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Researchers at MIT have devised a process for generating electricity using nanotechnology. They hope that if they refine the process they will able to create a new, environmentally friendly battery, as well as other products. The process they have devised uses tiny wires, called carbon nanotubes, to create a powerful wave of energy. To create the energy wave the tiny wires are coated with a layer of fuel, which results in the generation of a thermopower wave. The reaction which creates the thermopower wave could eventually be able to be used to power electronics, computers and cell phones. "This could lead to batteries that are up to 10 times smaller and still have the same power output. In the portable energy and energy conservation arena, we're trying to find power sources that have a smaller profile but hold more energy," said Michael Strano, one of the researchers who devised this process and an associate professor of chemical engineering at MIT, told CNN Radio. To build a power source, like a battery, electrons must be moved in a material from one end of the battery to the other end, to create an electrical current. The researches found that the thermopower wave that carbon nanotubes generates does this. Strano said "some of the advantages of this technology [are] you can generate a lot of power from a very, very small device." Most of the batteries sold today are made from highly toxic heavy metals. These heavy metals, like lead, nickel and cadmium are very bad for the environment. But, according to Strano, batteries made from this new thermopower technology would be completely nontoxic. There's another potential benefit in using a so-called thermopower battery and that is energy savings. "Most people don't realize a battery sitting unused in your laptop is leaking its power away," Strano said.
Questions: (3-5)
1. Where was this process discovered?
2. What do the researchers hope to use this process for?
3. What is the benefit of this type of power?
Opinion / Reflection
I think this ether could change how portable electronics are powered in the future. Portable electronics could become more powerful, and even smaller with these types of batteries. A lot of heavy metal pollution could be prevented if we begin to use batteries that use this technology. We could stop doing as much environmental damage as we do now, just to power our laptops and cell phones.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/12/mit.research.electricity/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
This has to be my favorite article yet, mainly because of the nanotube theorie. The same tubes are also being used to (hopefully) create the Space Elevator, a rocketless/propulsion-less way to enter space, and also creating a counterbalance for earth.
ReplyDeleteThis will benifit many people in the future, mainly because of the reliability of the process. The magnitude of how small these batteries can be is amazing. Nanotubes are meant to be extremely small, and in the future, this can be also used to make waterproof, expendable clothes.
QUESTIONS:
1. MIT
2. Batteries that will be more energy efficient and safer for the environment.
3. Smaller, safer batteries.
This article reaqlly opened up my mind to other uses of our energy. I mostly thought of energy like things around the house that use fuel and you plug into walls but i forgot about batteries and their contrabution to energy and being a toxin. I think this a great idea to make these batteries. At first if they do come out, thye will most likely be more expensive. In the long run though they could help us be enviromentaly friendly and save us energy and money.
ReplyDelete1. At MIT
2. To create batteries that are more effiecient and enviromentaly friendly.
3. Smaller batteries that are more efficient and will e safer towards the enviroment.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10441379/batteries-bad-for-earth-bad-for-budgets.html
Here's an article about how bad batteries are for our enviroment and budget all together.
This article really shows how energy can be generated from something as small as that. As Brianna said, some of us have forgotten about batteries or barely use them. And if these can really lead to batteries that are 10 times smaller and output the same voltage, think of how small other devices that require batteries will become. If cell phones start using this nanotechnology, think of how much smaller they may become. As also stated before in the article, batteries in laptops are not always going to survive with multiple charges. Soon enough, they can not hold any more energy and need to be replaced, but with this technology, we may be able to save this from happening and wasting materials.
ReplyDeleteIs this a renewable resource?
Would it be safe to just throw them out?
I believe that we are really advancing ourselves to bettering the enviroment and I'm glad they are managing to find more renewable resource. People might not realize it but batteries are used everywhere and for everything so they are easily overlooked but they make a difference on everything, and if we can come up with an alternative choice that makes batteries even smaller than it is a great idea that should cause merit.
ReplyDelete1. Where was this process discovered? -MIT
2. What do the researchers hope to use this process for?- To create batteries that are more beneficial to the environment
3. What is the benefit of this type of power?- the batteries are so much smaller than normal