Quick Update on the New Column

For a quick update on my new, but simplistic, Winogradsky column, there is a photo attached here. Also, note several areas of white growth throughout the column. Most prominant is the one shown in the photo here, which seems to be clearly working on the cheese, and is also the side facing the light. These must be the fungi - or at least they are chemoorganoheterotrophs because they are feeding on organic carbon, light as well as the carbon, and using the carbon for their e- source. I partly say this because they are smack in the middle of the column and so theye strict anaerobs. Here is the photo: 

Sacrafice for the Fuel Cell!

I finally have gone and done it. I've sacrificed my favorite Winogradsky Column to the greater good - it is now a microbial fuel cell in the making. I've been carefully considering the methods used by my classmates and have finally settled on this protocol: 

http://www.emunsing.com/portfolio/portfolio_content/44_designLab/MFC_Report.pdf

I found this through the Internet geobacter site (www.geobacter.org), which has some excellent links if you scroll down and also a video clip that I hadn't noticed the first time I went to the site. 

Anyway, I used the following protocol which is to somewhat of a hybrid between the report above, my husband's engineering skills, and what I read from the other students: 

Here is a photo of some of the supplies on our kitchen counter. 

I created one very small microbial fuel cell using the my Winogradsky column from the fall semester, whose original contents were from Bear Creak. If I had mentioned before that there was no significant smell from this column, I was apparently not poking around enough. There was plenty of sulfuric smell coming from the column as I transferred it and the corresponding creak water into the MFC container. I used a 24 ounce spaghetti sauce jar. 

The anode section of the cell was made with a graphite pencil from the art store. The protocol in the research paper asks for carbon paper, but since our entire class is using graphite, I went with graphite. We also drilled all the way through the graphite and used a nut and bolt to connect the electrical wire. Because my husband, the airplane mechanic, was convinced that this would work, we then coated this area with sealant to help protect against corrosion. Since we had used a nut and bot to connect the wire, we did not use an additional connective epoxy. The anode section was then gently placed in the sediment and covered with it at the bottom of the jar. I mixed about a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into the mud while doing this. 

The water from the column was added to the jar until it filled the jar to the surface. The Cathode was placed in immediately after. It was made in the same way as the anode. A 100 ohm resistor was placed between the wires. I tested the volts immediately after putting everything together (too soon)? I'm going to need to get guidance on the voltmeter. I am not sure what measurement everyone is using, but I read 9 micro volts initially and after 3 hours I'm down to about 3 micro volts. We'll see how this goes with time!

Here is a picture of the wires connected to the two graphite pencils: 

Here are the anode and cathode hanging off the drill while the sealant dries:

Here is a close-up photo of my poor, sacrificed Winogradsky Column after I siphoned off the water, prior to shoveling the mud into the jar: 

Here is the final product, hopefully a solid work of art and advancement for the future of mankind: