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Re: [Phys-l] How much energy can a battery discharge



1. But amp-hours is not a measure of energy.
2. Batteries contain reactive molecules, so you can not count 1
electron/atom
3. Batteries contain non reactive substances so you can not count all
molecules. For example water used to carry the chemicals may not
participate in the reaction.
4. At least 2 different atoms or molecules are needed for a reaction, so
the number of participating electrons is reduced even more.
5. Does the reaction involve only hydrogen? If it involves O16 then you
can only count about 2 electrons/ 16amu. Oxygen only accepts two electrons.
Only the outer valence electrons participate in the reaction, and the inner
ones remain tightly bound.
6. Beyond these simple ideas there are a number of other practical
considerations.

You need to know the details!

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of paul beach
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 11:02 PM
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Subject: [Phys-l] How much energy can a battery discharge

How much energy can a Battery Hold? Can I just divide grams-moles by
Coulumbs?

1 Coulumb = 6.2 x 10^18 electrons or 1 A / sec
Avogadro's number = 6.02 x 10^23 gram-moles

Coulumbs for a gram-mole = 6.02*10^23 / (6.2*10^18)
= 97096.77419

Divide by 60*60 to get amp hours = 26.97132616

Therefore something the size or mass of a sugar cube, could give about
27 amp hours on the negative terminal.
--
paul beach
sniffyraven@fastmail.fm

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