Batteries

Batteries

Introduction

Batteries are major part of everyday life all over the world. Without them, we would not be able to live life as we know it. They give us the lightweight, portable energy to run the devices we need in our everyday lives. The problem with batteries being such a big part of our lives is that the average person does not consider the environmental hazards. We use them until they don’t work anymore and then throw them in the garbage without a second thought. It is hard to believe that something so essential could also be so dangerous to the environment.

Batteries work by converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Every battery has a positive end called an anode and a negative end called a cathode. Electrons collect on the negative end of the battery and flow through whatever you attach by wire on their way back to the positive side of the battery. The electrical current through the battery is caused by the voltage difference between the anode and cathode. As the current passes through the battery it is pushed through an electrolyte that can be either solid or liquid. This process causes a chemical reaction that produces electrons. As long as the chemical reaction takes place, the battery will continue to work.

History

In 1876 Count Luigi Galvani found that when the tissues of a dead frog were touched by two different metals, they twitched. This started the thinking that there could be an electrical pathway from an anode to a cathode. Count Alessandro Volta took this thinking to the next level and made the first real battery in 1800. He did this by alternating layers of zinc, blotting paper soaked in salt water, and silver. His battery is called a voltaic pile and is pictured below. When a wire is attached to both ends, the voltage can be measured. The batteries that we use today are