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Tobacco Virus Could Boost Li Batteries
siliconbits alerts us to the possible use of one of the world's most destructive naturally occurring scourges, the tobacco mosaic virus, to boost the capacity of lithium ion batteries by 10 times. It seems the virus can be made to attach itself to the electrodes in a lithium cell perpendicularly, increasing the surface area of the electrode and greatly improving the battery's capacity to store energy. PhysOrg has some more detail on virus-enhanced batteries. Four years ago we discussed the use of the tobacco mosaic virus to enable fast-switching transistors.
Sorry, I don't consider a virus that primarily damages tobacco plants to be a scourge.
Cancer, heart disease, and emphasema, now those are scourges. But a virus that kills their primary pathogen? Nope.
What could *possibly* go wrong?
Tomacco!
That's what just happened to my mind.
What could go wrong (a tobacco die-off) could be.... very right.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
When you say "one of the world's most destructive naturally occurring scourges," are you referring to tobacco or the virus?
Signed,
to lazy to log in.
except it would take tomatoes with it as well. Won't someone think of the pizza!!!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Perhaps The Diamond Age was a little off-target when talking about nanobot assembly of goods from pipelines of raw materials: programming biological viruses to build the structures you're looking for seems like it's becoming more and more viable than trying to purpose-build nanobots to do the same.
This should also lay to rest some of the more vehement rhetoric about 'grey goo' disasters; if there were going to be a 'grey goo' scenario, bacteria would have done it aeons ago.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
In another 4 years, what will the tobacco virus be boosting? place your bets :)
I'm thinking solar panels.
(Do I even need to say this one
ok, I do) ...welcome our highly charged Lithium-Tobacco-virus overlords
Four years ago we discussed the use of the tobacco mosaic virus to enable fast-switching transistors.
So where are the fast switching transistors? Does ANYTHING every come to fruition?
Currently hooked on AMP
Cell phone users aren't welcome around my pepper plants.
Mmmm. Pizza...
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
My notebook batteries came pre-loaded with a virus!
Should include "Choking Hazard: Do not place in infant mouths!".
Do they neutralize the virus when they bond them inside the batteries? What if the virus leaks out and eats up my cigarettes? Melp, Hurder!
Geekism is your _only_ God!
I'm confused, is this a bug or a feature? Could it be both at the same time?!?
Gasoline has an energy density of about 34 MJ/L, while current Li-ion batteries have an energy density of around 0.7 MJ/L. If this comes to fruition, we'll have batteries with about 1/5th of the energy density of gasoline. That's quite amazing, in my opinion.
What if that battery is pierced, though? I know that the Tesla rig uses a slew of small cells. Do other electric cars like the Volt or the Leaf do the same thing? It seems to me that a number of small cells might present less of a problem, though that would drive the energy density of a battery pack down.
Virus + Li Batteries.....
I just hope sony doesn't make these and it decides to explode in a tobacoo field. Whatcouldpossiblygowrong
As I discovered, much to my consternation, after buying a Kodak digital camera which came with an included “Kodak lithium digital camera battery”:
Lithium batteries are not rechargeable. Lithium ion batteries are.
Big difference.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
In this case the bug is the feature.
It seems the virus can be made to attach itself to the electrodes in a lithium cell perpendicularly, increasing the surface area of the electrode and greatly improving the battery's capacity to store energy.
Once again, it's time to... get perpendicular!
Even if the virus only affected tobacco -- in reality it affects lots of other crops -- if it caused the extinction of tobacco, that would be a bad thing for the world. There are numerous wild tobacco species whose extinction could have all sorts of consequences (like a suddenly rise in the population of insects). Tobacco is often used as a natural insecticide by people who want to be "green."
The tobacco plant is not evil (how can a plant be evil?) and its extinction would not necessarily be a good thing.
Palm trees and 8
With a battery like this, my Sprint EVO might last a full workday on a single charge!!!
Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"
(how can a plant be evil?)
Just call it marijuana.
"On average, one acre of tobacco can produce approximately 2,100 pounds of leaf tissue, yielding approximately one pound of TMV per pound of infected leaves," he explains.
Those leaves are 100% TMV? Yuck!
I think that should read '1 lb/ton'.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
If you combine all the claims of new technologies that enable 10x the capacity for batteries, we should be seeing AA cells that can hold enough power to run the planet for a year.
I'll believe it when I can buy it from Canadian Tire.
lithium batteries are sufficiently unstable that they are banned from commercial aircraft and US mail.
Then explain why I'm allowed to mail a Game Pak of The Legend of Zelda, which contains a CR2032 lithium battery to power an 8 KiB SRAM. Or have classic video game dealers been breaking the law all this time?
This battery tech, if it pans out, should be the the most profound change to our society since the PC-- electric vehicles (EVs)-- mass-produced and affordable ones, that is-- that today can only manage a couple of hundred miles at best will be capable of driving thousands of miles per charge. But as a practical matter, we will opt instead for cars with a range of, say, 300 miles, but with much smaller, lighter batteries. They will only require motors a third as big... the suspension systems will be lighter and nimbler... they'll be more powerful, quicker, less expensive and better in every respect than the internal combustion engine (ICE) cars that we have toay and which I hate. I look forward to quieter freeways, less smog, cheaper transportation costs, and the other benefits such cars will bring. The one problem will be that since EVs will be so much cheaper, and cheaper to operate, our freeways will eventually become more congested unless we develop new tech that allows greater density but still allows reasonable speeds.
Everything about EVs will continue to mature, including AC motors for EV use will make them more efficient, increasing range per charge and decreasing power requirements. Google "V2G"... it stands for "Vehicle to Grid"... it is a system that power companies are beginning to implement to make EVs part of the solution, not just part of the problem. The grid and the EVs plugged into it will be "intelligent"... If the grid senses it is beginning to become overloaded, it puts out a "request" to EVs to give back some of their charge to prevent blackouts. Vehicle owners that provide such power will be paid for that energy at an attractive rate, allowing the load on the grid to be less erratic. Homeowners, public charging stations, retail businesses, and apartment buildings will be installing their own battery storage systems, which will help to decentralize our grid and make it more robust against terrorists and any other anomalies that might otherwise give us the kinds of problems inherent with very centralized grids.
The power grids of the future will be as different from the grid of the recent past as today's cars differ from the best cars of the 1970's-- they will be cybernetic.
Check out Altair Nanotech of Reno, Nevada, re: their NanoSafe battery, which is far more rugged than any batteries today-- they survive undercharging, overcharging, rapid discharge, rapid charging, and will last for decades without maintenance. The Navy has been using them to replace one of two large generators on their submarines to make them stealthier and reduce their operating expenses; what they save on energy in less than two years will pay back the investment. The Army will be using such batteries to avoid the hazardous transport of tanker trucks through hostile territory, operating quiet, stealthy vehicles that can be charged from local solar power panels; they will also power radios in soldier's backpacks. Also take a look at Clipper Creek, Coloumb Technologies and others ramping up to provide thousands of charging stations nationwide. They are doing it intelligently, so grids will not be crashing.