I spent a whole afternoon messing around with this, turning regular bricks into “electric bricks”, like some kind of mad scientist. Sounds crazy, right? But hear me out, it actually worked, kinda. I started with a pile of regular old red bricks, the kind you see lying around construction sites.
First, I grabbed one of those bricks and gave it a good once-over. Solid, heavy, nothing special. Then, I cooked up this weird coating made from a conducting polymer, PEDOT, it is said on the internet. Don’t ask me where I got the recipe, let’s just say the internet is a wonderful place. This PEDOT stuff is the key, apparently, it’s what makes the brick able to hold onto electricity.
Coating the Bricks
The mixing process was a bit messy. I won’t lie, I got some of that PEDOT goop on my shirt. But eventually, I had a decent batch ready to go. I carefully painted the bricks with the polymer, making sure to cover every nook and cranny. It felt like I was prepping them for some kind of weird art project. I even considered using them in my building, just imagine it!
Setting Up the Experiment
- Waiting Game: Once coated, I had to let the bricks dry. Patience isn’t my strong suit, but I managed to wait it out.
- Charging Time: I hooked up some wires and a power source to the dried bricks. This is where it got interesting, I actually tried to charge them like a battery.
- Fingers Crossed: I flipped the switch and… nothing exploded! That was a good start. I watched the voltage meter, and to my surprise, it started to creep up. The bricks were actually taking a charge.
Did it actually work?
Okay, so they didn’t exactly light up a whole house or anything, but I managed to power a small LED with one of the charged bricks. It was a dim light, sure, but it was definitely there. Proof that these bricks could hold some juice! I felt like a genius, even though I know this has probably been done before. But, hey, I did it in my own garage, with my own two hands! So, there you have it, my adventure in turning bricks into makeshift batteries. Not the most practical thing in the world, but a fun experiment nonetheless. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll all be living in houses made of electric bricks!
