# Have seroius attempts at "Hamster Power" been tried? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750 "2003-01-30T23:45:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/1 "2003-01-30T23:45:11Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/2 "2003-01-30T23:53:33Z")
[How’s this?](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_508402.html) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/3 "2003-01-31T00:07:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/4 "2003-01-31T00:13:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*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? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/5 "2003-01-31T00:31:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/6 "2003-01-31T00:33:37Z")
In the meantime, [this.](http://www.aaaugh.com/jokes/hamster_power.html) was highly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/7 "2003-01-31T00:42:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/8 "2003-01-31T01:04:16Z")
Anyway, I think you’ll find there’s a ‘p’ in hampster 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@Jeff41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff41)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/9 "2003-01-31T01:17:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/10 "2003-01-31T01:24:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Anyway, I think you’ll find there’s a ‘p’ in hampster 😉 \*\* Only in the pronounciation. from [Merriam Webster Dictionary On-Line](http://www.m-w.com) > [@](#): > > Main Entry: ham·ster > Pronunciation: 'ham(p)-st&r > Function: noun > Etymology: German, from Old High German hamustro, of Slavic origin; akin to Old Russian chomestoru hamster, of Iranian origin; akin to Avestan hamaEstar- oppressor > Date: 1607 > : any of a subfamily (Cricetinae) of small Old World rodents having very large cheek pouches But if you type in “hampster” you get: > [@](#): > > The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the Dictionary search box to the right. > > Suggestions for hampster: > 1. hamster > 2. Hampstead > 3. Hempstead > 4. hampers > 5. hemipterous > 6. hampered > 7. Hampshires > 8. hemipteran > 9. whoremaster > 10. Hammerstein > 11. homopterous I like number 9, myself… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/11 "2003-01-31T01:33:07Z")
No, there’s definitely a ‘p’ in ‘ham **p** ster’ \<— 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’. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/12 "2003-01-31T01:44:35Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/13 "2003-01-31T01:49:39Z")
Well, instead of a hamster, how about substituting a ferret or something? Would that provide adequate power to light a light bulb? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/14 "2003-01-31T01:50:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/15 "2003-01-31T01:58:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*No, it doesn’t have anything to do with this really (although I should probably point out that there’s no [/p] in **Mangetout** ) > > \*\* I wonder if **Gaudere** has tried anything like this? ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/16 "2003-01-31T02:10:24Z")
\ A p in hampster? How excrescent! \ ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/17 "2003-01-31T02:18:17Z")
\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!”\ ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/18 "2003-01-31T03:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pravnik \* > \*\*[How’s this?](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_508402.html) \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/19 "2003-01-31T03:17:18Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750/20 "2003-01-31T03:27:47Z")
And I thought I was the only person who mind was cluttered up with old Mad bits [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-seroius-attempts-at-hamster-power-been-tried/151750.md?page=2)