| Title | The Battery Bounce Test Explained | |
| Date | Thursday April 02 2015, @02:54AM | |
| Author | ||
| Topic | ||
| from the don't-throw-that-out-just-yet dept. | ||
John Sullivan over at phys.org is reporting on research [Abstract; free access to full paper, but registration is required], published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A on March 13, 2015 (online), which clarifies the accuracy of the Battery Bounce Test. The test purports to determine the charge left on a battery.
From the article:
The battery bounce test, popularized in online videos, shows that fully charged batteries bounce very little when dropped, while those that have been used for a while bounce higher. The height of the bounce increases as the batteries discharge, and that has led to the common conclusion that internal changes related to the reduction in charge are the cause of the higher bounce.
"A year ago a buddy of mine who knows I work on this sent me this video and said 'did you know this happens?'" Steingart said. "I didn't. But I had a bunch of batteries on my desk and I was able to verify it."
The article goes on to discuss the physics behind the bouncing battery test:
"The zinc starts out as a packed bed of particles that all move very nicely past each other," Steingart said. "When you oxidize the zinc, it makes bridges between the particles and makes it more like a network of springs. That is what gives the battery its bounce. "
Steingart said that is not too surprising, as zinc oxide is listed as a component to add bounce to golf balls in many patents.
But the formation of the bridges reaches a maximum "bounce level" well before the oxidation of the zinc is complete. That means that the bounce will reach a peak and level off well before the battery is dead.
So don't throw away those battery testers, folks.
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printed from SoylentNews, The Battery Bounce Test Explained on 2024-04-23 07:33:57