Fifteen-Year-Old Girl Invents Flashlight Powered By Body Heat

(Newswire.net — January 5, 2016) Richland Hills, Texas — Do you remember what you were doing when you were a fifteen-year-old?  Were you inventing a potentially revolutionary product?

Ann Makosinski has an interest in alternative energy and in seeing just how effectively we can harvest the energy that surrounds each of us at all times.  She has been entering science fairs since she was in sixth grade and this time she has earned a spot as one of fifteen Google Science fair finalists from around the entire world.

While studying her favorite topic of alternative energy she recently discovered a device called a Peltier tile which is able to produce energy when warmed on one side , and cooled on the other.  After doing some math, she was able to determine that the warmth produced by a human hand could produce enough energy, through the use of a Peltier tile, to power an LED flashlight. 

After a few failed attempts and several prototype’s, she was able to product two working flashlights, one made of PVC pipe and one made out of aluminum pipe.  The parts that went into the two flashlight cost only $26.00.

Instead of having to install a fresh set of batteries every so often, or needing to plugin a flashlight in order to recharge its batteries, with the prototypes created by Makosinski, all you need to do is hold it in your hand and it starts to emit light from its LED bulbs.  How cool would it be to have one of these in the emergency kit in your vehicle.

If Miss Makosinski is able to win the Google Science Fair, she will win a $50,000 scholarship.  One would have needed to mow a lot of lawns as a fifteen-year-old to earn that kind of money.