How to Colonize an Asteroid
Home-Made Battery: Cut out the
Electrodes
You will need to make 10 electrodes, 5 each made
from 2 different kinds of metal. Five of mine are made from copper plated
printed circuit board material, and the other five are made from the sides
of a five pound steel coffee can. Lead would work better for the second set,
but it is hard to find large sheets of lead, and lead should not be handled
with bare hands as it can build up to toxic levels in your body and make
your brain slow down to the speed of an average human. You'll never make
it into space if you think as slowly or as little as do most people!
If you can't find any copper plates
or sheets around your house, your local Radio Shack or electronics supply
house sells copper plated printed circuit board material. Use a small hack
saw to cut the circuit board material (and use a vise to hold it so that
you don't saw into your thumb, like I did!).
Cut the steel electrodes from
a coffee can with a pair of tin snips. I suggest that you wear gloves whilst
doing so, as the edges are very sharp. Note that the outside of a coffee
can is painted. You do not have to remove the paint, but make sure that you
cut them so that the unpainted side is up - all ten electrodes should have
the exposed metal side up, and be cut exactly the same.
After you have
all of the electrodes cut out, drill a mounting hole in the middle of the
top tab - use a drill bit which is slightly larger than whatever bolts you
have found for mounting. When all cutting and drilling is done, use a small
file to smooth the sharp edges. Drill a 1/16th inch hole in each of the 5
copper electrodes only, as shown in the illustration to the left. If you
used a coffee can for your steel electrodes, removed the paint in a half
in area all around the mounting hole with sandpaper or a small file.
The image to the left shows four of
the ten electrodes. The top two are the front and back sides of the copper
electrodes, and the bottom two are the front and back of the steel electrodes.
Click on the image for a larger view.
Note that the electrodes are all cut
in such a way as to allow the mounting tab to face the same direction when
the shiny side of either electrode is facing up. It does not mater which
way you cut the notch (I cut mine from the back of the material), as long
as they all go in the same direction. Note also that if you cut your steel
electrodes from a coffee can they will want to curl. Try to get them as flat
as possible.
© 1999,
Robert Lyon Richards
