How does a water-powered clock work?

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How does a water-powered clock work?

The water powered clock might be a surprise for newbies. Noting down the opinion of many people, they believe the ‘water’ here we use, is working as a battery. So the question arises: How does it works?

The water clock that you buy itself is an battery cell. Water doesn’t produce any electricity. It just work as an electrolyte here. Chemistry fans will know, electrolyte is a liquid that contains ions and can flow electricity.

Lets flashback to high school chemistry, an electrolytic cell needs 3 things to work:

  1. Two electrodes
  2. Cable to complete the circuit, and
  3. An electrolyte

The positive electrode is made of copper while the negative electrode is made of zinc. A water-powered clock already have the first two requirements of an electrolytic cell. So we just complete it by adding water (the electrolyte). The water allows the transfer of electron between the two electrodes, resulting in an electric cell. Sometimes you will find the addition of drops of lemon into the water. That’s to simply help the water to be a better conductor.

The water uses a small amount of zinc to supply power. After the zinc is out of ability, the whole clock must be replaced.

So why is it called an eco-friendly clock? That’s because it doesn’t need to replace battery regularly like other alarm clocks. No batteries, no chemicals – so no pollution. You will continue to enjoy a long enough of time without any changing batteries.

The water needs to be replaced every 5 weeks to 6 months, depending on the characteristics of water supply. You’ll know when to change the water when the digital display will begin to fade. And the good thing is, while changing the water, it retains it settings for up to two minutes.

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