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'30 Year Laptop Battery' is Unscientific Myth

Posted by Zonk on from the be-nice-though-wouldn't-it dept.

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."

9 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Laptop? by The+Aethereal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, my lap is exactly where I want to put something radioactive.

    1. Re:Laptop? by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's not significant really. The amount of tritium in this, even concentrated, is pretty low, and would make a really poor weapon...On the order of throwing florescent bulbs at someone to try to poison them with Mercury vapor. It also disperses pretty quickly, so the lasting effect is minimal in the area.

      Tritium is available in the environment already; it's a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen, and it's half life is pretty low (~12 years).

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  2. Sounds like a Star Trek Episode by alexj33 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mr. LaForge: We're trapped by the aliens!

    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.

  3. ...um.... by i_b_don · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know about you ... but for ANYTHING radioactive that I'm going to be sticking on my lap I want more than a "modest" amount of shielding thank you very much.

    don

    --
    all language nazi's will burne in heil!
  4. The Einstein rule by lawpoop · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Anytime you see a reference to Einstein, or the e=mc^2 equation, there's a good chance that the exciting new technology is bunk.

    . The reason the battery lasts so long is that neutron beta-decay into protons is the world's most concentrated source of electricity, truly demonstrating Einstein's theory E=MC2. Can we formalize this rule? It could be as important as Godwin's for understanding internet discourse.
    --
    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso
  5. Re:What pissed me off on that was this assumption: by Verte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the other hand, the Lithium in your current battery will remain deadly forever.

    --
    We at slashdot are scientists, specialists and kernel hackers. Your FUD will be found out.
  6. Embrace Change by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny
    Don't be so afraid of radiation.

    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.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  7. Blue-sky defense contractors by curmudgeous · · Score: 5, Informative

    Defense contractors are always coming up with wonderful sounding ideas that are completely impractical. For example, in 1999 a company called Stavatti presented the DoD a design for a portable laser rifle suitable for use by common infantry. The device was to be powered by...wait for it... polonium (PO-210). An excerpt from the proposal:

    "...To increase the energy level of the CO2 N2 He gas mixture, a Zirconium-Nickel fuel rod approximately 40cm long and 1.8 cm in diameter containing approximately 740 grams (78cc) of Polonium-210 (Po-210) is contained within, and located down the centerline of, the cylindrical gas reservoir. The Po-210 provides a thermal energy source of approximately 141 watts/gram through the emission of alpha particles via the process of nuclear decay. This energy source provides a significant power density while alleviating the shielding requirements and apparent health risks associated with gamma ray emitting radionuclides. The presence of the Po-210 in the reservoir chamber will result in the delivery of approximately 104.34 kW to the CO2 N2 He gas mixture, thereby raising the gas to a state of thermal equilibrium corresponding to an internal reservoir pressure of approximately 272.1 atm, temperature of 2173.16 K and gas density of 44 kg/m3..."

    You may recall that a few micrograms of PO-210 were used to kill that guy in London about a year ago, and this company has proposed putting .75 kg in a rifle that would be subject to damage, destruction and dispersal on the battlefield.

    The paper describing the laser rifle can be found here:

    http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:SEji6Jn6-4AJ:www.defensereview.com/352003/TIS1.pdf+pumped+polonium+laser+rifle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

  8. Re:Back in my day... by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    OXYGEN? Lucky. Back in MY day there was simply nothing, and after a while it blew up.

    --
    Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.