A Brief Scientific Introduction on Batteries

The battery, today’s technological necessity, is the result of 400 years of scientific effort. This means that batteries have been around much longer than you may think. The first battery was created in the 1799 by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. He stacked alternating layers of zinc, brine-soaked pasteboard or cloth and silver. Although this arrangement called the voltaic pile was not the first device that created electricity, it was definitely the first to emit a steady and lasting current. Other important breakthroughs connected to batteries date back to 1836 when the Daniell cell was invented and to 1898 when the Colombia Dry Cell became the first commercially available battery sold in the United States and later all throughout the world.

Now that you know a little bit of history, we can go on with the battery’s anatomy. If you take a look at any battery, you’ll notice that it has two terminals: positive and negative. If you connect a wire between the two terminals, the electrons will flow from the negative end to the positive end as fast as they can. That way the battery will wear out very quickly and it can be dangerous, especially when it comes to larger batteries. This is why you must connect the battery to a load such as a light bulb, a motor or an electronic circuit like a radio.

If you’re handy and like experimenting, you can create your own voltaic pile experiment using foil, quarters, blotting paper, salt and cider vinegar. First you need to cut the foil and the blotting paper into circles and soak the blotting paper in a mixture of cider vinegar and salt after that. Attach a copper wire to one of the foil discs using masking tape and stack the materials in this order: foil, paper, quarter, foil paper, quarter and so on until you have repeated this pattern 10 times. When you finish, attach a wire to it with masking tape and attach the free ends of the two wires to a LED. If you’ve done everything correctly, the LED should light up.

However, the final result of this experiment should not be a substitute for an actual battery. If you actually need one for your remote control or for your kid’s toy, you can buy batteries online or at any supermarket. However, when you do buy batteries online make sure you choose the brand carefully, because it depends a lot what you’ll be using them for. If for example you need the battery for your Wii remote or for the iPod speakers, you’ll be better off purchasing more expensive batteries, but if you’re just looking for something to keep your kid’s car running, you’ll save more by going off-brand because these devices don’t require massive amounts of battery power to run properly.