PBS NewsHour: If you’ve looked in your utility drawer lately, you may have noticed the various shapes, sizes and types of batteries that power your electronic devices. First, there are the round, non-rechargeable button cells for your watches and small items. There’s also the popular AA and AAA cylindrical batteries for calculators, clocks and remotes. Then you have the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in your laptops and phones. And don’t forget about the lead-acid battery in your car.
4 comments:
I thought it was interesting that this article dives into the different types of electrochemistry and why it matters what battery we use for what purposes. learning more about the history of batteries was something I did not have my bank on my bingo card for today, but alas here I am. Understanding the different types of batteries is something that I'm sure would be helpful in my day-to-day life, however I know that I will not retain any of this information. I do know that lithium ion batteries are the ones used in phones, and that apparently they're dangerous? The final paragraph about the ease of production, what they're used for, and how much energy they store is important to keep in mind when getting your next battery for any given project, from household task to powering a car.
Batteries are interesting to me because in many ways they are the technology that allows our mobile and quickly moving culture. Nearly every device around us relies on batteries, whether they be rechargeable lithium-ion batteries embedded in our phones, Alkaline batteries powering home electronics, or Lead-Acid batteries starting our cars. Each one of these batteries has its own advantages and disadvantages, which make them appropriate to use for certain applications. Certain types of batteries have different charging characteristics and different dangers. I find that advancements in battery technology are amazing because the advancements that are made there can have positive effects on all of the equipment that uses those batteries and these developments can foster further innovation in so many more interesting areas. I can leave the chemistry of how the batteries worked to the chemists and material scientists, but I get to use these great sources of power to do cool things and make my ideas happen.
In my high school chemistry class, my teacher mentioned multiple times that he wished he had gone into battery research instead of teaching, as it is such a large field where innovation is constantly happening. He even pushed me into focusing on battery research, and as part of an independent study my senior year, I did a research project on the efficiency of different battery types (these were in the days when I was going to be a chemistry major, fun fact). I think they are fascinating pieces of science and engineering and just the thought that we can use fairly basic chemicals to provide us the energy that is used so commonly today is very cool. The shape and physical package of batteries isn't something I've thought about too much, so this article was very interesting to read, but I did find it very interesting that some battery shapes have really no reason beside "they have always been done like that."
Batteries were always something that confused yet fascinated me. How could something so small power something so big for so long, and even without one it could still work. I don’t get it, and even after reading this article, I still have absolutely no idea. I really want to take apart batteries and see the differences between each of them and how they work(more so differences, less so how they work). But also, I’m really scared to do so because of what everyone has told me about how they’re dangerous and how they’ll explode. I’m really curious as to what the white thing around a battery is after you leave it in something for too long is, and why it gets there, and how I can remove it. I’ve been using battery powered devices all my life, but I still don’t understand how most of it works(I do have to say, I’ve gotten fairly experienced with car batteries.)
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