Category: Technology Methods

We use batteries for a great many purposes. Portable sources of energy that can power anything from a mobile phone to a mobile crane. But how do these power sources work, and what are the functions inside?

Most batteries contain three basic parts. Electrodes, an electrolyte and a separator. Within every battery are two electrodes, both of which are made of conductive material.

One electrode, known as the cathode, connects to the positive end of the battery and is where the electrical current leaves (or electrons enter) the battery during discharge, which is when the battery is being used to power something.

The other electrode, known as the anode, connects to the negative end of the battery and is where the electrical current enters (or electrons leave) the battery during discharge.

A series of chemical reactions occur in the electrodes. These are collectively known as oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. These reactions result in the flow of ions between the anode and the cathode.

Used by people the world over. Solar panels are an energy technology that looks to bring power to many of us for the foreseeable future. But one thing that is less known about them, is just how they work.

To understand this, it’s important to know how energy from the sun arrives at planet earth.

Energy travels the 93 million miles from the Sun in approximately 8 minutes, arriving in the form of light and heat of varying wavelengths. This sunlight can be converted into electricity by the use of photovoltaic cells that collect the energy.

When the sun strikes the molecules in photovoltaic cells it knocks electrons loose that generate electricity as they flow through it. This process does not require bright sunshine and hot conditions, which means that a more temperate climate is just as good for producing electricity from a solar array as hotter climates.

Technology tends to follow necessity. Throughout history humans have continuously come up against challenges. Plagues, wars, natural disasters, climate change. All these influences haven driven technological advancement.

You could also argue that the dreams of man have also been challenges within themselves. To have a burning desire in your heart means to be challenged by following it every day.

It is from these challenges that technology has risen. While World War II induced a horrible loss of human life, there remains the fact that it increased the development of technology across the world.

Most people see problems and disadvantages as just that, negative denominators on successful change. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. The very fact those disadvantages exist is to provide a country or person with the drive, the antagonist to contend with. The very thing that ‘hinders’ the change is the goal to shoot for.