The total generation rate of greater than 10% resulted in about 100 watts per square meter of tube, enough to power a blender or router.
"Scientists in Singapore have broken a long-standing limitation on the ability to generate electricity from flowing water, suggesting that another elemental force of nature could be leveraged for renewable electricity: rain.
With the simplest and smallest scale test setup, the team could power around 12 LED lightbulbs with simulated rain droplets flowing through a tube, but at scale, their method could generate meaningful amounts that could rival rooftop solar arrays.
Singapore experiences significant rainfall throughout the year, averaging 101 inches (2581 millimeters) of precipitation annually. The idea of generating electricity from such falling water is attractive, but the method has long been constrained by a principle called the Debye Length.
Nevertheless, the concept is possible because of a simple physical principle that charged entities on the surface of materials get nudged when they rub together—as true for water droplets as it is for a balloon rubbed against the hair on one’s head.
While this is true, the power values thus generated have been negligible, and electricity from flowing water has been limited to the driving of turbines in hydropower plants.
However, in a study published in the journal ACS Central Science, a team of physicists has found a way to break through the constraints of water’s Debye Length, and generate power from simulated rain.
“Water that falls through a vertical tube generates a substantial amount of electricity by using a specific pattern of water flow: plug flow,” says Siowling Soh, author of the study. “This plug flow pattern could allow rain energy to be harvested for generating clean and renewable electricity.”
The authors write in their study that in existing tests of the power production from water flows, pumps are always used to drive liquid through the small channels. But the pumps require so much energy to run that outputs are limited to miniscule amounts.
Instead, their setup to harness this plug flow pattern was scandalously simple. No moving parts or mechanisms of any kind were required. A simple plastic tube just 2 millimeters in diameter; a large plastic bottle; a small metallic needle. Water coming out of the bottle ran along the needle and bumped into the top section of the tube that had been cut in half, interrupting the water flow and allowing pockets of air to slide down the tube along with the water.
The air was the key to breaking through the limits set by the Debye Length, and key to the feasibility of electricity generation from water. Wires placed at the top of the tube and in the cup harvested the electricity.
The total generation rate of greater than 10% resulted in about 100 watts per square meter of tube. For context, a 100-watt solar panel can power an appliance as large as a blender or ceiling fan, charge a laptop, provide for several light bulbs, or even a Wi-Fi router.
Because the droplet speeds tested were much slower than rain, the researchers suggest that the real thing would provide even more than their tests, which were of course on a microscale."
Little Nonya Escapades was supposed to be a work of fiction jumping off my personal memories.
I wrote the first draft as my actual uncensored childhood memories about my school that is no longer around and my late father. I poured my raw emotions into that first draft. It was cathartic.
I shared that first draft with my sister. She loved it as it was and recommended I stick with it and not attempt to turn it into fiction.
The names are fictitious. I only kept my Daddy's name, my school's name and school song as a record that it existed, and Teacher Elizabeth, as explained in my website janicewee.com
After a season, writing in a frenzy, I've completed my final book, Dragon Unbound. It embodies themes close to my heart. Of love, faith, pain, failure and hope.
I started off with fan fiction. In particular Billy Batson is Captain Marvel fan fiction, because in a strange way Captain Marvel reminds me of my late dad. From there, I wrapped family lore -- stories my dad told me about his childhood and of grandpa into my Singapore Tales stories that were set in Singapore.
I wrote my childhood memories into my Little Nonya series.
Chickens running loose in a park I frequent in Bukit Panjang (Malay for Long Hill) inspired the Long Hill series.
From life around me, and from historical fiction based on family lore, I wanted to write about the future. But who knows what the future holds?
So I turned to Science Fiction leaping off disturbing advances in Science and Technology, on a background of bible prophecy, and wrote the books set in the Emunah Universe.
My dream was to earn a living as a writer but that's not how it's working out for me. I barely earn enough royalties to pay for the tools I use to create the book covers and marketing materials, the videos and graphics and all that's needed to get the word about my books out.
That said, I have to bid goodbye to my writing dreams and focus on my job hunt. I've been living off my savings since retrenchment and it's time to be practical. Focus on earning a living.
If you enjoyed my Billy Batson fan fictions, I hope you support my work by reading my other books. You can make a difference if you ask your local library to get the books so that you and other patrons can read them.
Brace for an electrifying adventure as Billy reunites with his fearless friend Bluma, igniting a storm of mischief and mayhem!
When Billy’s immortal parents entrust him with a radiant, unbreakable orb, a cheeky monkey snatches it, dunking it into Bluma’s bread dough.
Their lion guardian, Leonard, chows down on the loaf—only to shatter a tooth on the orb!
The kids’ outrageous fix?
Strapping Leonard’s tooth to a boulder and launching it downhill, sending the lion smashing into a stone wall with a tooth-yanking explosion!
The crash unearths a secret: a porcelain box shatters, spilling a cryptic map and a gold coin etched with Aunt Mathilda’s face—their beloved nanny, slain in the Tribulation, now reborn as an immortal saint.
Fueled by curiosity and courage, Billy and Bluma ditch school, embarking on a forbidden quest to find her, with a roaring Leonard reluctantly in tow.
The map drags them into a vibrant farmer’s market crawling with danger, where they cross paths with Junta—a charismatic but diabolical cult leader.
His dazzling Carnival City is a trap, luring kids into his sinister underground sect. In a heart-stopping betrayal, Junta drugs Leonard, shipping the lion off to a savage hunting ground as prized prey, while he tricks the kids into a shadowy abyss. When they defy his twisted cause, he throws them into a pitch-black prison, their fate hanging by a thread.
Can Billy and Bluma outwit Junta’s deadly cult?
Will they save Leonard from a hunter’s crosshairs?
Bursting with jaw-dropping twists, pulse-pounding action, and a spark of supernatural mystery, Billy & Bluma: Double Trouble by Janice Wee is an unputdownable thrill ride that will leave you gasping for more. Join the adventure—unleashed May 2, 2025!
Singapore's Runaway was inspired by a family tale my late dad told me.
Grandpa was the son of great grandpa's first wife. When his mom died, great grandpa remarried.
When grandpa's stepmom came home with his dad, he was so upset, he ran away from home and joined a sailing ship.
In my dad's own words, the stepmother was a good woman. She cared about grandpa and sent her brothers to scour the sea around Singapore for grandpa. They were merchants back then and had their own ship.
Grandpa's uncles (stepmother's brothers) searched the islands of Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines for him.
One of GSrandpa's uncles found him in Indonesia and persuaded him to return with him to Singapore.
If his uncle had not found him, our entire tribe would have been born in Indonesia.
That formed the big story behind Singapore's Runaway.
I needed an opening for my story, and then I remembered another story dad told me about grandpa - he rescued a drowning girl in the open sea. I wrote about that into the opening, the distance, the location kept intact, weaving a real life adventure to my work of fiction.
No one knew what happened on the ship or in Indonesia so everything from that point onwards is pure fiction.
I chose competitive weightlifting because that’s the only sport I know about.
I was raised by strong men. Grandpa’s nickname was Superman. He could do all the circus strongman stunts. His favourite feat was to carry four body builders. That’s my father’s side.
My mother’s cousin won a gold medal for weightlifting in SEA Games. He was trained by his dad (Grandma’s brother) who was a competitive weightlifter himself.
I wanted to write an inspiring sports fiction, Rocky style but know nothing about boxing or any sport.
But I grew up around weight lifters and have heard the tricks of the trade growing up. So the protagonist of Emunah Short Stories Book 4: John, enters the world of competitive weight lifting to win prize money to pay his mother’s medical bills.
I was a naughty little Nonya as a child. When I brought up out talcum powder antics to my mom, her blood pressure shot up. She remembered, so that's a memory not fiction.
I had a wonderful childhood. Holidays and Sundays were super special because that's when I got to spend time with my cousins and you wouldn't believe the shenanigans we got up to.
I wove some memories into my short stories in Naughty Little Nonya. It's mostly fiction, though if mom remembers, then they happened.
My cousins lived in a house with a library in the back and a playhouse in the garden. These served as settings in some of my tales. Though we never encountered burglars or crooks, we'd play make believe, like any other kids.
The characters are based on family members who can recognise themselves in the descriptions on the Naughty Little Nonya character page.
If you are looking for stories about forgiveness, check out Singapore's Runaway, by Janice Wee.
Stanley runs away from home to join a sailing ship. There he encounters Ah Cheng. The slight youth is not what he seems.
Although Stanley hated his new stepmom so much he left home because of her, she cared about her stepson and sent her brothers to search the seas around Singapore for him.
It's a tale of family, friendship, life's hardships and forgiveness on board a ship that is deemed haunted.
If your library has Hoopla, you can use that to read the book.
Or you can buy it online from most online bookshops.
Explore the world of Singapore's Runaway at the author's website.
Here's where you can read the first chapter free.
Check out the various characters in Singapore's Runaway.
Discover more about the locations for each scene in this historical fiction.
Or if you don't like reading, you can listen to this adventure story instead.
Born in Singapore, he ran away from home an joined a sailing ship because he was upset his dad remarried and brought his stepmom home.
His stepmom was a good woman and sent her brothers to sail the seas around Singapore in their family's ship, to search from him. They were merchants in those days and had their own ships.
Her brother found him in Indonesia, alone. He convinced grandpa to return to Singapore with him.
No one knows what happened on the ship or in Indonesia. That's as much as anyone in the family knew. I used that premise for my series about Stanley, who is modelled after my own grandpa (whose nickname was Superman)
Two Worlds continues where Singapore's Runaway left off.
Set in South East Asia during the time of the Opium Wars, a murder in Singapore brings a private detective into a idyllic village where a mysterious serial killer is running loose.
It is in this village where Stanley meets the love of his life, Eve. What chance has a runaway have with Daddy's girl?
Read an excerpt of Two Worlds in the author's websit.
Discover the exotic locations where the story was set.
Learn about the colourful characters in Two Worlds.
I have started work on a new series: Emunah Short Stories. I’ll finish the first draft soon. It begins before the start of Emunah Chronicles and follows the same timeline as the original story. This time it will be 12 books, with each book focusing on 1 character during that part of the timeline. There will be a mix of new and old characters in the series.
In preparation for the launch, I started a newsletter to post updates, promo codes and giveaways to thank everyone for their support
If you subscribe now to my newsletter, you will get a free pdf copy of the first book of the original Emunah Chronicles: Disturbing Dreams.
I’ll also post updates on Billy Batson fan fics I write depending on whether there are subscribers who want new Itty Bitty Super Reporter Billy Batson fan fiction stories
