1. Batteries Bringing Power to the People

2. Have you ever considered how many times in aday you make use of a battery? You pick upyour mobile phone and it has a battery, you startyou car and the engine fires up because of abattery, youre at a work meeting and yourlaptop is running off a battery, you look at yourwristwatch and it has a battery you may evenhave one in your razor or toothbrush. Batteriesare ubiquitous sources of power in our lives andmake our daily functioning easier and moreconvenient. They do also however need to becharged in order to be of use to us. 3. Count Alessandro Volta was the Italian physicist whobought the wonderful world of battery power to life. Hecreated a simple battery in 1799 from zinc and silvermetal plates and brine-soaked paper known as thevoltaic pile that was the first device to emit a steadycurrent. In recognition of Voltas discovery the SI unit ofelectromotive force, electric potential and electricpotential difference became known as the Volt. Voltagesof commonly used items include car batteries 12 V,single, non-rechargeable alkaline batteries 1.5 V andhousehold mains 230 V. To maximize the use of theelectrical charge produced by a battery it must beconnected to a load, for example a motor or an electriccircuit. 4. Batteries require anodes, cathodes and electrolytes toproduce a current involving an electrochemical reactionthat moves electrons from negative to positive terminalsand come in both non-rechargeable and rechargeableforms. To restore the charge in the rechargeable battery,energy must be supplied from an external source, forexample via a battery charger, that moves the electronsin reverse from positive to negative terminals, therebyrestoring the charge. Lithium-ion (LiOn), nickel-metalhydride (NiMH) and nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries areexamples of rechargeable batteries. The chargingprocess however is not a hundred percent efficient sogradually charge is lost and the battery will eventuallycease to function. 5. Batteries are broadly divided into three categoriesnamely industrial, automotive and portable types wherethe industrial types can be of any size but designedexclusively for industrial or professional use as opposedto portable types that are used in laptops, mobile phonesand MP3 players. Industrial batteries can be used as asource of power in forklifts, golf carts, lighthouses,professional video equipment and mobility buggies. Moreinteresting applications for batteries are in medicalscience, asset tracking equipment, uninterruptible powersupplies and in the aerospace industry. Next time youhave a moment, picture what our world would look like ifwe had to walk around with everything plugged into asocket. 6. Batteries are broadly divided into three categoriesnamely industrial, automotive and portable types wherethe industrial types can be of any size but designedexclusively for industrial or professional use as opposedto portable types that are used in laptops, mobile phonesand MP3 players. Industrial batteries can be used as asource of power in forklifts, golf carts, lighthouses,professional video equipment and mobility buggies. Moreinteresting applications for batteries are in medicalscience, asset tracking equipment, uninterruptible powersupplies and in the aerospace industry. Next time youhave a moment, picture what our world would look like ifwe had to walk around with everything plugged into asocket.