Keyanna Kinloch April 18, 2012
The History the Battery and Its Effect on the Environment The battery is an important invention in many regards; it has an interesting history, it is used in everyday life, and it has forced us to find ways to make it safer for the environment. The battery has been around longer than most people think, being found in ancient ruins near Bagdad. They may have started off as clay pots, but they have evolved in to a multipurpose tool. Batteries are used every day, from the computer used to type this paper to the light-up toy car your little brother plays with. Batteries are used in a variety of different careers, from agriculture to computer science to mechanics. Although very useful, batteries are harmful to the environment when disposed of improperly. Many companies and environmentalists have recognized this and have tried to come up with solutions to combat the dangers associated with batteries. Batteries, as you can see, are very important and without them many inventions would have never seen the light. The history of the batteries is an interesting and surprisingly long considering that many of the ancients didn’t understand the concept of electricity. In 1938, archaeologist Wilhelm Konig discovered some peculiar clay pots while digging at Khujut Rabu, just outside of presentday Baghdad, Iraq. The jars contained an iron rod encased in copper and dated from about 200 B.C. After many tests Konig realized that the jars, now nicknamed “Bagdad battery, produced a weak electrical charge. This was the start of the history of the battery. In 1799, Italian physicist Alessandro Volta created the first battery by stacking alternating layers of zinc, brine-soaked
pasteboard or cloth, and silver. This arrangement, called a voltaic pile, was not the first device to create electricity, but it was the first to emit a steady, lasting current. The next breakthrough in battery technology came in 1836 when English chemist John Frederick Daniell invented the Daniell cell. The Daniell cell was a common way to power doorbells and telephones before electrical generation was perfected. By 1898, the Colombia Dry Cell became the first commercially available battery sold in the United States. The manufacturer, National Carbon Company, later became the Eveready Battery Company, which produces the Energizer brand. Batteries have many uses and have been used as such for a long time. Scientists believe that the Bagdad battery had been used for religious rituals, medicinal purposes, or even electroplating. Current batteries are used every day and have been very useful. For example, the laptop computer has a rechargeable battery that allows businessmen and students alike to take their work and play on the go. Rechargeable batteries are used because they can be charged and they are an alternative to disposable batteries. A disadvantage of the rechargeable battery is that after charging many times the battery’s charge doesn’t last as long.