Bra Power: Can Bouncing Breasts Charge an iPod?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin 
on 06.24.08
Guys, just keep on movin'. Ain't nothing to see here. This post goes out to all the big-breasted women who can hear the echo of their own internal monologue in Adrienne So's comment in an article at Slate:
As a woman who loves sports, I've always found the concept of breasts bothersome. If all goes according to plan, they will fulfill their intended function for about three of the 70 years that I have them. The rest of the time, they alternate between getting in my way and embarrassing me.
Thank you to Adrienne So for asking the question: can we harness breast energy and put it to better use? TreeHugger and Instructables teamed up to make a working chest charger which relies only on the rise and fall of the chest during breathing. So the question seems viable.
Adrienne discovers in her research that a size D-cup breast in a low support bra can move up to 35 cm (!!!!!) during exercise. Now, we all know that none of us with D-cups are wearing "low support bras" during exercise. But there's a lotta bouncing going on even with the best, most expensive sport bra money can buy. So the subject has potential.
Since Slate scooped us on this one, we won't give away any more secrets. You will have to pop over to Slate to see what Adrienne learned in her survey of sports experts, nanotech fabric specialists and the inventor of the Lightning Pack power-generating backpack. It's certainly at least as good an idea as running around half-naked in a solar powered bra!
Via: ::Slate
Image credit: Getty images, modified
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
I can't help but grin at this ;)
So this is what 'girl power' is!
As a woman with DD-cup breasts, I want to say I do not alternate between annoyance and embarrassment of my chest - I love being naturally large chested. And, human breasts do have more than one biological purpose, no other mammalian species has developed such a visibly attractive variety.
That being said, I see no reason not to put them to work, too, lol. I would love a supportive bra which could charge my cell phone or mp3 player. Probably would use it on vacations where I do a lot of walking!
This post is a prime candidate for a demonstrative video. A shameful omission in my opinion.
I am another woman with DD, and I can testify that the "annoyance" feeling really hits when I am lugging that bouncing mass along on a jog. It would be such great compensation if my breasts could carry their own load (so to speak) and load my music player! And at any rate, the idea makes for a good belly laugh -- probably some energy harvest potential there too.
Heee hee heee... : )
Being a DDD myself I would love to have my girls so some work... Like charge my cell phone or my player..
As a man who does not have DD breasts, I can only say to the women who tolerate the incessant jiggling and bouncing...From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your sacrifice...
DD ladies... celebrate your energy!
I cannot wait to see the slew of objectifying comments from the less-progressive users of this site.
This idea and article makes me think of the enthusiasm over hemps many uses. It might well have potential, but the only reason most people are interested in promoting it is so they can go "my shirt is made of weed!!" (omg big boobs, et al.)
What's that? Women, as a social minority, can expect to suffer more at the hands of environmental catastrophe than men? Well let's just keep ogling them then, and encourage the kind of behaviour that makes them into body parts and sex dolls, that makes it acceptable to use and oppress them when catastrophe strikes and we're worried we're going to die without fathering any children. Radical politics!
I knew they had to be good for something other than being ogled.
Well...they have been saying that green is sexy.
Wow, what a great idea! There have been some great ideas about ipods out there lately, I was reading about the ipod doctor yesterday, and Obama's ipod today as well.
geeeez. If that's the case then I've got enough to power a laptop computer.
Oh, geeze... this totally made my day. (Yes, I'm female.) However, I don't quite make the D cup and I don't make a habit of jogging, so... erm... yeah.
It's an interesting idea, but it may not be practical. I am a male runner so I can't speak from direct experience, but I would imagine that female runners would want to "batten the hatches" as much as possible, but in doing so, you've lessened the impact, and electrical potential. Why not a unisex idea, and look at harnessing the kinetic energy from running shoes?
Why stop with breasts? You could put little generators in my shoes that absorb or soften the impact of the foot-strike that would otherwise be going to my knees, while simultaneously charging all the gadgets that I can pack in my running shorts.
i want one!!!
c
why are you advertising for ipod? aren't they listed as being one of the least green companies on some other article around here?
Haha! As a DD myself, I love this idea. It's not as though they actually do any good most of the time, so why shouldn't we find a better use for them?
As a man with very large testicles, maybe the argument could be made for them as well...
Not as good as my idea for sweater puppies, but i'm all for it.
That's so eco-sexual...
LAME.
Let's degrade women some more!
Who wants some respect!?
I do.
YIKES on here... come one people!!!
Aw c'mon Maria, have a sense of humor. The author is awoman, and speaking as a DD myself, I find the concept hilarious!
Can we have the actual link to the Slate article, rather than to the Treehugger article on electricity-generating backpacks 3 times?
==auth. note==
My deepest apologies. Still getting used to copy/paste functions for Windows on MAC bootcamp. The link is corrected now both at the reference to Slate in the article and at the via.
Are they going to make a ballsy version for men?
I bet tihis will really work!!! I know that bouncing breast tend to charge my batteriss
Pure win.
I would even volunteer at a local store to assist these green conscious ladies in the setup and proper use of this world changing device.
about the ballsy version...i dont think that will generate more power than charging your car remote...lol...bad luck men...
As breasts sag with age, so should the motion factor increase. Does this mean you can generate more power with age? Thanks, Christine, we older gals need some pluses as we grow older! Grandma Jan
"Baby can you charge my Ipod? Thank you."
Umm... Do you think that it is possible to have boner-powered chargers? I think the two would work hand-and-hand, and would be great with men who need a quick charge. Just look for women who are charging theirs, and, boom! Instant charge!
~Andy
(Not a chauvinist!)