Dropping Science: New Tech For A New Year : Radioactive Batteries

By Kate Gammon , published on December 30, 2008 at 2:30 PM
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Using radioactive decay to create electricity for batteries has been the stuff of science fiction–but the fact is that engineers are getting closer all the time to harnessing nuclear power for batteries. A common way is to try using a radioactive isotope, such as a variant of hydrogen called tritium. Tritium emits electrons as it decays, and when the electrons crash into semi-conductive material nearby, a current is generated. The problem is that the efficiency is super-low, so not too much juice is created by all this electron-crashing. Now, a group of scientists at Rice University has made much better nuclear-powered batteries by using a thin layer of liquid polymer containing the radioactive isotope. They have applied for a patent for their batteries, saying their long-lasting invention could be used in spacecraft or medical devices where battery changes are costly and dangerous.
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Comments
DGriffin 12/31/2008 8:59 AM
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What an idiotic idea!!! What if an other person in the car wants to use their cell phone???? What if there is an emergency!?!?!?!

zodiacfml 12/31/2008 10:40 AM
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i agree, no one will buy that car. hehe

Anonymous 12/31/2008 2:28 PM
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You can't be serious? If you can't tell a recorded disc from an original one with your bare eyes you need to check your glasses.

Anonymous 12/31/2008 2:39 PM
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Electronic gyros are nothing new, they've been around in r/c helis for several years. And they're not very expensive. Cheapest goes for 20 bucks.

Anonymous 12/31/2008 4:08 PM
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Umm.. the difference between a pressed(original) cd and a copy(burned) is that a pressed cd's data (0 and 1) are represented by physical pits and peaks whereas a burned cd's information is represented by burned (reflective and not reflective) marks on a flat plain. Make a system to differentiate peaks (which are reflective, but does not reflect into the target sensor) from non-reflective burn marks. Then you can tell which is a copy, and which is an original.

Balshoy 01/03/2009 1:15 AM
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Great another way to entice road rage... turn the mobile off while blocked in traffic.

Anonymous 01/06/2009 8:41 AM
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Robotic Clams...? Yes, finally! what we've all been waiting for!

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