2023-07-15 18:40:42
Article informationAuthor, Faith OshokoRole, BBC Pidgin
an hour ago
As videos continue to circulate on social media showing people switching on rechargeable bulbs by placing them on uprooted trees, BBC Pidgin spoke to experts to uncover the real story behind these videos.
Online videos show how rechargeable bulbs light up when placed on top of uprooted trees.
A Kenyan community seems to have gone a step further by declaring in a YouTube video that they would use this method to supply their street with electricity.
“If they scratch trees, they won’t have electricity. When they’ve scratched around ten trees without success, they’ll stop.”
So says Professor Idowu Farai, from the Physics Department of the University of Ibadan.
Professor Farai said: “Too many people have asked me this question in the past and I feel like these questions give way too much weight to these kinds of videos.”
In fact, a video has also been released which shows a rechargeable bulb lighting up when placed on a person’s genitals.
Regarding the claims of electricity produced by trees, Prof. Farai replied that it is impossible to generate electricity from trees.
He explains that the electricity that produces the light on the bulb comes from the battery attached to the bulb.
The trees simply act as the object that completes the electrical circuit.
He adds, “Once you complete the circuit, the electricity begins to flow. To complete the circuit, simply place the back end of the bulb on a hard surface.”
This statement was echoed by another expert, Simeon Anieloka, who said: “the tree is a weak element”.
That’s why they have to scrape the bark to find the moisture that connects the two ends of the battery, which already contains energy.
A tree has a life, so even if electricity passes through it, it may end up dying, as it does when lightning strikes, and as it does with human beings.”
Engineer Anieloka is a team leader at First Independent Power Limited in Rivers State, Southern Nigeria.
He explains that “when you cut down a tree, you expose its moisture, so when it comes in contact with the rechargeable bulb, the tree acts as a conductor to connect the positive and negative charges of the bulb and the light. lights up”.
“The same thing happens if the bulb comes into contact with the human body.”
This means that the light bulb, which already has a rechargeable battery, contains the current and the tree, as a weak conductor, only turns on the light.
image copyrightSIMEON ANIELOKA
image caption,
Simeon Anieloka has a twelve-year career in the electric power sector
This wouldn’t be the first time that random objects have been linked to power generation.
In January 2023, viral videos were released claiming that certain rocks in Africa had the ability to generate electricity.
However, Professor Stuart Haszeldine, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, denied the videos saying: “I doubt these videos represent free electrical energy, I haven’t seen anything like it. geologically and I think the rocks have been connected to electrical power sources, which is not apparent in this tightly framed video.”
image caption,
A few months ago it was misinformation about stones that generate electricity circulating in social networks
The question of alternative means of electricity production follows the increase in the price of fuel and rumors that raise fears of an increase in the price of electricity in Nigeria.
Last June, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed the new Electricity Act 2023 which opens the market to states, individuals and businesses for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.
This means that there will no longer be a monopoly in the electricity sector and that states will now be allowed to grant licenses to private investors to operate mini-grids and power plants.
Mr Anieloka says: “Scientists have studied different sources of electricity and, for now, trees are not on the list.”
These sources are: solar, nuclear, hydraulic, geothermal, chemical and tidal.
The method of extracting electricity from these sources sheds light on why placing a light bulb on a tree may not be the best way to generate electricity.
Take the example of solar energy. Mr Anieloka explains that “solar panels are made with materials that emit electrons when the sun shines on them, the electrons are routed to a charge regulator which controls the current going to the battery.”
The battery is then fitted with an inverter which transforms direct current into alternating current, used in the house, and a transformer which transforms the saved volt levels into usable levels.
Hydropower refers to dams used for electricity generation, where the flow of a body of water is used to spin a turbine that drives a generator and produces electricity.
Nuclear power, which is not available in Nigeria due to the protection mechanism needed to operate, breaks down metals by releasing heat that boils water to spin a steam turbine and generate electricity.
The geothermal method also spins a steam turbine to generate electricity using the heat from molten lava at the earth’s core.
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