New Batteries

:thinking: This might be sillly but is it possible to make nuclear powered batteries which are safe to use and also give a vast amount of energy?

Techincally, there is already something that has been called a "nuclear battery":

radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG)

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) is a simple electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples. RTGs can be considered as a type of battery and have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes and unmanned remote facilities. RTGs are usually the most desirable power source for unmanned or unmaintained situations needing a few hundred watts or less of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries and generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not viable.

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Probably not something you will ever see at home.

-Bill

Wow --

That RTG article (on Wiki) was very interesting !

And very technical, too.



Don't think it'll replace our 2700 mAH NiMH cells soon, however.

there was also a nuclear powered pacemaker. it was a very heavy hunk of metal with a tiny grain of uranium inside. there were three chambers, and a drop of water. the isotope would heat the water to steam, the steam would pressurize another chamber, then it would condense in the third chamber, and then fall back to the 'heat chamber; no moving parts.. problems were; if it broke it could kill you and everyone around you..it was very expensive and 'valuable' -- the sort of thing someone might want to steal..which would be bad..

but it's toxic for a thousand years...and more..

That pacemaker was actually plutonium powered - more info and pictures:
http://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/Miscellaneous/pacemaker.htm
Based on the thermoelectric efect.

Daniel wow thanks for that link, that's amazing --
but I distinctly recall that this one pacemaker I'm thinking of used a drop of water for a steam-driven pulse -- I think it may have been Japanese..

I also thank Daniel_Sk for that link. I spent last evening exploring the Oak Ridge labs museum online. Some really really interesting gadgets there.

Daniel

I am glad you liked it, I also spent a lot of time there - I am so fascinated by all the radioactive stuff .

You can find some more info about the plutonium pacemaker here: http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/094/ ,which is a great site about all elements. (some interesting stuff is on the page about Radium).

TedTheLed said:

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Just 157 gallons of gas?
That would make an eco-friendly car go for about 12000 kilometres...
I dunno about you, but from something that, if broken, will cause a horrible death I expect something like ten times that figure at the very least.