I am no skeptic by nature, neither am being a jealous smartass coz a KID from a VILLAGE of NEPAL is getting the attention and accolades from the media. Some of the recent publicity stunts pulled by some self-righteous Nepaliese who want cheap, fleeting publicity have made me more skeptic than before. It could not get more exasperating to the already marred prestige of the country in many ways. As for the subject at hand, I found it really hard to believe in the whole "story".
If what this kid did is genuine (not a media hoax), then two things can be inferred:
1] Human hair is a photoelectric material which acts as a semiconductor (under NORMAL conditions) - just like silicon.
2] Human hair is not a semiconductor per se but when arranged like cell array, it does behave like one.
Now I do NOT think 1] is even possible because even for a semiconductor such as silicon to conduct, it needs to get doped. Human hair, as we have known so far, is capable of possessing only static charges that cannot contribute to the power that can light a bulb. Have we just discovered a new semiconductor ? I don't think so. If we really have, then hold on, there are more in the list: wool, fur and any fabric material that can possess static charge.
2] could be possible because we have not researched much on freakin' "hair" anyway. There could be some stark revelations along the way, who knows...
But personally, I don't believe in 2] either. The use of silicon on the receptors in this experiment, as described by the video, negates the probability of the usage of hair as a PV material. Since hair is dense and BLACK (or at least what these kids used in their experiment are likewise), I think it just acted as a BLACK BODY to absorb more heat from the surroundings even under normal conditions.
If they could show this without the use of any silicon whatsoever, and in a cold environment and with WHITE human hair, I would say an inventor is born in Nepal. Go get the patent right!
Last edited: 09-Sep-09 07:10 PM
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