15-year-old girl invents flashlight powered by the heat of your hand
Wow, her dad is my coworker and I heard this casually mentioned at work the other day that his daughter was working with Peltiers and I should consult with her because I am also working with Peltiers for characterization of phase change materials.<p>Also note, calling the device a Peltier is a misnomer, her flashlight is a thermoelectric device utilizing the Seebeck Effect, similar but opposite to the Peltier Effect. Peltier has just become the connotation for thermoelectric devices.<p>The Seebeck effect only works with a temperature gradient, the flashlight will begin to heat up when held and the Peltier will produce less power. The next step is to add a heat sink and fan to maintain a temperature gradient for operation longer than 20mins.