Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on a new device that uses carbon nanotubes to store and release electrical energy in a system that could carry as much power as today's lead or lithium batteries.
But unlike the rechargeable batteries used on today's cellphones and laptop computers, these devices could be recharged hundreds of thousands of times before wearing out.
And instead of taking hours to recharge, they could be powered up in about the same time it takes to fill up a gas tank. ...
The device being developed at MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems isn't a battery, but a capacitor -- a device that's already used in nearly every electronic product on the planet. When plugged into an electrical circuit, a capacitor briefly stores incoming electricity, they releases it at a predictable rate. Capacitors can't store very much power, compared to traditional batteries. But while it takes hours to recharge a battery, capacitors charge almost instantly. And while most batteries can only be recharged a few hundred or thousand times before wearing out, capacitors can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times.
Friday, June 30, 2006
MIT RESEARCH MAY MAKE BATTERIES OBSOLETE
We knew our friend MIT was talented, but we had no idea that he knew nanotube technology. The Boston Globe says:
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6 comments:
Let's hope so. I'd love to see Al Gore out of a job.
Al Gore has a job?
Science at it's best making the world a better place. Thank you M.I.T.
How exactly would "a new device . . . that could carry as much power as today's lead or lithium batteries" put Al Gore "out of a job?" Does FigBoy think Gore works for Duracell? Or does Shattenkirkle believe batteries cause global warming?
The door from our laundry room to the den doesn't have faded letters reading LAB for nothing. Behold the power of scotch!
No, no, DocLarry. Al Gore has never had a job.
But your can thank you're lucky Energizer Bunny for putting him out of the movie business. And speaking of movies, where has that brainless lard ass Michael Moore gone? Those two ought to hook up, like Lucas and Spielberg did to create a real liberal-lovin' movie.
I could see the opening scene. A group of Republicans dinking fine champagne from their golden engraved Texaco glasses dining on spotted owl wrapped in bacon.
Their deck overlooks what once was a glacier, now melted, thanks to them, and their rich kids play in the backyard bashing in the brains of baby seals with sledgehammers given them by Halliburton.
Well, it's a start.
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