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At Oxford, a Battery That's Lasted 175 Years -- So Far
sarahnaomi writes There sits, in the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University, a bell that has been ringing, nonstop, for at least 175 years. It's powered by a single battery that was installed in 1840. Researchers would love to know what the battery is made of, but they are afraid that opening the bell would ruin an experiment to see how long it will last. The bell's clapper oscillates back and forth constantly and quickly, meaning the Oxford Electric Bell, as it's called, has rung roughly 10 billion times, according to the university. It's made of what's called a "dry pile," which is one of the first electric batteries. Dry piles were invented by a guy named Giuseppe Zamboni (no relation to the ice resurfacing company) in the early 1800s. They use alternating discs of silver, zinc, sulfur, and other materials to generate low currents of electricity.
Actually the janitor changes it once a week when he cleans the room.
I'm sure Chuck Berry would agree that is an awfully long time to be playing with your ding-a-ling!
Then we'll see how impressive that is.
Not nearly as much as his coming back...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Yeah, we americans would never keep under performing, outdated electrical appliances around for the historic factor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
And we have no attachment whatsoever to historical figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!