Could You Charge an iPhone with the Electricity in Your Brain?

Ever since Morpheus explained how the machine use homo as batteries in The Matrix , we ’ve been beguile by the idea . But can the human body in reality bring forth enough current to do anything useful ? We decided to discover out , by asking expert how long it would take a human brain to point an iPhone .

Before we undertake to answer this press interrogative sentence , a few disclaimers . 1 ) We ’re not really know in the Matrix . 2 ) While the human wit produces electricity all the time , there is no known way for us to harness it . We ’d be much better off trying to power our twist through physical exercise . But nous are more interesting . 3 ) The human brainiac is incredibly an complicated , ill understood simple machine , and the numbers I ’m presenting here should be taken as very rough estimation .

Now that we ’ve pay back the fine photographic print out of the mode , let ’s detect out whether our brains valuate up to a rampart courser .

When we recollect electrical energy , we remember lightning bolts , power cables , and generators . But these are just a few examples of a instinctive phenomenon that ’s happen all around us , all the sentence . Electricity is simply the period of electric charge across a gradient . In our computers and phones , copper wires shift electron around . In living organism , charge gradient across membranes produce electrical energy in the form of flow ions . The appendage that bring about electricity are actually pretty divers , but the result is always the same : Power . When we stop up our devices into the wall , the catamenia of electron do their displays to light up and take into account command to be processed . When our neurons fervency , electrical impulses cause us to dream , laugh , opine , see , and move .

There are a couple different terms that get thrown around a lot when we talk about electrical energy . Here ’s a abbreviated definition of each .

potential difference : Voltage is the pressure , or force out of electricity . One V ( V ) is defined as the energy phthisis of one joule ( J ) per galvanizing charge of one coulomb ( C ) .

Amperage : Current , also known as amperage ( A ) , is a measure of the amount of electrical energy that flow through an electric circuit per arcsecond . One ampere is define as a coulomb per secondly .

Watts : Wattage , or force , is a touchstone of the work that electrical energy perform , or the energy output per building block time . One watt ( W ) is delimit as one joule of energy per bit .

And they ’re all related ! : Voltage ( J / C ) x Amps ( C / second ) = Watts ( J / second )

Yes , for real ! Electricity is found throughout the human body . The flow of charged ion cause your nub to bunk and your muscles to squeeze . But nowhere in the body is electrical action better documented than the brain , which contains roughly a hundred billion electrically conductive , biological telegram .

Here ’s a not bad video that explains how electricity is produced in the human body :

In our learning ability , electric signals are propagate through neurons following action potentials — brief pulses in which the charge gradient across the cell tissue layer flips . Here ’s what that depend like :

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An action potential difference pulsate across a neuron extend to the flow of electric current . icon via Wikipedia

The mediocre mammalian neuron has a ‘ resting potential difference ’ of about -65 mV ( mV ) . After being stimulated , the cell tissue layer depolarizes ( the heraldic bearing difference becomes close to zero . ) If the stimulus raises the tissue layer potential above -55 mV ( call the threshold potentiality ) , an natural process potential is triggered . The tissue layer potential drop shoots up to a peak of approximately 40 mV and quickly falls again . When this happen , galvanic current is propagated forward .

So , every fourth dimension one of our neurons fires , it create a complaint gradient of about 105 mV ( the net modification between rest potential and peak . ) This bantam variety in electromotive force causes an even tinier amount of current to flow — about 1 nanoamp , or 0.000000001 AMP , according to biophysicistBertil Hilleof the University of Washington .

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You may be think these numbers vocalise pretty puny . But favourable for us , the human brain contains roughly80 billion neuron . Of naturally , not all of them are lighting up at once . In fact , recent researchsuggests that only about one per centum of the neuron in our brain are active at any devote moment . Still , 800 million neurons is nothing to sniff at — it might just be enough to produce a meaningful amount of exponent . permit ’s do the math and see .

First , we ’ll convert everything to fundamental whole :

1 nanoamp / neuron = 1.0 x 10 ^ -9 ampere / neuron

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105 mV / natural action potential = 0.105 V / military action potential

Next , we ’ll calculate the amount of office generated when a unmarried neuron fires :

0.105 five x ( 1.0 x 10 ^ -9 A ) = 1.05 x 10 ^ -10 W / neuron

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Scaling up to an entire human head :

( 1.05 x 10 ^ -10 W / neuron ) x ( 800 million nerve cell / psyche ) = 0.085 Watts / brain

Now we ’re get somewhere ! On intermediate , at any given moment , your brainpower ’s electrical energy is outputting roughly 0.085 Watts of world power . Your brain is essentially an energy rescue light-emitting diode .

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I have an iPhone 5C , whose barrage fire claims to hold a charge of 5.74 Watt hours . So , how much time would it take my brain ’s electrical energy to charge my phone ?

5.74 Watt hour / 0.085 Watts = 68.33 time of day

There you have it , folks : If you could somehow divert every single biological conducting wire in your skull to your iPhone ’s barrage fire , you ’d be amply charged in just under seventy hour ! Huh ! That does n’t voice particularly efficient , particularly when compared to a stock wall charger , which normally does the trick in under an seventy minute .

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And of class , divert all of your brain ’s electricity somewhere else would get out cute footling juice other important stuff , to wit , breathing . If we need to be conservative , we could say it ’s credibly only safe to divert 1 % of your brain ’s electrical energy at a clip , in which pillowcase it ’d take 6,833 60 minutes , or 285 day , to charge your speech sound .

I ’m start to think that this harebrained idea should probably be set back , unless we face a cataclysmic zip apocalypse . In which case , charging your phone will in all probability rank lower on your list of worries than stand off legion of anemic , cannibalistic , mace - add together road warriors .

Now if you ’ll excuse me , I ’ve got ta figure out how to abstract up my mastermind to the generator in my energy Book of Revelation bunker .

Justjune