Re: pinhole battery questions

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From: NFetter@aol.com
Date: Sun May 26 2002 - 22:51:37 PDT 

From: NFetter@aol.com
Message-ID: <18c.87f9ca6.2a232369@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 01:51:37 EDT
Subject: Re: pinhole battery questions

Hi Geoff,
Paul is close to the right answer about galvanic cells. The rate of discharge
is controlled mainly by the migration of ions in the elctrolyte and by the
polarization of the electrode surfaces. In the cells you make at school, the
ions flow is very slow, hence the discharge rate is also very slow--the
electrodes are usually far apart. In a car battery, the electrodes are large
and very close together, hence they can deliver very currents of arouund 100
A. However, even lead-acid car batteries have some internal resistance and if
shorted, the sulfuric acid solution in the battery will boil and the battery
will explode. I saw that happen once.
Neil Fetter

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