If you're familiar with the drinking bird toy, you know it as a cheesy knickknack that's adorned office desktops for decades. But anyone with a background in thermodynamics knows that the novelty ...

At some point in your life you’ve almost certainly marveled at the classic drinking bird toy, and probably lost a few brain cells trying to figure out how it works. Don’t be ashamed if you ...

The future of energy in America 07:09. Scientists in Hong Kong and China have proposed a creative way to generate renewable energy —using a classic "drinking bird" figurine that may feel like a ...

Spoiler alert: The bird drinks faster if you give him whiskey!

Scientists have converted a children's "drinking bird" toy into a tool that generates usable amounts of electricity. The generator could one day be utilized to power a wide variety of small ...

At its core, the drinking bird is a heat engine, not that unlike a steam turbine or diesel engine. When the birds head dips in the water, it gets wet. When the water evaporates, the bird's head cools.

Inspired by the classic drinking bird toy, scientists in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China have developed an engine that efficiently converts energy from water evaporation into electricity to power ...

Home » Condensed matter » Drinking bird toy generates usable electricity. Condensed matter; Blog; Drinking bird toy generates usable electricity. 24 Mar 2024 Hamish Johnston. Dippy device: the team’s ...

The drinking bird works because of thermodynamics. The bird is made of a top bulb and a bottom bulb, separated by a narrow tube. Inside the bird is a liquid called dicloromethane, which evaporates ...

The retro “drinking bird” is making a surprising comeback — as the inspiration for a clean-energy generator that could one day power your watch and phone.

There are a few ways to harvest 10μW from the environment but, perhaps, none so much fun as a generator based on a ‘drinking bird’ toy built by researchers in China. Dubbed a DB-THG (drinking-bird ...