Hey there guys, I'm Jesse Crowe, The Travelling Scientist and today
I'm gonna teach you guys why your smartphone batteries suck and how we can get the most out of them.
Okay, so today we're looking at lithium-ion batteries which power all of our portable devices
like phones, laptops, power packs, power tools, things like that.
When the battery is in use, lithium ions,
that's positively charged lithium atoms, move from one end of the battery to the other
and this causes the movement of negatively charged electrons through your device, giving it power.
When the battery is charging, electricity forces the reaction to go in the opposite direction
and the ions move back across the battery.
These chemical reactions can happen hundreds of times in both directions,
so the average lithium-ion battery usually lasts a few years.
But why do they get worse over time? It's really frustrating, smartphones are so expensive
and we need to replace them every couple of years!?
As batteries get used and abused, charged and recharged,
heated and cooled, over time they start to break down.
Lithium gets stuck in the battery and the chemical reaction gets slower and more difficult
reducing the amount of power that the battery can hold.
There's really not much we can do about it, except wait for better batteries to be developed.
So where are these better batteries!?
Well, the major limiting factor for batteries is their energy density
and by improving batteries to push them closer their theoretical limits, we might improve battery life.
For example a typical lithium ion battery has a theoretical energy density of 280 watt hours per kilogram.
But it only has an energy density of 150 watt hours per kilogram...
so there's definitely room for improvement.
The other way of improving battery power is to increase the size of the battery...
But it's not really that efficient.
So are there better batteries out there??? YES!
There are batteries with much higher energy densities currently being developed.
Solid-state batteries will be much more powerful AND safer because they don't have battery acid in them
and metal air batteries have amazing potential.
These are just some of the batteries that could replace lithium ions over the next few years
and they're going to provide much greater energy densities
and they're gonna last much longer than a few years as well.
However, they aren't currently safe enough to carry around in your pocket all day...
And we don't want another Galaxy incident, so let's just play it safe and wait a couple more years.
Did you know?
If a battery heats up beyond 80 degrees celsius
you hit what's called a thermal runway, where it continues heating up
causing the components to break down leading to an explosion!
In the meantime, all we can do is try to make the most of these lithium-ion batteries.
So how can you maximise your battery life?
Try to keep your batteries between 80 and 20 percent
A lot of people think that you need to completely empty your battery
then charge it right up to 100 percent, but that actually refers to old nickel cadmium batteries
which had battery memory.
Testing has shown that lithium-ion batteries last much longer if
they maintain a charge that's not too low or too high.
Another thing you can do is keep your battery cool.
Heat is going to reduce the capacity of your battery by causing the insides to break down over time.
That means that you shouldn't leave it in the Sun
and if it starts to heat up when you're using it, you're slowly killing the battery so maybe give it a break.
And don't keep your batteries constantly charging!
This will keep them from being overly charged and heating up, both of which will reduce the battery's lifespan.
Sure, they don't last long, but batteries are pretty freakin cool!
The fact that you can phone your friends, watch movies, check out photos
look at the temperature and do laptop work from pretty much anywhere at any time...
that's pretty amazing, you can't deny it.
So yeah, batteries aren't perfect but they're pretty damn handy!
So just appreciate what you've got,
enjoy using technology wherever you are
and just hang out for a few more years for those super batteries to be developed!
Well, that's all for today guys, thanks so much for watching.
I really hope you learned something about batteries today.
If you've got any more questions about batteries
just chuck it in the comment section down below.
Finally, subscribe for more travelling science every week!
And I'll see you guys next time. Cheers!
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