Lithium batteries charge ahead - Researchers demonstrate cells that can power up in seconds.

Nature News ^ | 11 March 2009 | Geoff Brumfiel

[Publius6961]

Methinks many posters on this thread need to watch this useful video...

Physics for Dummies

[Dinsdale]

Throw in a flywheel, Solar panel on the roof, boiler and triple expansion steam engine and a sheep to supply methane (with ‘proper fittings’) and you will have the most complicated car ever.

[Publius6961]

Lots of people have such a device today.
It's called a welder...

: )

[rawhide]

Toyota claims that not one has required a battery replacement due to malfunction or “wearing out.” The only replacement batteries sold—at the retail price of $3000—have been for cars that were involved in accidents. Toyota further claims that the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery packs used in all Prius models are expected to last the life of the car with very little to no degradation in power capability. http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-batteries-none-the-worse-for-wear-cga.htm

[Texan Tory]

“one might think that that the speed at which it can be charged is also the speed that it can be discharged.”

I think you are correct. This means a massive amount of energy could be discharged very quickly if there is a short circuit. It seems to me that this would present a Hindenberg-like risk of catastrophic failure.

[HeadOn]

So - only conservatives could get them? :-0

[MeanWestTexan]

They need to patent it elsewhere, sell the rights in some other country, and move to some other country, before Obama taxes them for being “lucky.”

Leave now!

[Publius6961]

I knew that. I was being sarcastic.
I have wasted way too much time arguing with ignorant idiots who, to this day, not only claim the absurd $10k figure, but go on to claim when you get rid of a Prius you need to pay a $20k+ "pollution fee."

A neighbor replaced his at 140,000 and somehow he talked Toyota into installing it at cost; under $2500.

[neverdem]

Half of Black Teens May Be Vitamin D Deficient

New drug shows benefits against nasty asthma It sound's like a monoclonal antibody. It's probably not cheap.

Vitamin C May Help Prevent Gout

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[Dinsdale]

That would be one heck of a welder.

You are underestimating the potential current coming out of this battery.

BTW you can arc weld with a bunch of jumper cables, eight or nine car batteries and a coat hanger as welding rod. It won't be pretty but it can get you off the trail.

Shorting this battery wouldn't make an arc welder, it would make a bomb.

Electric potential turns to heat, heat turns parts of battery and bus bar to plasma...

[Squantos]

Do they run down at the same speed as they charge ?......:o)

[theBuckwheat]

A battery that can totally discharge in 9 seconds by definition moves a lot of energy in a short period of time. Thus it will deliver a lot of energy when it is shorted out. Should this short occur inside the battery between the + and the - components, yes it might blow up or catch fire.

[Ole Okie]

Good question, one might think that that the speed at which it can be charged is also the speed that it can be discharged.

Holy mackeral! Don't ever short the suckers out!

[rednesss]

[normanpubbie]

This thread is too good to pass up.

I have a Dell laptop which contains a 2300 mA-hr battery (or 2.3 A-hr). 2.3 A-hr is the amount of energy that a fully-charged battery contains and is equal to 8280 A-sec. If I bring the battery from fully-discharged to fully-charged in 9 seconds at a constant charging current, I would need to supply 8280/9 A or 920 amps to the battery for 9 seconds. Furthermore, this 920 amps times 14.8 volts represents 13,616 watts power for the 9-second charge time. Mucho amps and lotsa watts!

How big would the connecting wires need to be to carry this huge current? The largest gauge copper wire in the American Wire Gage standard is number 0000 which is 0.46 inches in diameter and is rated for 380 amps; you would need to connect 3 of these huge wires to each battery terminal to keep from exceeding the wire current-carrying capacity. Of course that much current would vaporize the terminals.

The 920 amps is DC but it could be converted from house current AC by using a power supply. A 120-volt wall circuit can supply 15 amps maximum at 120 volts or 1800 watts. Clearly, if you need 13,616 watts and only 1800 watts is available from your friendly local wall socket, you would come up short. If I got AC from the heftiest circuit in my home breaker box (30 amps at 240 volts), that would provide only one-half of the power needed to charge my laptop battery in the 9 seconds!

Of course, if I ran 920 amps into my laptop battery it would explode. Period.

Someone brought up the Prius. My sister has a Prius and I checked the owner's manual which lists the auto's specifications. According to my calculations, the Prius can run on the battery pack for only two minutes! The gas engine has to almost constantly start, run, and stop to recharge the battery. Her car does get an honest 45 MPG which I attribute to two factors: The engine runs at a constant speed to charge the battery pack (at optimum efficiency) and the Prius wheel motors turn into generators when you slow down, using the car momentum to recharge the battery pack.

[MHGinTN]

You mean your electric range or electric dryer is not on a 50AMP breaker?

[normanpubbie]

Thanks. I double-checked and I do have a 50-amp breaker on my range circuit.

It takes my Dell battery about 3/4 hour (2700 seconds) to go from fully discharged to fully charged using the stock AC power supply. That implies that at 100 percent charging efficiency the battery is charging at close to 1 amp. This is a far cry from a 9 second recharge at a 920 amp charging rate.

[MHGinTN]

Yup, lots of hype in the article.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks neverdem.

University of Miami physicist develops battery using new source of energy
His discovery is a ‘proof of principle’ of the existence of a ‘spin battery’
University of Miami | Mar 11, 2009 | Unknown
Posted on 03/11/2009 5:30:26 PM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2204683/posts

Breakthrough battery can charge up in seconds
timesonline.co.uk | March 12, 2009 | Mark Henderson
Posted on 03/11/2009 4:41:38 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2204649/posts