Battery Chattery

Latest Episodes:

Episode 13 - The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, part 2 Jan 27, 2019

Time for more details about the bipartisan carbon fee bill that everybody (everybody = Hope and Ana) is talking about!

Note: in the time between recording this episode and uploading it, the Senate ALSO introduced a (slightly edited) version of this bill, and the new House reintroduced it (also in slightly edited form). #nice

Sources:

carbon emissions rise for 2018: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/08/politics/us-carbon-emissions-rise-2018/index.html
household impact study (how does a carbon fee and dividend policy affect people across different states/income levels/etc?): https://11bup83sxdss1xze1i3lpol4-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ummel-Impact-of-CCL-CFD-Policy-v1_4.pdf - "Importantly, this analysis is “static” and does not consider “dynamic” effects of a carbon tax on economic growth, employment, wages, trade, production processes, or consumption patterns over time.4 Nor does it consider local or global environmental benefits. Instead, I calculate the short-term financial effect on families, assuming that the policy is implemented “overnight”, firms pass the entire carbon fee on to consumers in the form of higher prices, and there is no change in behavior, technologies, or emissions."
more info about household income quintiles: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/household-income-quintiles
info about republicans/millenials/climate change attitudes:
http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/politics-global-warming-march-2018/2/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/14/many-republican-millennials-differ-with-older-party-members-on-climate-change-and-energy-issues/?fbclid=IwAR1ETVCqGH67D-rfbD75E-VvGIhMq4JHoR-R4EDzRxOmd75pxq8vMBmIPkU
the bill text: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/7173/text
PAY-GO (this is why the dividend is taxable): https://citizensclimatelobby.org/laser-talks/25-percent-pay-go/
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/dividend-delivery-study/
Green New Deal goals: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/11/14/18094452/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-nancy-pelosi-protest-climate-change-2020

Episode 13 - The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, part 1 Dec 30, 2018

In this episode, we talk climate policy! Specifically, we talk about a bipartisan carbon fee and dividend bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives last month.

("But Hope and Ana, what about batteries?" Why do you think we got into batteries in the first place if not for their implications re: climate change? :( Ok no but for real, carbon fee --> fossil fuels less economically viable in the future --> solar/wind power MORE economically viable in the future --> energy storage Very Needed And Wanted --> more funding for battery research, probably!)

Part 1 covers the basics of the bill! Impress your friends with your knowledge of its agricultural exemptions, its basis in IPCC findings, its special prescription for fluorinated greenhouse gases, and more! (And then tune in next time for the economic effect of the dividend, our takes on how this would interact with a Green New Deal, and, you guessed it, MORE)

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAfWTppsc2w - The Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act Legislative Details from Citizens Climate University, and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqrqfpXjOTE - additional Q&A

enhanced oil recovery: https://www.energy.gov/fe/science-innovation/oil-gas-research/enhanced-oil-recovery

Bill text: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/7173/text

Episode 12 - Laura Bassi, part 3 Sep 05, 2018

She's back at it again! Tune in as Laura studies lots and lots of water, clarifies some exceptions to Boyle's Law, lends out her laboratory and skills to assist other scientists, and finally scores a physics chair despite, y'know, men

Laura Bassi (and husband):

Laura Bassi and Science in 18th Century Europe - The Extraordinary Life and Role of Italy's Pioneering Female Professor, by Monique Frize, 2013 (book)
"Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi"
Author(s): Paula Findlen
Source: Isis, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 1993), pp. 441-469
"The Desire to Contribute: An Eighteenth-Century Italian Woman of Science"
Author(s): Gabriella Berti Logan
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 3 (Jun., 1994), pp. 785-812

a little more on Caldani/Fontana:

Medicine and science in the life of Luigi Galvani (1737–1798), by Marco Bresadola, 1998

Vanadium oxide (exception to Wiedemann Franz rule): https://phys.org/news/2017-01-metal-electricity.html

Episode 11 - Laura Bassi, part 2 Jun 05, 2018

Italy. The mid-eighteenth century. A ragtag band of adventurers - a physicist, the Pope, and his secretary - set out to reform science.

Sources:

Did Isaac Newton believe in ghosts? No he did not https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227260712_Lust_Pride_and_Ambition_Isaac_Newton_and_the_Devil "Lust, Pride, and Ambition: Isaac Newton and the Devil" by Stephen Snobelen

Did he believe the Earth was alive though? Yes he did https://www.academia.edu/1842210/Isaac_Newtons_Magical_Enlightenment "The Magical Enlightenment of Isaac Newton" by Simon Werrett

various sources on Laura Bassi:

"Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi"
Author(s): Paula Findlen
Source: Isis, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 1993), pp. 441-469
"The Desire to Contribute: An Eighteenth-Century Italian Woman of Science"
Author(s): Gabriella Berti Logan
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 3 (Jun., 1994), pp. 785-812
"Laura Bassi and Science in the 18th Century," lecture by Monique Frize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZajUg18dbs

info on Maria Dalle Donne, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, and Laura Bassi, and the general petitioning of Benedict XIV:

"Women and the Practice and Teaching of Medicine in Bologna in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries"
Author(s): GABRIELLA BERTI LOGAN
Source: Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. 77, No. 3 (Fall 2003), pp. 506-535

more on Newton and Descartes:

quote about hypotheses from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtonianism (which says it's from the footnotes of the second edition of Newton's Principia)
"The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments" by George Johnson (book), Chapter 3: "Isaac Newton: What a Color Is"

Episode 10 - Laura Bassi, part 1 May 02, 2018

Have you been waiting for an episode where we don't even pretend to talk about batteries? This is that episode. Welcome to 1730s Italy, where only one woman has a university degree, public dissections count as entertainment, and sometimes you have to get married to establish your independence.

Sources:

Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi by Paula Findlen. https://www.jstor.org/stable/235642

Laura Bassi and Science in 18th Century Europe - lecture by Monique Frize. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZajUg18dbs

Anna Morandi’s Wax Self-Portrait with Brain by Rebecca Messbarger. https://rebeccamessbarger.com/brain.pdf

The Desire to Contribute: An Eighteenth-Century Italian Woman of Science by Gabriella Berti Logan. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2167770

Episode 9 - Listener Questions 1 feat. Spencer Johnson Feb 18, 2018

In this episode, we answer some listener questions! Tune in for our favorite potatoes, batteries in literature (by which we mean TV) ((by which we mean Teen Wolf)), and battery acid.

Things get morbid around 9:40-10:00; sorry, we're millennials, we can't help it :(

Sources:

origins of Mr. Potato Head:

"Vintage Original Mr and Mrs Potato Head commercial 1960's" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICGrjmJouWA
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2049243_2048654_2049110,00.html

$$$$ potato photo: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/irish-photographer-says-he-sold-picture-of-potato-for-1m-1.2510124

battery vine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUTeAcKyR24

lead-acid battery reactions: http://www.av8n.com/physics/lead-acid.htm

"BATTERY ACID VS BARE HAND" thanks YouTube why are you like this :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMp0PMvECeE

Episode 8 - Hydrogen Storage feat. Gloria Wilson & Dana Wilson Jan 13, 2018

In this episode, Hope talks hydrogen storage with her mom (Gloria) and her sister (Dana)! (Ana isn't in this one because it was the holidays and we weren't in the same state.) We've got space flight, we've got submarines, we've got van der Waals forces, and we've got lots of questions about whether hydrogen could be a useful fuel for everyday applications like cars.

Brass quintet version of our theme song arranged by Hope's dad (Bill Wilson) and featuring Bill on the tuba, Gloria and Dana on French horn, Alex (Hope's brother) on trumpet, and Hope on trombone.

Sources:

hydrogen vs. gasoline: Schlapbach, L.; Züttel, A. Hydrogen-Storage materials for mobile applications. Nature 2001, 414, 353–358. (density of liquid hydrogen (71 kg/m3) and gasoline (~720 kg/m3) obtained from Google)

density of gaseous hydrogen at 800 bar: Züttel, A. Materials for hydrogen storage. Materials Today 2003, 6, 24–33.

density of solid hydrogen: Density and Compressibility of Solid Hydrogen and Deuterium at 4.2K, https://www.nature.com/articles/138244a0

more info on NASA + liquid hydrogen: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ultra-cold-storage-liquid-hydrogen-may-be-fuel-of-the-future

van der Waals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force, http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/biology/bio4fv/page/van_der.htm

MgH2 destabilization with decreasing particle size: Wagemans, R. W. P.; van Lenthe, J. H.; de Jongh, P. E.; van Dillen, A. J.; de Jong, K. P. Hydrogen Storage in Magnesium Clusters: Quantum Chemical Study. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 16675–16680. (oops this source says that bulk MgH2 releases hydrogen at 300C at 1 bar hydrogen, but that is contradicted by this next source ...)

Vajo, J. J.; Mertens, F.; Ahn, C. C.; Bowman, R. C. J.; Fultz, B. Altering Hydrogen Storage Properties by Hydride Destabilization Through Alloy Formation: LiH and MgH2 Destabilized with Si. ChemInform 2004, 35, 13977–13983 (... which says that it's 275C at 1 bar hydrogen; also this is where i got my info for LiH)

extracting hydrogen from cyclohexane: Li, L.; Mu, X.; Liu, W.; Mi, Z.; Li, C.-J. Simple and Efficient System for Combined Solar Energy Harvesting and Reversible Hydrogen Storage. Journal of the American Chemical Society2015, 137, 7576–7579.

info about a range of complex hydrides: Ley, M. B.; Jepsen, L. H.; Lee, Y.-S.; Cho, Y. W.; Colbe, J. M. B. V.; Dornheim, M.; Rokni, M.; Jensen, J. O.; Sloth, M.; Filinchuk, Y.; et al. Complex hydrides for hydrogen storage – new perspectives. Materials Today 2014, 17, 122–128.

info about nanoconfinement of hydrides (scroll down to "Nanomaterials as functional support for hydrides"): Yu, X.; Tang, Z.; Sun, D.; Ouyang, L.; Zhu, M. Recent advances and remaining challenges of nanostructured materials for hydrogen storage applications. Progress in Materials Science2017, 88, 1–48.

info on the inefficiency of using hydrogen as fuel:

Bossel, Ulf. “Does a Hydrogen Economy Make Sense?” Proceedings of the IEEE. Vol. 94, No. 10, October 2006.
summary of above: https://phys.org/news/2006-12-hydrogen-economy-doesnt.html

Hydrogen-powered submarine: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/02/22/hybrid.submarine/index.html

Episode 7 - Series vs. Parallel Jan 03, 2018

In this episode we discuss series vs. parallel battery configurations! You'll learn why a series configuration increases voltage, while a parallel configuration can only increase current.

No sources this episode. Let us know if you have any questions at batterychattery@gmail.com!

Episode 6 - Aqueous Electrolytes and Electrolyte Restrictions Dec 28, 2017

Alternate episode title: Wat(t)ery Battery

Sorry about the wait for this episode! Our editor Hope was busy dropping out of grad school and then spending time with family over the holidays. But oh those long weeks ago, Hope and Ana convened to discuss electrochemical stability windows, solid electrolyte interphases (SEIs), and the pros and cons of aqueous electrolytes (as well as some proposed fixes for those cons). Cameos by Hope's sister Dana with a story about water and lithium, and by Hope's brother Alex with a note about water and lead.

Spoiler warning for The Music Man (the musical), if anyone has concerns about that

Sources:

Flame tests of metal salts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS77SPywI9w (this has nothing to do with batteries but it's pretty)

Water-in-salt electrolytes: "“Water-in-salt” electrolyte enables high-voltage aqueous lithium-ion chemistries" by Suo et al http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6263/938

Coating which turns into an SEI in an aqueous electrolyte: "4.0 V Aqueous Li-Ion Batteries" by Yang et al http://www.cell.com/joule/abstract/S2542-4351(17)30034-X

Summary of "4.0 V Aqueous Li-Ion Batteries": https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170906135613.htm

Supplemental information of "4.0 V Aqueous Li-Ion Batteries" including video (Movie S3): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511730034X?via%3Dihub#mmc4 "Surprisingly, as the multimeter in the video shows, the cell managed to maintain its open circuit voltage (OCV) at 4.03 V, which gradually decayed to ca. 0.031 V overnight" - quote from the full paper (not the supplemental info)
also here's another source for the video in case you can't access the supplemental info https://phys.org/news/2017-09-water-based-lithium-ion-batteries-explosive-reality.html

passivation layers on lead (or galvanized) pipes (these are a similar concept to an SEI layer in a battery!): http://michiganradio.org/post/heres-what-drinking-water-pipes-look-and-without-corrosion-control

Episode 5 - Battery Ch-ch-ch-chattery: A Halloween Episode feat. Doug Laustsen Oct 31, 2017

Is blood useful as an electrolyte material? Can Ana's husband Doug help us understand art? Is art even worth understanding? We didn't answer all of these questions but we answered most of them

Covered this episode: blood chandelier batteries, some aimless chattery about other subjectively distressing art, and battery/fuel cell concepts for medical devices

Sources:

blood battery art (including video) (the website mixes up anodes and cathodes so watch out for that (aluminum = anode, copper = cathode)) http://vtol.cc/filter/works/until-I-die

paper battery that can use blood as an electrolyte: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/34/13574.full, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13754475

blood fuel cell: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/fuel-cell-generates-power-from-human-blood

Episode 4 - Potatoes and Voltage Oct 22, 2017

Today we're going to teach you a little something about voltage! We're also going to delve into all the ways we've been misled (by yours truly BUT ALSO BY A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE) about the humble potato battery. Other topics of note: weddings, the curse of knowledge, theory of mind, reduction potentials again, and battery efficiency.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage

battery efficiencies: https://www.pv-magazine.com/m agazine-archive/advancing-li-ion_10006681/#axzz4QbD0S6qc

research into catalysis of hydrogen reduction (aka hydrogen evolution): actually, why don't you just google it? https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C44&q=hydrogen+evolution+reaction+catalysts&btnG=&oq=hydrog there, now you've read some paper titles and you know as much as we do! (actually what the paper titles probably don't tell you is that platinum is REALLY a good catalyst but it's very expensive so that's why there's so much research into finding an alternative. Now you know!)

comparison of the ability of metals to catalyze a hydrogen reduction reaction: http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/152/3/J23.short

other questions? let us know at batterychattery@gmail.com

Episode 3 - Basic Electrochemistry (with guests Spencer Johnson and Andrew Smith) Sep 30, 2017

We start off this episode with a little bit of embarrassment and entropy, and then, with a little help from the humble potato, we answer that age-old question: between two electrode materials, how can you decide which one is going to be the anode and which one is going to be the cathode? In corrections corner, the focus is on nuclear power (special thanks to Rachel Bielajew for sending me lots of information!), but we also make time for butter and ionic liquids.

This episode features guests Spencer Johnson (check out his band, Ms. Mack and the Daddies: https://www.facebook.com/mackdaddymusic/ or follow him on Instagram @yonszenshpensz) and Andrew Smith!

Sources:

study about nuclear power preventing deaths: https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/kh05000e.html

deaths per TWh for various energy sources: http://caravel.sc.edu/2012/09/what-in-the-fukushima-should-we-do-analyzing-the-costs-of-the-fukushima-daiichi-disaster-and-japans-reactions/ see Fig. 4 (and the following citations: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2012/06/deaths-by-energy-source-in-forbes.html, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/#1c9fa501709b)

Thanks for listening! Email us at batterychattery@gmail.com with questions and suggestions!

Episode 2, part 2 - Battery Basics Sep 11, 2017

What is an anode? What is a cathode? Do we have mnemonics for remembering which is which? The answer to all three of these questions is YES

Also covered this episode: electrolytes, SOLID electrolytes, conductivity requirements for all of the aforementioned, and a little bit of entropy (more on that next time!)

No sources this episode - if you have followup questions, shoot us an email (batterychattery@gmail.com) and let us know so we can try to answer them in another episode!

Episode 2, part 1 - Corrections Corner Sep 09, 2017

Welcome to Corrections (and Clarifications) Corner, where we focus on topics from previous episodes! Today it's definitely more of a clarifications corner. We start off with some talk about energy storage being centralized in few locations vs distributed to many locations, chat a little about duck curves and Nessie curves, and then move on to addressing the bipartisan-ness of the push towards renewable energy. Hope takes us on a winding detour about different ways to implement revenue-neutral carbon taxes (... sorry), Ana explains how not to write bad survey questions, and finally we wrap it all up by still being better people than Thomas Edison.

From here on out, we'll be including corrections corner at the end of full episodes. Bear with us as we figure out the optimal format for this podcast :)

Sources:

literally everything Hope knows about how an aggregation of batteries can be used as large-scale storage: http://www.utilitydive.com/news/greater-than-the-sum-how-aggregation-is-making-storage-into-a-software-bus/420753/

Nessie curves: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/hawaiis-solar-grid-landscape-and-the-nessie-curve

key findings of the Climate Change in the American Mind survey: http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/politics-global-warming-may-2017/2/ (full report (pdf) here: http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Global-Warming-Policy-Politics-May-2017.pdf)

household impact survey for a carbon fee & dividend policy: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/household-impact-study/

episode cover art images taken from images taken from https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-california-duck-curve-is-real-and-bigger-than-expected (duck curve) and https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/hawaiis-solar-grid-landscape-and-the-nessie-curve (Nessie curve)

Questions? Suggestions? Contact us at batterychattery@gmail.com

Episode 1 - Battery Mattery Aug 29, 2017

We talk about batteries and why they mattery.

Sources:

utilities survey - http://www.utilitydive.com/news/the-next-generation-utility-business-model-what-you-need-to-know/442421/

Duck curve - http://www.utilitydive.com/news/pressed-duck-clipping-the-curve-with-energy-storage/446179/