'30 Year Laptop Battery' is Unscientific Myth 322
An anonymous reader wrote to mention the wonderful news: "A research group funded by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is developing a battery which can provide continuous power to your laptop for 30 years! Betavoltaic power cells are constructed from semiconductors and use radioisotopes as the energy source..." Except, not so much. ZDNet's Mixed Signals blog with Rupert Goodwins explains why (as always) if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is: "The sort of atomic structures that generate power when bombarded with high energy electrons are the sort that tend to fall apart when bombarded with high energy electrons. While solar cells have the same problem, it's to a much lesser extent. There's a lot of research into making materials that don't suffer so much, but it remains a serious issue ... while it's true that a tritium-powered battery will eventually turn into an inert, safe lump of nothing much, and while it's also true that a modest amount of shielding will keep the radioactivity within the the battery the while, there's the small problem that if you break the battery during its life the nasties come out."
I think.. (Score:5, Funny)
Laptop? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I think.. (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like a Star Trek Episode (Score:5, Funny)
Wesley Crusher: Wait! We only need to realize that the sort of atomic structures that generate power when bombarded with high energy electrons are the sort that tend to fall apart when bombarded with high energy electrons.
Mr. LaForge: That.... could.... destabilize the aliens death ray....!
Wesley: Yeah, just like in the academy.
Picard: Make it so.
...um.... (Score:5, Funny)
don
Hold the phone... (Score:4, Funny)
Cue the porcine aviators...
Re:Laptop? (Score:4, Funny)
However, when it gets into the body it is EXTREMELY harmful, so the worry is that people will break the batteries open and release toxic crap into the environment where it can be inhaled/ingested.
So if you thought laptop battery fires were dangerous before, these are a terrorist wet dream made to order ...
Back in my day... (Score:4, Funny)
Get off my lawn!
*shakes cane*
Re:Sounds like a Star Trek Episode (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sounds like a Star Trek Episode (Score:3, Funny)
It doesn't.
However, the 3rd Doctor was oft fond of "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow".
Re:The Einstein rule (Score:5, Funny)
Embrace Change (Score:5, Funny)
A larger pool of mutants means more chance of a favorable adaptation, right?
We can't be so selfish - think of the children.
Everyone talks about evolution but nobody does anything about it.
Re:Hold the phone... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What pissed me off on that was this assumption: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Laptop? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Back in my day... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Back in my day... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Laptop? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cons and wishful thinking (Score:3, Funny)
Well it wasn't great at the start, but then we hooked the tubes up in series.
Re:Laptop? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Laptop? (Score:3, Funny)
I really wish I had mod points. There should be a "+1, you referred to sharks with laser beams."
:-)
Re:Back in my day... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Back in my day... (Score:5, Funny)