A blackout in 2002 led a mechanic to put a water bottle in the roof of his house: now his invention lights up more than a million homes

"The best solutions of human beings have always come under the umbrella of discomfort or pressure. When difficulties prevent us from living normally, that is when the best version of oneself appears. In 2002, power outages in the Uberaba area, a city in Minas Gerais, were continuous. Alfredo Moser, a mechanic, always had to work in the dark.

Given the precision with which he had to operate in his work, he grew tired of the situation and set out to put an end, at least, to the blackouts in his work area. To do so, he only needed to use a bottle of water and climb onto the roof of his house. Although it may seem simple, behind it there was a physical principle that proved very effective.

This is how a simple bottle of water can light up an entire workshop

To achieve this, he made a hole in a roof tile, inserted a bottle filled with water, and the dark room lit up. All that remains is to figure out how he did it. Well, a few days earlier, while he was at his niece's house, he noticed how the sun reflected off a plastic bottle that had been placed on the table. That reflection lit up the entire nearby wall.

That is, it used reflection, since part of the sunlight bounces off the curved surface of the bottle, as in a mirror, and can be directed toward a wall or the ceiling. But also refraction, since the bottle can behave partially like a lens once the light has passed through the plastic.

Obviously, there is no need to remember that this invention only works during the day and with sunlight. However, those were precisely the hours when Moser needed light to work. Over the years, what began as a homemade invention became a well-established project thanks to the MyShelter Foundation. Later, it was estimated that more than one million households had used Alfredo Moser's idea.