Gray Matter: Batteries Out of Thin Air

WoW it even has the power to lift the clamp designed to hold back all that power!
LoL

Pass: For bringing Zinc air batteries to limelight.

Fail: For explaining that Zinc-air batteries cant produce short bursts of large energy because they are like Jets and regular batteries are like Rockets. There might be some parallels, but making an argument just because there are some parallels = Big mistake!

Also, I find it hard to believe that jets can't produce as much thrust as rockets just because of an apparent limitation in how much air they can suck!

sciencestud pound for pound rocket engines have much much more thrust.

The question I get out of this is if you get an old hearing aid wet can you get more power out of it?

Zinc is like $2 a kg, how well could you make an electric car where you swap out for fresh zinc instead of refueling. The fuel station could then electrolysize the zinc before selling it again.

I realize that rockets generate more force per pound that a traditional jet. That is why there is more acceleration in a rocket compared to a traditional jet.

But claiming that jets cant produce as much thrust per pound because of an apparent limitation to suck in air is naive.

Also, just because there are some parallels between rockets vs jets and Zinc-Air batteries vs other regular batteries, its not fair to make an argument saying they will behave in similar ways in all aspects.

I heard about these a year or 2 ago. My question is, how far off are these things from actually being put to market, and is there even a theory as to how to recharge them. The other question is whether or not there is a plan to start recycling zinc. World reserves of zinc will be depleted in 40-50 years at the current rate of use. These things have always sounded great but people need to know if the hurdles can even theoretically be jumped.

It's actually true that jets can't suck enough burnable oxygen from the air. For many generations we've endured a rapidly increasing density of hot, non-flammable and otherwise inert gas (like CO2); and unless we do something about all the politicians producing it, we're doomed.

This is actually not a battery but a fuel cell, without the problems of storing a gas like hydrogen. The big question is whether they can be recharged, or would the ZnO have to be sent to a refinery to convert it back to zinc metal? Maybe a chemist could find a good catalyst.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duct tape is like the Force - it has a Light side, a Dark side, and it holds the universe together. -- Carl Zweiberg

... Maybe this has the potential to become an underwater battery.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duct tape is like the Force - it has a Light side, a Dark side, and it holds the universe together. -- Carl Zweiberg

Runs out of water -- just add water?

And how do you turn it off? Do you have to shut off the air, or will a simple current disconnect do the job?

genedoug: I was wondering the same thing :P

Can't let Andrewhorning's nonsense pass.

How does 3% of 1% get to be a rapidly increasing density? In Earth's history, the average level has run around 5-10X current CO2 concentrations. Organisms creating chalk and limestone have stripped the atmosphere, so that we are now in a CO2 famine. It would be great if we could get back up over 2,000 ppm! But we have only about a 5% of 3% of 1% influence on the atmosphere. So no hope of increasing it much.

CO2 is not inert. It is valuable plant food; every tree and crop is mostly composed of CO2 directly from the air. That's why growers' greenhouses keep it at 1-3,000 ppm.

Sounds about as good as a car that runs on water? *Yeah those' exist* why aren't we driving them?

Nuclear batteries have also powered more familiar devices on Earth, such as pacemakers. The higher cost of the batteries represents the tradeoff for a long-lasting power source that provides more energy for its size than chemical batteries.

www.superbattery.co.uk

Large amounts of ZnO entering the waste stream is not a good thing.

its fine as long as it is kept out of the waste stream and simply renewed

@ Kevin Kpex, we don't use water as a fuel because it is less efficient than other methods. In using water, what we actually do is separate the hydrogen from the water using electricity (generally electricity that we get from coal) and then electricity is released when the hydrogen bonds with oxygen to form water again when it goes through a hydrogen fuel cell. Transferring energy types is not very efficient at all. I suppose that the inefficiency could be forgiven if the electricity came from clean sources only, but currently that's not available. Water-powered cars aren't any better than anything already on the road.

wow, this is why I love popsci stories like this give me the hope that the future will not be the dark distopia that many claim. I fervently believe that the reasoned application of science can solve our energy problems without us having to give up the modern convieniences that we all enjoy today, like cars, aeroplanes and the internet. Supurb News. I think this type of technology will also be a benefit to gadget makers such as small, but high powered digital cameras or laptops etc. That is if you don't mind a slow burning but ultimately disposable battery.

www.fotoworlduk.co.uk