Image of the Day: Christmas tree powered by Brussels sprouts

A group of aspiring engineers are responsible for the sprout-powered tree you see above, which is installed on the South Bank of the Thames River in London as part of the Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair.

The project is impressive for two reasons: the kids figured out how to light the tree up using a hardly efficient vegetable as a source of power, and they were able to come up with the perfect excuse as to why they couldn’t finish their Brussels sprouts at dinner in the months leading up to the launch of the tree.

While it’s a well-known fact that nearly all fruits and vegetable can be used to conduct electricity, a quick search shows that this is the first time a Christmas tree has been powered by this particular veggie. This is likely due to the fact that Brussels sprouts are less efficient than other foods in this capacity.

So, to make up for the vegetable’s shortcomings, the group used 1,000 sprouts, packed into five different power cells. Doing this, that is, compacting the vegetable together, gave them enough juice to light a total of 100 LEDs on the 8-foot tree.

A bit more specifically, each sprout was hooked up to copper and zinc electrodes and when all was said and done, they were able to produce a grand total of 63 volts.

See the Brussels sprouts Christmas tree light up in the video below:

It’s estimated that the project will last for about a month — enough time for the tree to get through the Christmas season, before the aspiring engineers need to replenish the veggies.

The obvious question about this project — what’s the point — and the answer is pretty simple: inspiration. “We want young people to think about STEM subjects in an interesting way, and are always looking for different ways to do that,” said Paul Jackson, CEO of EngineeringUK, which runs the fair. “It being the festive time of year — and kids’ dislike of sprouts being well documented — using them to create a battery seemed like a unique way to achieve that aim.”

Story via thebigbangfair.co.uk