Biolite – Fire to Phone Charging – CE – Clean Energy. Bright Futures.

Biolite – Fire to Phone Charging

Photo of a small camp stove. An aluminum cylinder with a mesh outer layer and three visible aluminum feet. On the backside is a half cylinder wooden container with lid. The stove has a black collar coming from the middle section as well as flame.

Learning Goals

Students will use thermometers and a stopwatch to calculate power.
Students will use collected data and be able to make power calculations from this data.
Students will also be able to calculate efficiency from their power calculations.
Students will be able to compare efficiencies to other circuits tested in this unit.
Students will know what the Peltier Junction does.

Materials List

Classroom Supplies

Timer, clock or stopwatch
Thermometer
Biolite camp stove
USB current/voltage meters
Cell phone or device that uses a USB
plug for charging – students can bring
in a USB charging cord for their
phone, or instructor can supply any
USB charging device. I used LED bike tail lights that charge with a USB.
Student Journals

Important Links

Lesson Plan

Next Generation Science Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

HS-PS3-1. Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.

Lesson 6 of 7 / 1-2 hours

This lesson continues to look at the efficiency of USB charging devices, but this time we will be using a commercially available camping stove that uses heat to create electricity in order to charge a phone. This is the Biolite stove that exploits the Peltier Junction in order to generate an electrical current. Students can also attempt to measure power output of the stove by taking data on the heating of water. This is a demonstration activity, as the whole class will be using one stove and recording data into their science journals.

Off the Grid: Energy Transformations and Efficiency

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