|
Dec 9, 2002 The Electric Pickle –Low budget Xmas gift or a great unsolved mystery? What is the electric pickle? Well it’s an experiment that many a bored college student has tried at 3:00 in the morning after a night of partying. WARNING, this is a dangerous experiment using live electricity and (a pickle) and appropriate safely precautions should be taken. This is how it started; all students must improvise and survive when solving a problem in the cheapest method. Problem, I am in a dorm with no cooking allowed and have a loaf of bread and a pack of hotdogs. Must cook this hotdog. Solution: Cut off an electric cord. Bare the ends and wrap around a nail. Poke 1 nail into each end of hotdog. Place on glass plate as safety precaution. Warning: do not touch hotdog. Connect to power. In less than 15 seconds you will have a sizzling exploding hotdog. Problem solved with out using any cooking utensils. Who needs a microwave !! Now one night someone was bored of cooking hotdogs and noticed a Jar of Dill Pickles on the counter. Ok, let’s plug in a pickle and see what happens. Should be like the hotdog, Right? Heat up and just sizzle till the juice is boiled out. Let’s put on the safety goggles and see what happens. Wrong, this might be the start to one of life’s great mysteries. Why does only one end of the pickle light up and glow? Look at the amazing electrical storm jumping through the pickle. (Results are best viewed in a dark room. This is better than Star Wars! Don’t worry the pickle will make all the light you need.) Unplug the pickle; reconnect the wires on the opposite side and it still only glows on one end. There is yet no definitive scientific answer to explain the polarization of a pickle connected to AC current. I hope that was not too technical! The answer to this puzzle has eluded scientists for centuries. I think I saw a show on TV about scientists finding an ancient jar with electrodes and pickle juice. Even though the pickle was never found, I think this may have been the first Electric Pickle tests. This is just my opinion. I now need to apply for a research grant and resolve this mystery. When I receive my grant money I hope to expand the research and determine if sweet or sour pickles change the results. Does garlic have any effect? Can the pickle be adapted to run on DC current? Can the electric pickle be used as a light source and eaten in times of need. Warning: Only eat pickle after letting cool and only if you are REAL desperate. These electrically fried pickles taste real bad and should not be put back in the jar. Take my word for it. This is a fun experiment when preformed safely. Remember Pickles can be dangerous if miss handled. My mother sent me some pickled carrots and peppers. I have no desire to eat then but maybe I should try them in the electric pickle experiment. Just waiting for the research money now. If I get the grant I hope to track down the first brave human to have preformed this experiment. He or she has brought me many great hours of entertainment from a jar of pickles, much better then watching reruns on TV. Their name needs to be recorded in the history books! Edwin Richter Amateur Kitchen Scientist Edwin Richter runs the website BestFreeTraffic.com ------------ Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
