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Batteries And Its Effects On The World

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Batteries. Possibly one of the most unappreciated inventions in the world. They’re see strewn around your home, just lose and debatably old or new. We couldn’t power a toy truck nor a hearing aid without them yet we disrespect the honor of one of the most genius and important inventions in history. Batteries are very important but is there anything we can replace it with---possibly, ourselves? Well, first we need to know what exactly a battery actually does. The “first true battery” was invented by Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist, in 1800. Batteries are a mass of one or more cells whose chemical reactions create a flow of electrons in a circuit. Batteries contain three basic parts: electrodes, an electrolyte, and a …show more content…

The anode is known as the reducing agent, because it loses electrons. But do we know what it means for a battery to be dead? Well, as the anode and cathode are connected to a circuit and a chemical reaction takes place between the anode and the electrolyte, the reaction causes electrons to race through the circuit and back into the cathode where another chemical reaction takes place. When the material in the cathode or anode gets to the point where it is consumed or no longer able to be used in the reaction, the battery is unable to produce electricity. At that point, your battery is officially considered “dead” (Hymel 2016). More recently, in 1980, an American physicist Professor John Goodenough invented the lithium battery. As lithium is one of the lightest elements on the period table and being its electrochemical potential is extremely high, the combination produces some of the highest possible voltages in the most compact and lightest volumes (Alarco 2015). There is an unfortunate decent balance between advantages and disadvantage for lithium batteries. An advantage is that its low maintenance, therefore the batteries don’t exhibit a phenomenon known as the “Memory Effect”, of which in short is now used as a general term for anything that makes a battery not deliver at its full capacity. A disadvantage of lithium batteries is the cost. Money is

what makes the world go ‘round and as a potential ‘luxury item’ may seem valuable enough to

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