(Don't do this at home) Is there an easy way to boil water using household batteries?
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capet (
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March 13th, 2022
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Is there an easy way to boil water using household batteries (Like aa, aaa, 9v) and no other “sophisticated” components? If so, what is the easiest way and what safety precautions should I take?
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7 Answers
I can’t see how. Batteries are generally 1.5 (or 9) volts, but with low, low amperage. Meaning you’re not going to get the battey to be able to push enough power long enough to make a difference,
An average kettle needs somewhere around 1800 wats (some more, some less) for 5–6 minutes to boil water.
You are better off using the battery to create a spark that will set something on fire (paper, wood, gasoline, propane) and use that do boil the water.
Think about this question. I mean it’s meaningless. Easy compared to what? Grabbing a pan full of water and placing it on a stove? How much water? A thimble load? A swimming pool? Household batteries?
1 AA battery has 3.75 watt-hours. It takes about 2400 watt-hours to boil a gallon of water over an hour. That means you’d need 640 non-rechargeable AA batteries to boil a gallon of water with perfect efficiency. The cheapest I could find them was $0.22 per battery which means it would cost $140.80 to boil that gallon of water (again, assuming perfect efficiency—which isn’t possible). I’m with @elbanditoroso. Use the battery to spark a fire.
Yes!
Get yourself a SS or cast iron kettle, a 9V battery, some steel wool, kindling and a bunch of firewood. Build up the fire bundle starting with the steel wool, then the kindling and finally the firewood. Hang the kettle 6–10 inches over the fire bundle. Fill the kettle with water. Put some lighter fluid or oil on a paper towel or rag just over the steel wool. Now take the 9V battery and briefly touch it to the steel wool. Repeat if needed until you have a good rolling fire. You should be boiling the water in about 30 min. Do this outside.
How much water do you want to boil? I agree with @gorillapaws about the large number of AA batteries needed if you are trying to boil a gallon of water.
But if you only want to boil a few ml then you have a chance of success.
Yes, I can see boiling a drop of water using an AA connected to a little nichrome loop.
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