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BASF Shows Off Some Tantalizing Nanotech

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tech-porn dept.

Dan B. writes "The Technology section in The Age today is running a story on the current 'Next Generation' nanotech coming to a store near you from BASF. Interesting read, but I'd like some more info on the 10 hour batteries the size of a cigarette lighter."

3 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. What's a 10 hour battery? by Jason1729 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hour is not a measure of power. How many amp- hours is this battery capable of? What terminal voltage?

    A standard size D Alkaline battery is 17 amp-hours at 1.5 volts. That sounds a lot more impressive than a 10 hour battery, and it's using 30 year old technology.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

    1. Re:What's a 10 hour battery? by Jason1729 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The discharge curve is also very important. If I draw 10 amps from that 17 Ah alkaline D battery, it will last about 30 minutes instead of 1.7 hours. If I take 10 amps from a 9 Ah NiMH D battery, it will last the full 0.9 hours.
      The car battery can easily handle 600 amps for a few seconds while starting your car. There's no way the laptop battry can handle 80 amps even for a fraction of a second

      This just makes the "10 hour battery" in the article even more meaningless.

      Jason
      ProfQuotes

  2. Where's the "news"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a recap of press releases issued from 1999-2002. Seriously! They're even ordered chronologically in the thesis paragraph. I realize this because I've been keeping a local archive of every mnt-related press release that I've come across since 1998.

    It's a well-written piece, a good article for the site it's on, and I wouldn't think it out of place in "USA Today" or "Popular Science," but why does a pointer to it belong on Slashdot? The newest piece of information in the article is about the "lotus effect cling", which was 'news' in 2001!