In the US this ball would most likely just be a luxury item but in other developing countries it could be of some major help. Even in the video below the kids are talking about the ball powering their ipod or to charge their cell phone. I feel like this sort of advertising would only work in the US. But on a second thought what if kids were given the ball and had to power their video games with it, but make it so they can only power their video game for as long as the kid has played with the soccer ball outside.
Now, I know what you are thinking how could a soccer ball power a light bulb or anything really. Well, how it is done is by using a coil, magnet and a capacitor. As the children play with the ball, the energy on the ball will be transferred and the coil will slide across the magnet. This energy is then stored in the capacitor much like charging a battery. When enough energy is stored there is a socket and the ball can be used much like an outlet on a wall here in the US.
This idea is new and probably not going to be very economical for the countries that need it but the inventors of this product has thought about that. They have decided to set up a buy one give one program much like the TOMS shoes. This will work when say someone here in the US will buy one of them another one will be given to someone in need.
Definitely a cool idea, and I like the impetus behind it. But I sometimes am bothered by our ready acceptance in the US of these small generators for African countries--we're happy to have them work so hard for a few watts and take ours for granted so readily. Can you imagine how American would react if Africans handed us soccer balls and said here, you can't have electricity until you play ball for a while? Seems to obscure some larger inequities.
ReplyDeleteBut I like the impulse.