electrocuting themselves with all that nice electricity they’re making!
Well, instead of a hamster, how about substituting a ferret or something? Would that provide adequate power to light a light bulb?
No, it doesn’t have anything to do with this really (although I should probably point out that there’s no [/p] in Mangetout)
Seriously, I reckon the output from a generator attached to a hamster wheel is going to be milliwatts at best - you could try it using a small electric motor (say one of those nice little ones out of a broken Sony Walkman) for a dynamo.
Lenz’s law means that if you put too much load on the dynamo, the wheel will be harder to turn; there’s a definite limit to the force that a hamster can apply.
I wonder if Gaudere has tried anything like this?
<linguistics joke> A p in hampster? How excrescent! </linguistics joke>
<off topic statistics joke>Three statisticians (is that a word? I only know this verbally) are out hunting for the first time. They see a deer, and one misses 5 feet to the left. The second shoots, and misses five feet to the right. The third jumps up excitedly and exclaims, “We hit it!”</off topic statistics joke>
Hey, they have a surfboard on wheels there. Ain’t that a skateboard?
Anyway, I’ve had an idea for years about outfitting an exercise gym with a resistance that stores the energy–lifting a large central weight, for instance, or storing it in batteries–that could be used later to power the house. An undergraduate I knew ten years ago had the same idea, and turned it in as a project.
“Chief, we need full power!”
“Full power, Admiral Nielen? I don’t know if our systems can take it!”
“You heard me, full power!”
(Chief goes into engine room, addresses crew)
“WE got orders to run full power, so I want two hamsters in every cage!”
“But Chief, remember what happened the last time we tried that?”
“Yeah, but this time put the males with the males, and the females with the females!”
— from Voyage to See What’s on the Bottom, Mad parody of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, from he mid-1960s.
I have too many brain cells devoted to this, instead of something useful.
And I thought I was the only person who mind was cluttered up with old Mad bits