I docked my iPod into a watermelon thinking the extra size would charge it faster, but now my iPod is full of watermelon seeds and won't boot up!

Thanks a lot TUAW. >:(

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I think what's happening here is that the USB plug is being consumed to power the iPod. The plug looks like it has gold contacts on the inside and maybe stainless steel contacts on the outside. The onion is probably acidic enough to overcome the corrosion barrier on the stainless steel and the iron just corrodes, generating electrons that are consumed by oxygen reduction on the gold. But first those electrons go through the iPod. Cool idea.

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Pretty sure this is fake. Why on earth would an electrolytic solution help? And just stuffing a USB with the positive and negative contacts a couple mm apart shouldn't make a circuit even if this pretend chemistry did work.

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Ha pretty funny... ! I liked the serious tone of the guy in the video.

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Definitely fake - have you seen the other entries on their website? "Power any TV with a AAA battery"? Well I guess it's their 15 minutes of fame at least.

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Uhm, please note the odd "notebook" sitting underneath the iPod, and the cable perfectly curled 2 times ( or at least it seems ) underneath the iPod.

There is no electricity coming from that onion, the cable underneath the iPod is connected to power.

Move along, nothing to see here.

-Art

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An onion, an iPod and a can of Red Bull - Will it blend?

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Um, this is possible, most everyone has seen the old 'potato power' experiment where a potato generates electricity for a light.
Organisms actually create ion gradients which gives the cell a charge. In humans the ions Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) are pumped through an antiport to create the gradient. Plant cells have a similar process.
If one were to look at he process of a galvanic cell (lets say liquid state batteries) one would notice that the membrane of a cell acts as a the semi permiable membrane. The electrolytes (ions in solution) will saturate the cells, greatly icreasing the number of ions in the cells, and thus storing more of a charge in them.
I don't know much about electronics, so the way a USB port works is beyond me. But that's cell biology and a bit of chemistry from my notes.

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Spencer is on the right track. The main source of potassium in here is monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4), a soluble salt and an ingredient in Gatorade. Of course, if we were only using the KH2PO4 in Gatorade, it would be the drink powering the iPod, right?

Obviously, we're talking about the onion charging it. Onions coincidentally contain a lot of potassium metaphosphate (KPO3), which, when combined with all the water soaked up from the Gatorade, is used to produce even more KH2PO4!

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This is not fake guys. We used to do this kind of thing in middle school science class (not with iPods of course). if you don't believe it but don't want to juice up your only iPod USB cable, just stick a couple of probes hooked up to a voltmeter in your electrolyted-up onion. :)

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Try plugging a USB cable into your potato experiment. It won't work. You usually need the terminals a few inches apart

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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. These guys are preying on your recollections of potato batteries. No dice. No dissimilar metals in the USB terminals. A simple battery requires two metals with different electronegativities to work. You can use a lot of things for the electrolytes: potatoes, bananas, onions, oranges, lemons... Like Art mentioned, check the non-accidental coiling of the USB cord. Hmmm, how odd that we can't see part of the cord. Well, I mean cord*s*.

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Brawndo's got what plants crave...
Yeah, it's got electrolytes...

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No, see if you want to upgrade the firmware, you have to use an apple to do it, not an onion. Preferably Granny Smith.

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If you look at the rest of the videos on the site, they're all completely bogus. So even if you're unsure of this one, rest assured that it's bogus because the rest are.

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vegetables and fruit can generate electricity, but this is a joke.

to make it work u can't just plug in the cable, u have to separate the + and -

and, u need electrodes made of two different metals, like coper and zinc.

see http://bizarrelabs.com/lemon.htm

(or google lemon electricity copper zinc)

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Casino Vs. Japan, yea baby!

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Bogus. Even if there was a charge from the onion, you'd create a dead short by plugging the USB cable into it.

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OK, so when did Apple release new firmware for the 5.5 gen iPod?! I WANT IT!

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Reminds me of the movie Idiocracy. "We use Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator on our crops because it's rich in electrolytes."

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