14 DAY TRIAL // Brainiacs at the Georgia Institute of Technology are now working on an innovative backpack that has high chances to become very popular among environmentalists.
Long story short, the researchers who are now busy developing the high-tech backpack say that their creation will make it possible for people to charge their gadgets on the go, and use solely clean energy in order to do so.
According to Live Science, the backpack will work by harvesting the energy of human motion, turning it into electricity and then allowing its wearer to use this power to revive their phone, tablet, e-reader and whatnot.
Otherwise put, all people would have to do in order to use clean energy to charge their gadgets would be to go for a walk and make sure to take the Georgia Institute of Technology researchers' backpack with them.
The scientists working on this project explain that their creation works by making the most of vibrations that are naturally produced when your average Joe or Jane is busy walking.
It comprises a device made up of very thin plastic sheets that are interlocked in a rhombic grid, they further detail. It is this device that makes it possible to harvest the energy of human motion.
Thus, while the backpacker's wearer is walking, the plastic sheets cannot help but also move due to the natural vibrations that they are exposed to.
Specifically, the sheets come into contact with one another and then separate at regular intervals. This constant movement translates into the production of an alternating electric current.
Talking to the press, scientist Zhong Lin Wang explained that the addition of nanomaterials helped maximize the contact between the plastic sheets in the device, and consequently upped power output.
The researchers have carried out a series of tests and say that, according to their estimates, the average person will be able to produce somewhere between 2 and 5 watts of energy while walking around with this backpack on their back.
They say that, all things considered, this output would be more than enough to charge either a phone or some other electronic device whose energy requirement is not all that great.
Although it will be a while until the backpack actually becomes available to the general public, the scientists who invented it already have a target audience in mind.
Thus, they say that their creation will most likely appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, engineers who spend significant amounts of time working in the field, and military personnel and emergency responders in isolated regions.