14-billion-years-later noted:

How Do Batteries Work?

I had a request from an anon, so here goes. The first thing we need to know about batteries is that in essence what they’re doing is converting stored chemical energy into electrical energy. They do this by a series of reduction-oxidation reactions (redox). The first step involves the positively charged anode (anodes attract negatively charged ions called anions), at the anode electrons are moved from the electrolyte into the anode where they generate a voltage (which is a potential difference between energies at 2 points) and electromotive force. This is the oxidation step of the reaction. The electrolyte then converts into another compound or simply changes oxidation state. The electrons meanwhile go about their business and do whatever work they have to do before flowing into the cathode of the battery. At the cathode the corresponding reduction reaction occurs, quite separately to the oxidation component. Here electrons flow from the cathode into the second electrolyte which undergoes another chemical change. To complete the circuit some exchange of ions has to occur to make sure the flow continues, this is usually mediated by a salt bridge which connects the two electrolytes. Hope that helps!

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(via likeaphysicist)

“At the Illinois Accelerator Research Center, scientists and engineers from Fermilab, Argonne and Illinois universities will work side by side with industrial partners to research and develop breakthroughs in accelerator science and translate them into applications for the nation’s health, wealth and security.”

How did the cannonball end up there? Here is the physics that explains the wayword MythBusters Cannonball. The cc image is from Glenn.

From laboratoryequipment:

Material Absorbs More Than 99% of Light

NASA engineers have produced a material that absorbs on average more than 99 percent of the ultraviolet, visible, infrared and far-infrared light that hits it—a development that promises to open new frontiers in space technology. The team of engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, reported their findings recently at the SPIE Optics and Photonics conference, the largest interdisciplinary technical meeting in this discipline. The team has since reconfirmed the material’s absorption capabilities in additional testing, says John Hagopian, who is leading the effort involving 10 Goddard technologists.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Material-Absorbs-More-Than-99-Light-111011.aspx

Baldo - “The physicist is in.”