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What's inside a battery?

By game masta Asked May 25 2006 8:54AM
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Top Answer out of 4

by Scubabob on May 25, 2006 at 9:03 am Permalink

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It depends upon what type of battery you are talking about. The common ones:
1/ Alkaline battery -- Used in Duracell¨ and Energizer¨ and other alkaline batteries. The electrodes are zinc and manganese-oxide. The electrolyte is an alkaline paste.

2/ Lead-acid battery -- These are used in automobiles. The electrodes are made of lead and lead-oxide with a strong acid as the electrolyte.

3/ Lithium battery -- These batteries are used in cameras for the flash bulb. They are made with lithium, lithium-iodide and lead-iodide. They can supply surges of electricity for the flash.

4/ Lithium-ion battery -- These batteries are found in laptop computers, cell phones and other high-use portable equipment.

5 Nickel-cadmium or NiCad battery -- The electrodes are nickel-hydroxide and cadmium. The electrolyte is potassium-hydroxide.

6/ Zinc-carbon battery or standard carbon battery -- Zinc and carbon are used in all regular or standard AA, C and D dry-cell batteries. The electrodes are made of zinc and carbon, with a paste of acidic materials between them serving as the electrolyte.
You could also argue that the human body is a battery. It stores and discharges electrical energy as well. I think I covered them all.

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Avatar jerv May, 24 2009 at 12:53 AM
Nice, detailed, and saved me a lot of typing :)
Avatar Scubabob May, 24 2009 at 08:07 AM
Thanks Jerv, I need to update it though. NiMH weren't readily available back then.
Avatar jerv May, 24 2009 at 01:36 PM
And thanks to Chevron/Texaco (who own patent #6255015), they are only available in small forms not suitable for vehicular use .
The Toyota Rav EV used a NiMH pack and most of them are still on the original battery even after 180K+ miles, but current EVs are limited to either lead-acid, Lithium-ion, or jury-rigging a few hundred old NiMH laptop batteries.
Considering that many modern/upcoming EVs use Lithium-Ion and a 30Kwh pack for a Tango costs $30k you can see why an EV costs so much.

Answer 2 out of 4

by iknownothing on May 22, 2009 at 12:12 pm Permalink

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urine and boogers to make a paste and then the electricity travels through a small piece of plexiglass. This reaction powers the miniscule trolls inside the battery to run on their wheels producing your power.
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Answer 3 out of 4

by Sic Question Dude on Feb 11, 2009 at 1:35 am Permalink

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Acidic acid i think its alkaline acid whatever you do don't attempt to open it. it will burn your skin
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Answer 4 out of 4

by nitris on May 17, 2008 at 4:14 pm Permalink

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A PASTE THAT contains electrons
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