Poor Man's Capacitive Stylus (iPhone/Android/etc...)

I've been looking around the interwebs for the past few days looking for a cheap and easy way to make a capacitive stylus for my Droid 2. Most of the ones I've seen require either conductive foam or anti-static packaging. I had some anti-static packaging laying around and decided to try it. Barely worked at all. And I don't have any conductive foam. So my search continued, until I read that you can use the negative terminal on a AAA battery. That got me thinking. Why can't I make a bioelectrically-powered stylus with only the things I have on my desk? 


Things you will need: 

*0.7mm plastic mechanical pencil (I used a BIC, remove the lead)
*one small metal paper clip (cannot be plastic coated)
*one silver thumbtack (the brass ones will probably work too, but I only had silver ones)
*needle nose pliers

Unfold your paper clip all the way. Using your needle nose pliers, wrap one end around the very tip of the pliers once or twice, until it holds the shape. Then bend the rest of the paper clip back perpendicular to the loop you just made. Insert your thumbtack into the small loop.

Remove the lead from your pencil. With the paper clip still looped around the thumbtack, push the tack into the tip of the pencil. It will be a snug fit. 

Wrap the remainder of the paper clip around the pencil approximately where your thumb falls when you hold it.

You are done! This stylus works on the principle that the electricity generated by your body that travels through your fingertips that normally activates your capacitive touch screen will also travel through a paper clip and thumbtack. As long as you are touching the paper clip, the tack will be electrically charged enough to activate your screen. 

Here is a terrible video demoing the stylus. I apologize for the quality, this webcam is from 1972...