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Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed
pickens writes "Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries. Nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years, their large size has limited their general usage. But now a research team at the University of Missouri has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. 'The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,' says Jae Wan Kwon. 'By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.' The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions. 'People hear the word "nuclear" and think of something very dangerous,' says Kwon. 'However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites, and underwater systems.'"
so this is what Iran has been up to... now it all makes sense.
Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
but I would be equally impressed by a penny that was the size of a nuclear power plant.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
We can just say its "nucular" and be all cute like George W.
The world will never know the truth!
Yikes, I'd hate to have one of those batteries do a "China Syndrome" through my lap.
Then again, I could probably heat my greenhouse with one during winter.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
but it seems that a car-sized isotope battery would
It would be difficult to fit a battery the size of a car into a car....
As with all other batteries just store them in a torch and next time you need them they'll be dead :(
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
The problem is that normal people are fucking stupid. Imagine the shitstorm when someone disassembles one of these to "see what's inside."
I think that would make for an interesting episode of "Will it blend?". Up this week: a nuclear battery!
"It's a tarp!" -- Dyslexic Admiral Ackbar
Citation needed.
Mart
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
...powering the pump for the artificial hearth...
What, you mean like one of these?
Any plan which depends on a fundamental change in human behavior is doomed from the start.
Yes, "nuclear decay" sounds nasty and horrible.
Marketing has an idea to replace it with something much more enticing:
"The penny-sized battery -- powered by Kitten Purrs!"
Only if while we do that we rebrand coal to "Ancient Corpse Turbofurnaces" and solar to "Death Ray Harvesters" and wind mills to "Breeze Annihlators". Then people will BEG for "Atomic Energy"