Technological Wizard - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Making a Battery

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After some serious thinking, Richard realized that this highly activated state was probably something like a powered state.
In a normal human body, the metabolism and nerve signal transmission of cells were accompanied by the flow of potassium and sodium ions on the cell membrane to generate bioelectricity. This bioelectricity was very weak, and the voltage was usually of the millivolt level (mV stands for millivolt, and one volt is equivalent to 1000 millivolts).
Although weak, bioelectricity was of great significance to humans. Its changes could directly lead to changes in cell metabolism, or other functions in the body. For example, when nerve fibers were locally stimulated, the excitability at the cathode would increase and the membrane potential would decrease (depolarization), while the excitability at the anode would decrease and the membrane potential would increase (hyperpolarization).
According to the instructions for building a magic source in The Writings of Monroe, the body structure had to undergo some transformation which needed spiritual power. This was most likely related to bioelectricity. Perhaps the purpose was to increase the biological current in the human body to a certain extent, so that the body could create a new organ, the magic source, with the help of the spiritual power.
Of course, this was just his conjecture. It remained to be verified whether he was right.
The main reason why Richard needed the two servants was to try to create a battery that could discharge currents for testing. In this medieval era, electricity was still a foreign subject.
First of all, Richard was going to create the simplest fruit battery. The raw materials were a copper strip, a zinc strip, a piece of metal wire, and a piece of fruit.
As copper and zinc had different active types, after inserting them into the fruit, zinc would undergo oxidation. The lost electrons would flow to the copper, thereby generating current in the wire.
Since it was an easy process, Richard gave a simple explanation and assigned Angie to the task. She did not disappoint Richard and completed it in no time. A thin iron wire was connected to the nail-sized copper and zinc, both inserted into a pear.
The servant Angie carefully handed the fruit battery to Richard. Upon receiving it, Richard frowned as he realized that it was not up to the task.
There was no problem with the process they had used to build the battery. After all, the process was so simple that it was impossible to make an error. Since the fruit juice was acidic, it was easy to trigger a chemical reaction, thereby generating electric current. However, compared to real acid, the acidity of fruit was too weak, therefore the current and voltage generated were too small.
Richard tested it with a self-made simple tool and found that the voltage was less than 0.5 volts, and the current was less than 1 milliampere. The current was stronger than a human’s normal biological current, however it wouldn’t have any effect on the body.
After all, the human body could resist it. If the body spontaneously increased its biological current, nothing would happen. However, it was still impossible for a normal person without a wizard’s talent to do it. If he wanted to apply an electric current from an external source to alter the body, and reach the second life reconstruction through science, he had to overcome the human body’s resistance, which was as high as 1000 Ω or more, and apply a stronger current.
The question now was how to get a stronger current.
Richard frowned, thought for a few seconds, and asked the two servants to create different fruit batteries.
The acidity of the juice was different in each fruit, so the current generated had to be different as well. If he could find the fruit battery with the strongest current, he might be able to overcome the body’s resistance of more than 1000 Ω and meet the requirements.
There were quite a number of fruits in the Middle Ages. Some common fruits included cherries, strawberries, blackberries, apples, pears, American cherries, plums, grapes, damson plums, gooseberries, mulberries, blackthorns, figs, dates, limes, lemons, and other dozens of fruits.
Richard gave an order, and someone prepared these fruits for him. Not long after, except for some fruits that were not in their ripening season, these were placed on the experimenting table.
Richard waved his hand, and the two servants, Angie and Luna, quickly started creating fruit batteries. Not long after, various types of fruit batteries were laying on the table in two rows. Those on the left had been prepared by Angie, and those on the right had been prepared by Luna. Obviously, Angie had built slightly more fruit batteries.
Richard did not make any comments. He picked up a fruit battery to test it. After a while, he put it down and picked up another one.
After repeatedly testing all the fruit batteries, Richard had the answer. Due to the different acidity levels, some of the fruits such as apples and gooseberries actually emitted stronger currents than pears. The strongest was lemon, but even so, the voltage was just over 0.5 volts, and the current was just over one milliampere.
Under normal circumstances, the minimum current that would induce a sensation in an adult male was about 1.01 milliampere on average. In other words, in terms of human body resistance, these currents would barely cause a slight sensation in an ordinary person.
This was not what Richard wanted.
Richard stood in the laboratory with a deep frown. The two servants stared at Richard’s solemn expression and looked at each other. They lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word. Although they knew very well that His Highness did not lose his temper easily, let alone punish his servants for no reason, it would not be good to anger him.
Richard did not know what the two servants were thinking. He was lost in thought, trying to come up with a solution.