Electric Cars are Toys for the Rich

Posted by PITHOCRATES - April 22nd, 2014

Week in Review










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Hot and Cold Weather reduce Range of Electric Cars

Posted by PITHOCRATES - March 22nd, 2014

Week in Review










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Car Companies making more Electric Cars that people will not Buy

Posted by PITHOCRATES - March 9th, 2014

Week in Review















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Engine Block Heaters and Battery Heaters

Posted by PITHOCRATES - February 19th, 2014

Technology 101









The Internal Combustion Engine is Ideal for use in Cold Temperatures







The Ford Model T is probably a Safer Choice for a Cross-Country Trip than an All-Electric Car

Posted by PITHOCRATES - February 16th, 2014

Week in Review

The United States is no doubt tired of winter.  It’s been a long one.  Snow, ice and cold.  Especially cold.  With below-zero temperatures in northern states.  And freezing temperatures even in southern states.  In fact, it’s been such a brutal winter that every state in the United States but one has snow.  Florida.  It’s just been a long, cold winter.  But it’s been a good one for those in the snow removal business.  And for those in providing a jump-start for dead batteries.  For batteries just don’t like cold weather.  Which is another problem with all-electric cars.  In addition to finding a place and the time to charge them (see Tesla Model S Electric Car Versus … Ford Model T? A History Lesson by John Voelcker posted 2/14/2014 on Yahoo! Autos).

While the fast-expanding network of Tesla Supercharger DC quick-charging stations now permits both coast-to-coast and New York-to-Florida road trips by electric car, the magazine conducted its test last October…

And as it points out, in its area of the country (Ann Arbor, Michigan), there were no Supercharger stations last fall.

(There is now one, along I-94 in St. Joseph, Michigan, 26 miles north of the I-90 cross-country corridor–one of 76 operating U.S. Supercharger locations as of today.)

So it couched its Tesla-vs-Model T test as the equivalent, a century later, to the question it imagined potential buyers of the first automobiles may have pondered: How does this stack up against my old, familiar, predictable horse..?

In due course, small roadside businesses sprang up to sell gasoline for the newfangled contraptions, usually in the same place they could be repaired.

But travelers couldn’t be confident of finding gasoline until well into the 1920s, a result of the Model T turning the U.S. into a car-based nation almost by itself.

Imagine driving across a state the size of Michigan on a road trip.  From St. Joseph to Detroit on the other side of the state it’s about 200 miles.  Which it will take you over 3 hours to drive at posted speed limits.  Now imagine driving this with only one gas station to stop at.  One you’re not familiar with.  One that you will have to drive around a little to find.  While you’re running out of energy.  Now imagine you’re in an all-electric car.  And you find this one charging station and there are 4 cars ahead of you waiting for their 30-minute quick charge.  Which could increase your charging time from one half hour to two and a half hours.

Every gas station has electric power.  So every gas station could sell electricity for electric cars, too.  If someone had to wait a half hour to charge their car that is a lot of time they could be buying stuff from the mini mart all these gas stations have.  So why aren’t they building these things?  Is it that they don’t want the liability that might come from a faulty charger starting a battery fire?  Is it because there are so few all-electric cars to waste the investment on?  Is there a question of how to charge for electricity?  Or do they not want to turn their gas stations into parking lots with a bunch of cars waiting for their half hour of charge time?

Perhaps the reason Michigan only has one Supercharger station is because Michigan has long, cold winters.  Limiting electric car traveling to the summer months.  In fact, if you live in a northern state look for the charging stations some big stores have installed to show how green they are.  Chances are you won’t see a single car at them during the winter.  For when it comes to cold winters gasoline has it all over batteries.  Gasoline provides far greater range.  You can jump-start a gasoline engine in the coldest of winters and then drive home.  And if it’s cold you can crank the heat up to make it feel like summer inside that car.  Something you can’t do in an electric car without sacrificing further range.

The Model T was an improvement over the horse.  But the electric car is just not an improvement over the Model T.  Because a gasoline-powered car is superior to an all-electric car.  For if one was going to travel across a state the Model T would have better odds of getting you where you were going before running out of energy.  And even if you ran out of gas someone could bring a can of gasoline to you so you could drive to the next gas station.  Whereas an electric car would require a tow truck to the next charging station.




Uninterruptible Power Supply

Posted by PITHOCRATES - February 12th, 2014

Technology 101

The Battery in a Laptop is basically an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

When working on a personal computer (PC) you’ve probably learned to save your work.  Often.  So if something happens you won’t lose your data.  For there is nothing more frustrating than writing a report off the top of your head without notes only to suffer a power interruption.  And if you didn’t save your work often everything you typed after the last time you did save your work will be lost.  Forever.

Of course if you were working on a laptop you wouldn’t have to worry about losing your work.  Even if you didn’t save it.  Why?  Because of the battery.  Laptops are portable.  We use them often times where there are no power outlets.  Running them, instead, on the internal battery.  Some models even let you change a battery with a low charge to a freshly charged battery without shutting down your laptop.  Which extends the time you can work without being plugged in.

The battery in a laptop is basically an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).  You can work on a laptop while plugged into an AC outlet.  But if someone trips over the cord and pulls it out of the outlet the laptop will switch over to the battery.  And the only way you would know there was a power interruption is if it was yanked off your lap when the person tripped on the cord.  Because thanks to that battery the computer itself never knew there was a power interruption.

The Main Components of an Offline/Standby UPS are a Charger, a Battery and an Inverter

A PC doesn’t come with a built in battery like the laptop.  But we can add one externally.  Which a lot of people have done.  Not only to prevent the loss of data.  But to protect the electronics inside their PC and other sensitive electronic equipment.  Like a monitor.  A cable modem.  A router.  Even a big screen television.  As sensitive electronic equipment can only operate safely in a narrow band of voltages.  And really don’t like things like surges and spikes coming in on the electrical utility line from a lightning strike.  Or under-voltages on hot summer days when everyone in the neighborhood is running their air conditioners.

A UPS can provide a battery backup.  And it can protect your sensitive electronic equipment from surges, spikes and under-voltages.  Which can cause great harm.  Something those surge protected plug-strips can’t protect you from.  They may take a spike or two.  But they are passive devices.  And can do nothing to protect you from an under-voltage (i.e., a brownout).  Only a UPS can.  Of which there are three major types.  Offline/standby.  Line-interactive.  And Online/double-conversion.

An offline/standby UPS is the least expensive and simplest.  The main components inside the UPS are a charger, a battery and an inverter.  It plugs into an AC outlet.  And the devices you want to protect with it plug into the UPS.  If the input voltage (the voltage at the AC outlet) is within a safe range the AC outlet powers your devices.  Also, the UPS controls circuit will monitor the battery voltage.  If it is too low the controls will turn on the charger and it will charge the battery.  When the voltage on the battery is at the level it should be the controls disconnect the charger.  If the UPS controls detect an over-voltage, an under-voltage or a power loss an internal switch disconnects the AC outlet from your devices.  And connects them to the inverter.  A device that converts the DC voltage from the battery into an AC voltage for your equipment.  It will power your devices from a few minutes to up to a half hour (or more) depending on the power requirements of your devices and the battery size.  If the voltage at the AC outlet returns to normal the internal switch will disconnect the devices from the inverter.  And reconnect them to the AC outlet.  If there is a complete power loss you will have time to save your work and safely power down.

The Online/Double-Conversion provides the Best Power Protection for your most Sensitive Electronics

An offline/standby UPS is an efficient unit as it only consumes power when it charges or switches to the battery.  However, switching to the battery every time there is an over-voltage or under-voltage can shorten the battery life.  A problem the line-interactive UPS doesn’t have.  Because it doesn’t switch to the battery every time there is a power fluctuation in the input power.  The line-interactive UPS is basically an offline/standby UPS with an additional component.  An autotransformer.  Which is basically a transformer with a single winding and multiple secondary taps.  If the input power is within the safe range the voltage in equals the voltage out of the autotransformer.  If the input voltage is too high the controls will switch the output to a different secondary tap that will lower the voltage back to the safe range.  If there is an under-voltage the controls will switch the output to a tap that will raise the voltage back to a safe range.  So that these over and under voltages will be corrected by the autotransformer and not the battery.  Which will remain disconnect from the load devices during these autotransformer corrections.  Thus increasing battery life.

The offline/standby UPS is a little more costly but it will have a longer battery life.  And it will also be efficient as it will take minimum power for the controls to switch the taps on the autotransformer.  But if you want the best power protection for your most sensitive electronic equipment you will get that with the more costly and less efficient online/double-conversion UPS.  This UPS is different.  It takes the power from the AC outlet and converts it into DC voltage.  It then takes this DC voltage and produces a pure AC voltage from it.  Free from any voltage irregularities.  Completely isolating your sensitive electronic equipment from the dangers on the electric grid.  For the electrical loads are not normally connected directly to the AC outlet.  They are always connected to the AC output of the inverter.  Which makes this unit the least efficient of the three as it is always consuming power to power the connected loads.

The battery is always connected in the online/double-conversion UPS.  So in a blackout there is no switching required to transfer the loads to the battery. Making for a seamless transition to battery backup.  Of course, sometimes the electrical components inside the UPS malfunction or fail.  In that case the UPS can switch the loads directly to the AC outlet.  Should imperfect power be better than no power.  They will also have an isolation bypass switch.  So you can switch these units directly to the AC source to service the UPS components.  Which may be necessary due to one drawback of the online/double-conversion UPS.  Because the components are always consuming power they generate more heat than the other two types.  Requiring additional cooling to keep these units operating safely.  But they can overheat and breakdown.  Which makes an isolation bypass switch handy to service these while still powering the connected loads.




Girl sits on Phone in Back Pocket and starts Fire just as Damaged Batteries start Fires in Electric Cars

Posted by PITHOCRATES - February 2nd, 2014

Week in Review

Lithium-ion batteries are a wonder.  But they can be temperamental.  Which you can expect when you put highly reactive chemicals together.  Which is the price of higher energy storage densities.  Danger.  To make that charge last longer in the batteries powering our electronic devices.  And they can only do that by a chemical reaction that produces heat.  Boeing had a problem with their lithium-ion batteries that nearly caught a couple of their new Dreamliners on fire.  Resulting in an FAA grounding of the entire fleet until they found a way to make their batteries safer.  But it’s not just big lithium-ion batteries that can burst into flames (see iPhone catches fire, teen girl burned by Chris Matyszczyk posted 2/1/2014 on CNET).


The culprit is said to have been her iPhone. Images suggest it had caught fire…

The division chief of the local emergency medical services, Andrew Palmeri, told Seacoast Online that the phone’s battery had “shorted out.” He suggested that the phone had been crushed in the teen’s back pocket. Local fire services are investigating…

Cell phones of whatever brand do catch fire. iPhones have caught fire on planes, just as Droids have exploded in ears.

So lithium-ion batteries can be dangerous.  Despite being the wonders they are.  For these chemical reactions are powerful.  And need to be confined perfectly.  But if you sit on a cell phone you can damage the confinement of those chemicals.  Causing a fire.  Just as accidents in electric cars have resulted in battery fires that have totaled these cars.  Or a faulty charging circuit started a fire overnight while charging in an attached garage.  Starting the house on fire.  Or nearly started a plane on fire.

The greatest hindrance to electric car sales is a thing called range anxiety.  Will I have enough charge to get home?  The answer to this problem is, of course, increasing the charge available in these cars.  Typically with bigger and more powerful batteries.  Which can burn the car to a crisp after an accident damages the battery.  Or debris on the roadway is thrown up by a tire into the battery.  Things that won’t total a gasoline-powered car if they happen.  Because gas is a high-density energy source.  Like these lithium-ion batters.  But it takes a lot more abuse to the gas tank to get it to start a fire.  Which is why electric cars will not replace the gasoline-powered car.  As they provide a far greater range and are safer.  And until the electric car can out do the gasoline-powered car on these two points the electric car will remain a novelty.



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Posted by PITHOCRATES - February 1st, 2014

Week in Review



Tesla says the route…is…3,400 miles long…









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Magnets, Magnetic Field, Electromagnet, Electromechanical Solenoid, Stator, Armature, DC Electric Motor and Automobile Starter Motor

Posted by PITHOCRATES - January 1st, 2014

Technology 101

(Originally published April 18th, 2012)

Electric Current flowing through a Wire can Induce Magnetic Fields Similar to those Magnets Create

We’ve all played with magnets as children.  And even as children we’ve observed things.  If you placed a bar magnet on a table and approached it with another one in your hand one of two things would happen.  As the magnets approached each other the one on the table would either move towards the other magnet.  Or away from the other magnet.  That’s because all magnets are dipoles.  That is, they have two poles.  A north pole.  And a south pole.

These poles produce a magnetic field.  Outside of the magnet this field ‘flows’ from north to south.  Inside the magnet it ‘flows’ from south to north.  So imagine this magnetic force traveling through the magnet from south to north and right out of the north pole of the magnet.  Where it then bends around and heads back to the south pole.  Something most of us saw as children.  When we placed a piece of paper with iron filings over a bar magnet.  As we placed the paper over the magnet the iron filings moved.  They formed in lines.  That followed the magnetic field created by the magnetic dipole.  You can’t see the direction of the field but it only ‘flows’ in one direction.  As noted above.  If the north pole of one magnet is placed near the south pole of another the magnetic field ‘flows’ from the north pole of one magnet to the south pole of the other magnet.  Pulling them together.  If both north poles or both south poles are placed near each other they will repulse each other.  Because the magnetic field is ‘flowing’ out from each north pole.  Or into each south pole.  The magnets repulse each other because the magnetic field is trying to flow from north to south.  If one magnet was able to rotate this repulsion would rotate the magnet about 90 degrees.  To try and align one north pole with one south pole.  As the momentum pushed the magnet past the 90 degree point the force would reverse to attraction.  Rotating the magnet about another 90 degrees.  Where it will then stop.  Having aligned a north and a south pole.

It turns out this ability to move things with magnetic fields is very useful.  Both in linear motion.  And rotational motion.  Especially after we observed we could create magnetic fields by passing an electric current through a wire.  When you do a magnetic field circles the wire.  To determine which direction you simply use the right-hand rule.  Point your thumb in the direction of the current flow and wrap your fingers around the wire.  Your fingers point in the direction of the magnetic field.  Fascinating, yes?  Well, okay, maybe not.  But this is.  You can wrap that wire around a metal rod.  Creating a solenoid.  And all those induced magnetic fields add up.  The more coils the greater the magnetic field.  That ‘flows’ in the same direction in that metal rod.  Creating an electromagnet out of that metal rod.  If you ever saw a crane in a junk yard picking up scrap metal with a magnet this is what’s happening.  The crane operator turns on an electromagnet to attract and hold that scrap metal.  And turns off the electromagnet to release that scrap metal.

A DC Electric Motor is Basically a Fixed Magnet Interacting with a Rotating Magnet

If that metal rod was free to move you get something completely different.  For when you pass a current through that coiled wire the magnetic force it creates will move that metal rod.  If it’s not restrained it will fly right out of the coil.  Which is interesting to see but not very useful.  But the ability to move a restrained metal rod at the flick of a switch can be very useful.  For we can use a solenoid to convert electrical energy into linear mechanical movement.  As in a transducer.  An electromechanical solenoid.  That takes an electrical input to generate a mechanical output.  Which we use in many things.  Like in a high-speed conveyor system that sorts things.  Like a baggage handling system at an airport.  Or in an order fulfillment center.  Where things fly down a conveyor belt while diverter gates move to route things to their ultimate destination.  If the gate is not activated the product stays on the main belt.  When a gate is activated a gate moves across the path of the main conveyor belt and diverts the product to a new conveyor line or a drop off.  And the things that operate those gates are electromechanical solenoids.  Or transducers.  Things that convert an electrical input to a mechanical output.  To produce a linear mechanical motion.  To move that gate.

Solenoids are useful.  A lot of things work because of them.  But there is only so much this linear motion can do.  Basically alternating between two states.  Open and closed.   In or out.
On or off.  Again, useful.  But of limited use.  However, we can use these same principles and create rotational motion.  Which is far more useful.  Because we can make electric motors with the rotational motion created by magnetic fields.  The first electric motors were direct current (DC).  And included two basic parts.  The stator.  And the rotor (or armature).  The stator creates a fixed magnetic field.  With permanent magnates.  Or one created with current passing through coiled wiring.  The armature is made up of multiple coils.  Each coil insulated and separate from the next one.  When an electric current goes through one of these rotor coils it creates an electromagnet.

So a DC electric motor is basically a fixed magnet interacting with a rotating magnet.  Current passes to the rotor winding through brushes in contact with the armature.  Like closing a switch.  Current flows in through one brush.  And out through another.  When current goes through one of these rotor coils it creates an electromagnet.  With a north and south pole.  As this magnetic field interacts with the fixed magnetic field produced by the stator there are forces of attraction and repulsion.  As the ‘like’ poles repel each other.  And the ‘unlike’ poles attract each other.  Causing the armature to turn.  After it turns the brushes ‘disconnect’ from that rotor wiring and ‘connect’ to the next rotor winding in the armature.  Creating a new electromagnet.  And new forces of repulsion and attraction.  Causing the armature to continue to turn.  And so on to produce useful rotational mechanical motion.

An Automobile Starter Motor combines an Electromechanical Solenoid and a DC Electric Motor

Everyone who has ever driven a car is thoroughly familiar with electromechanical solenoids and DC electric motors.  Because unlike our forefathers who had to use hand-cranks to start their cars we don’t.  All we have to do is turn a key.  Or press a button.  And that internal combustion engine starts turning.  Fuel begins to flow to the cylinders.  And electricity flows to the spark plugs.  Igniting that compressed fuel-air mixture in the cylinder.  Bringing that engine to life.

So what starts this process?  An electromechanical solenoid.  And a DC motor.  Packaged together in an automobile starter motor.  The other components that make this work are the starter ring gear on the flywheel (mounted to the engine to smooth out the rotation created by the reciprocating pistons) and the car battery.  When you turn the ignition key current flows from the battery to the electromechanical solenoid.  This linear motion operates a lever that moves a drive pinion out of the starter (while compressing a spring inside the starter), engaging it with the starter ring gear.  Current also flows into a DC motor inside the starter.  As this motor spins it rotates the starter ring gear on the flywheel.  As combustion takes place in the cylinders the pistons start reciprocating, turning the crankshaft.  At which time you let go of the ignition key.  Stopping the current flow through both the solenoid and the DC motor.  The starter stops spinning.  And that compressed spring retracts the drive pinion from the starter ring gear.  All happening in a matter of seconds.  So quick and convenient you don’t give it a second thought.  You just put the car in gear and head out on the highway.  And enjoy the open road.  Wherever it may take you.  For getting there is half the fun.  Or more.

Electric motors have come a long way since our first DC motors.  Thanks to the advent of AC power distribution and polyphase motors.  Brought to us by the great Nikola Tesla.  While working for the great George Westinghouse.  Pretty much any electric motor today is based on a Tesla design.  But little has changed on the automotive starter motor.  Because batteries are still DC.  And before a car starts that’s all there is.  Once it’s running, though, a polyphase AC generator produces all the electricity used after that.  A bridge rectifier converts the three phase AC current into DC.  Providing all the electric power the car needs.  Even charging the battery.  So it’s ready to spin that starter motor the next time you get into your car.




Leyden Jar, Electric Charge, Galvanic Cell, Voltaic Pile, Anions, Cations, Daniell Cell, Zinc-Carbon Battery and Alkaline Battery

Posted by PITHOCRATES - December 25th, 2013

Technology 101

(Originally published December 19th, 2012)

Luigi Galvani made a Dead Frog’s Leg Twitch when he hit it with the Electric Discharge Shock from a Leyden Jar

The field of electricity took off with friction generators.  Dragging something across another substance to produce an electrical charge.  Like sliding out of your car on a dry winter day.  Producing an electric discharge shock just before your hand touches the metal door to close it.  Atoms in materials are electrically neutral.  There are an equal number of positive particles (protons) and negative particles (electrons).  Friction can transfer some of those electrons from one surface to another.  Leaving one surface with a net positive charge.  And the other with a net negative charge.  These charges equalize after that electric discharge shock.  Returning the atoms in these materials to an electrically neutral state.

Further exploration of static electric charge led to the development of the Leyden jar.  A precursor to the modern capacitor.  A glass jar with metal foil on the inside and outside of a glass bottle.  The foil sheets act as plates.  The glass as a dielectric.  An electrode attached to one plate received an electric charge from a friction generator.  The other plate was grounded.  The dielectric helped the plates hold an electric charge.  Benjamin Franklin did a lot of experiments with the Leyden jar.  He noted how multiple Leyden jars could hold a greater charge.  Commenting that it was like a battery of cannons.  Giving us the word battery for an electrical storage device.

Luigi Galvani made a dead frog’s leg twitch when he zapped it with the electric discharge shock from a Leyden jar.  Furthering his experiments Galvani found that he could reproduce the twitching by placing the frog’s leg between two different types of metals.  Creating a galvanic cell.  Which created an electric current.  Alessandro Volta recreated this experiment while substituting the frog tissue with cardboard soaked in salt water (an electrolyte).  Creating the voltaic cell.  Piling one voltaic cell onto another created a Voltaic Pile.  Or as we call it today, a battery.

A Daniell Cell created a Current by Stripping away Electrons from one Electrode and Recombining them on Another

What Galvani and Volta discovered was a chemical reaction that caused an electric current.  The Voltaic Pile, though, had a limited life.  To improve on it John F. Daniell added a second electrolyte.  Creating the Daniell Cell.  Which extended the life of a battery charge.  Allowing it to do useful work.  Becoming the first commercially successful battery.  Powering our first telegraphs and telephones.  Even finding their way into our homes operating our doorbells for a century or so before Nikola Tesla brought alternating current electric power to our homes.

The chemical reaction in a Daniell Cell created an electric current by stripping away electrons from one metal electrode in a solution (anode oxidation).  And recombining electrons onto another electrode of a different metal in a different solution (cathode reduction).  Each electrode is in an electrolyte solution.  In a copper-zinc Daniell Cell the anode is typically in a solution of zinc sulfate.  And the cathode is in a copper sulfate solution.  A salt bridge or porous membrane connects the different electrolytes.  When an electric load is connected across the ‘battery’ electrodes it completes the electrochemical system.

Each electrolyte contains ions.  Atoms with a net positive or negative charge.  Positive ions are cations.  Negative ions are anions.  The cathode attracts cations.  Where they combine with free electrons to return to a neutral state.  The anode attracts anions.   Where they give up their extra electrons to return to a neutral state.  This chemical activity dissolves the zinc electrode.  And deposits copper on the copper electrode.  (This electrolysis is the basis for the metal plating industry.)  It is the dissolving of the anode that gives up electrons that travel from one electrode through the electric load to the other electrode.  Doing work for us.  By lighting our flashlights.  Or powering our portable radio.  When the anode dissolves to the point that it cannot give up anymore electrons the chemical reaction stops.  And we have to replace our batteries.

An Alkaline Battery will produce more Useable Power and have a longer Shelf Life than a Zinc-Carbon Battery

Of course, the zinc-carbon batteries we use for our flashlights and radios are not wet cells.  They’re dry cells.  Instead of an electrolyte solution the common battery is made up of dry components.  The zinc anode is the battery casing.  Just inside the battery zinc casing is a paper layer impregnated with a moist paste of acidic ammonium chloride.  This separates the zinc can from a mixture of graphite powder and manganese (IV) oxide (pyrolusite).  In the center of the battery is a carbon rod.  The zinc casing is the negative electrode (anode) and the carbon rod is the positive electrode (the cathode).  The chemical reactions are the
same as they are with the wet cell.  The zinc casing (the anode) becomes thinner over time.  When holes begin to appear the battery will leak creating a sticky mess.  As you no doubt experienced when taking an old set of batteries out of a flashlight that hasn’t been used in years.

An alkaline battery looks similar to a zinc-carbon battery.  But there are many differences.  Instead of an acidic ammonium chloride electrolyte an alkaline battery uses an alkaline potassium hydroxide electrolyte.  The little nub (positive terminal) on top of the battery does not connect to a carbon rod in the center of the battery.  It connects to the outer casing.  Inside this casing is a mixture of graphite powder and manganese (IV) oxide (pyrolusite).  Then a barrier to keep the anode and cathode materials from coming into contact with each other.  But lets ions pass through.  On the other side of the barrier is the anode.  A gel of the alkaline potassium hydroxide electrolyte containing a dispersion of zinc powder.  In the middle of the battery is a metal rod that acts as a current pickup that connects to the bottom of the battery (the negative terminal).

Alkaline batteries are the most popular batteries today.  Because they have a higher energy density than a zinc-carbon battery.  Meaning that an alkaline battery will produce more useable power than a comparable sized zinc-carbon battery.  And they have a longer shelf life.  But with these benefits comes costs.  They can leak a caustic potassium hydroxide.  An irritant to your eyes and skin.  As well as your respiratory system.  As they age they can produce hydrogen gas.  Which can rupture the casing.  If a battery leaks potassium carbonate (a crystalline structure) can grow.  If this crystalline structure reaches the copper tracks of a circuit board it will oxidize the copper and metallic components.  Damaging electronic devices.  But the benefits clearly outweigh the risks.  As about 80% of all batteries sold in the U.S. are alkaline batteries.





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