Video: The battery that might change everything

http://hotair.com ^ | february 23 2013 | jazz shaw

[roadcat]

The problem is that these new batteries never actually make it “around the corner” because the REAL WORLD is vicious to batteries, much more so than it is to gasoline.

Young people and Lover's Lane - leaving the radio/stereo going late into the night - they shouldn't use electric cars.

[Hardraade]

If the burner used for the test survived, I’d say probably not.

[no-to-illegals]

We was all wrong.

[no-to-illegals]

Looks like sulfuric acid.

[Born to Conserve]

They want lots of energy stored in a small space. They don’t seem to understand, that is what a bomb is. If there is a fire or an accident, the energy will be released.

With gasoline and other “fuels”, there is no oxygen, so the release is slow. With batteries, capacitors, flywheels, accumulators, etc, the energy is all there, and ready to explode. I’ve seen trucks cut in half by flywheels (old style wood chipper accident). I’ve seen small radios blown apart by tiny capacitors. I’ve seen laptops incinerated by batteries. They’re trying to squeeze a balloon — every improvement in one area will increase the problems in another.

[FatherofFive]

And I can even remember myself saying back in the seventies, these damn toy computers (PCs) will never work in a business environment!

So you're the guy from IBM who turned down DOS! Amazing.

[Paladin2]

The Hydrogen molecule is REALLY small and difficult to contain.

Plus, where are the Hydrogen mines?

[Paladin2]

I was deprived as a youth 'cause my paris wouldn't buy me an IBM 360 for my bedroom, nor let me on the Internet.

So now I have to overcompensate.

[Jim Robinson]

Speaking of great inventors, great inventions, steam, and things that will never work—stumbled upon this yesterday:

Lincoln’s Secret Weapon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZaSHIUpVk

Ironclad warship, steam powered, screw propeller, rotating turret, powerful naval guns. Of course, all of it was highly dangerous and none of it caught on. Impractical. The inventor was even banned from doing business with the government for a period after a gun exploded during a demo.

[Paladin2]

[shotdog]

It pits a screwdriver shaft with great authority. sd

[Paladin2]

"With gasoline and other “fuels”, there is no oxygen, so the release is slow"

It's handy that the Earth's atmosphere has a relatively high concentration of O2. Fuel-air bombs seem to be very effective.

[no-to-illegals]

Did you ask for a commodore, as a consolation prize? My eldest did, and I played with it more than my eldest. Then came larger processors with greater capacity and then I have no idea what happened next. Been here typing ever since.

[no-to-illegals]

This one has commercials. That’s scary.

[Paladin2]

Commodore? HAHA.

When I wuz a kid, RAM was magnetic core and there were no microprocessors but I did eventually get a transistor radio.

I wuz DEPRIVED!

[no-to-illegals]

At Least you didn’t have to use sun dials with the ark to generate electricity like some of us did to become connected to the internet. Those were tough times.

[fuente]

Great chart! In the energy world we talk high heat value and low heat value. Anthracite vs. Bituminous is very interesting comparison. I wonder where coke (almost pure carbon) is on that chart. Polycarb also burns much differently than the polymers listed, but you get the idea. Of course this has little to do with the stability of the storage device. Some Li-ions have the explosive capacity greater than TNT.

[humblegunner]

The inventor was even banned from doing business with the government for a period after a gun exploded during a demo.

An early example of government interference.

[steve86]

I’m more familiar with ordinary li-poly cells which burn rapidly but do not explode, although it may appear that way to someone surprised when one lights off. Most consumer li-ions are quite resistant to rapid oxidation events.

[steve86]

Appears to be a lot of unexploited potential in the hydrogen area, especially for semi-rigid airships.