Chemistry

Let’s learn about batteries

These small devices convert chemical energy into electrical energy

When our batteries run low, we definitely take notice.

Daviles/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Bethany Brookshire

How many batteries are around you right now? If you’re reading this on a smartphone or iPad, that’s one. If there’s a laptop computer nearby, that’s two. If you’re wearing a watch or FitBit, that’s three. The remote control for the TV? There’s probably two batteries there. The more you look, the more you’ll find. Batteries power objects we use every day, from hoverboards and electronic scooters to the phones in our pockets.

Batteries are devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. Materials inside the battery lose electrons — tiny negatively-charged particles. Those electrons flow to another material in the battery. The flow of electrons is an electric current. And that current powers your device. Batteries are so important that scientists who created rechargeable ones won a Nobel Prize.

While batteries are useful, they can also be dangerous. The fluids and pastes inside that help create the current can catch on fire — with very dangerous results. So scientists are working to make batteries that are both safe and powerful. They’re also finding new ways to make electric currents. Some devices may one day be powered by electric currents made from your sweat. Otherwise might use bacteria. 

How does a battery work? And why do they run out at the worst time? This video has you covered.

Want to know more? We’ve got some stories to get you started:

Batteries should not burst into flames: Because lithium-ion batteries power modern life, they need to store a lot of energy. Now scientists are focusing on making them safer. (4/16/2020) Readability: 8.1

Working up a sweat may one day power up a device: Tech that turns sweat into power may make for greener gadgets. A new device uses perspiration to charge a supercapacitor and run a sensor. (6/29/2020) Readability: 7.9

Germs power new paper batteries: New paper-based batteries rely on bacteria to generate electricity. These ‘papertronic’ power systems may be a safer choice for remote sites or dangerous environments. (3/3/2017) Readability: 8.3

Explore more

Scientists Say: Power

Explainer: How batteries and capacitors differ

This battery stretches without losing oomph

Nanowires could lead to super-long-lived battery

Shape-shifting chemical is key to new solar battery

2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry goes for pioneering lithium-ion batteries

Word find

Not all batteries have to come from the store. You can use a little spare change to build your own with this project from Science Buddies.

Power Words

More About Power Words

bacteria: (singular: bacterium) Single-celled organisms. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside other living organisms (such as plants and animals). Bacteria are one of the three domains of life on Earth.

battery: A device that can convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

capacitor: An electrical component used to store energy. Unlike batteries, which store energy chemically, capacitors store energy physically, in a form very much like static electricity.

chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.

chemistry: The field of science that deals with the composition, structure and properties of substances and how they interact. Scientists use this knowledge to study unfamiliar substances, to reproduce large quantities of useful substances or to design and create new and useful substances. (about compounds) Chemistry also is used as a term to refer to the recipe of a compound, the way it’s produced or some of its properties. People who work in this field are known as chemists. (in social science) A term for the ability of people to cooperate, get along and enjoy each other’s company.

current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction. (in electricity) The flow of electricity or the amount of charge moving through some material over a particular period of time.

electric current: A flow of electric charge — electricity — usually from the movement of negatively charged particles, called electrons.

electricity: A flow of charge, usually from the movement of negatively charged particles, called electrons.

electron: A negatively charged particle, usually found orbiting the outer regions of an atom; also, the carrier of electricity within solids.

environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).

fire: The burning of some fuel, creating a flame that releases light and heat. (in neuroscience) The activation of a nerve or neural pathway.

germ: Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium or fungal species, or a virus particle. Some germs cause disease. Others can promote the health of more complex organisms, including birds and mammals. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown.

lead:  A toxic heavy metal (abbreviated as Pb) that in the body moves to where calcium wants to go (such as bones and teeth). The metal is particularly toxic to the brain. In a child’s developing brain, it can permanently impair IQ, even at relatively low levels.

nanowire: A wire or rod on the order of a billionth of a meter in cross-section or in circumference. It is usually made from some type of semiconducting material. However some bacteria make string-like anchoring structures on the same size scale. Like the semiconductor wire, the bacterial ones also can transport electrons.

Nobel prize: A prestigious award named after Alfred Nobel. Best known as the inventor of dynamite, Nobel was a wealthy man when he died on December 10, 1896. In his will, Nobel left much of his fortune to create prizes to those who have done their best for humanity in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Winners receive a medal and large cash award.

particle: A minute amount of something.

sensor: A device that picks up information on physical or chemical conditions — such as temperature, barometric pressure, salinity, humidity, pH, light intensity or radiation — and stores or broadcasts that information. Scientists and engineers often rely on sensors to inform them of conditions that may change over time or that exist far from where a researcher can measure them directly. (in biology) The structure that an organism uses to sense attributes of its environment, such as heat, winds, chemicals, moisture, trauma or an attack by predators.

smartphone: A cell (or mobile) phone that can perform a host of functions, including search for information on the internet.

supercapacitor: A capacitor with two conducting surfaces, or electrodes (like other capacitors), on which a charge of energy is stored. Unlike ordinary capacitors (but like batteries), an electrolyte separates the two electrodes. In this sense, a supercapacitor is essentially a battery-capacitor hybrid.

About Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News Explores and is the author of the book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and likes to write about neuroscience, biology, climate and more. She thinks Porgs are an invasive species.

More Stories from Science News Explores on Chemistry

  1. Brain

    Scientists Say: Dopamine

    By Katie Grace Carpenter
  2. Chemistry

    Teen chemist uncovers potentially harmful preservatives in pet food

    By Maria Temming
  3. Chemistry

    Experiment: What makes ice melt fastest?

    By Science Buddies
  4. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Rocket propellants

    By Maria Temming
  5. Health & Medicine

    Science works to demystify hair and help it behave

    By Kathiann Kowalski
  6. Health & Medicine

    Why you shouldn’t just brush off dandruff

    By Kathiann Kowalski
  7. Plants

    Explainer: How a seed grows into a plant

    By Jennifer Junghans
  8. Tech

    A Jurassic Park-inspired method can safely store data in DNA

    By Payal Dhar