Anyone else heard of this, a water powered alarm clock? I was very intrigued when I saw this advertised in TV. There are actually several different versions of the water powered alarm clock on the market but they all work the same.

At first I thought it was really cool and I was wondering how it worked. Well, I found out and not to burst anyone's bubble out there, it is not actually powered by water!

Here's some of the descriptive advertising text that I found on one of the sites selling the clock. The link is here.

"There is little in life that is more frustrating than a stopped clock. Particularly when said clock stops the evening before once needs to be roused early for that all important meeting halfway across the country. What one needs is a never ending power supply for said clock - a renewable energy source if you will. Impossible? Why no. Here at Gadgetshop HQ we think it is very possible.

The new H2O Multifunction Clock is the latest in ecological and environmental design. It's a clock. It's an alarm. It's cute. It's environmentally friendly and economical. Simply rotate the clock to see a range of functions such as time, alarm, timer and temperature. For an endless source of energy, just add water. A magical electrochemical reaction between the electrodes and water produces electrical energy.

To maintain a constant supply of energy simply refill as the water evaporates, typically after a rather jolly 2 to 3 months. The battery has a minimum continuous life of at least 2 years, and inkeeping with its green theme, all its components are recyclable."

Does anyone else see any contradictions in this ad copy? I've bolded the phrases to highlight obvious inconsistencies.

It basically says in three different ways that you can have a never ending supply of energy for the alram clock and really makes you think that the clock works only on water.

Then it says at the bottom, highlighted by me in red, that it takes a battery and that the battery lasts up to two years!

So what the hell does the water do then?

Well the only thing the water does is act like a conduit for the electrical signals to pass through. So in effect they have replaced the wires for water.

This is not a water powered clock at all!