Celebrations is in the ‘Giving and Receiving’ - Battery Man

Not many of us may know Battery Man, John Bannister Goodenough was 57 when he invented the lithium battery which powers our smart phones, tablets and laptops.

At 94, John unveiled a stunning new development with a colleague Maria Helena Braga, “glass electrolytes that allow substitution of lithium with low-cost sodium. Sodium that is extracted from seawater and widely available.” It dwarf’s John’s original invention and makes it redundant.

The new glass battery will allow electric cars to go three times the distance, and recharge in minutes instead of hours. It's also far safer as it won't explode and can operate in sub-zero temperatures (- 20 deg. C).



The reason for this post is what John believes in:
1. Humanity has a 30 year window to come up with an even more powerful "super battery" that will take us entirely off fossil fuels before the fuels starts running out and the environmental damage (climate change) becomes irreversible.

John says, "I want to solve this problem before my chips are in ....."

2. At an event in Honolulu in October 2016 the topic chosen was 'Celebration in the Giving' probably in honor of his contributions and there John explains that it is not just in the giving but in this ‘partnership of giving and receiving’. Please watch the video where John cross-links humanities and science with a riveting example from Neil Bohr.

Quoting Bohr, he says, “I came up with the principle of complementarity ...,

[[[ complementarity means:
a relationship or situation in which two or more different things improve or emphasize each other's qualities.
"a culture based on the complementarity of men and women"

and for those of you who are not physicists it means:
that while the location of an electron in an atom cannot be precisely known, it can be explained in terms of both momentum (i.e., matter) and as wave (energy)]
]]

... while contemplating on ‘mercy and justice’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVUXh-zF8NY

Thank you Jai for your many varied,positive and interesting posts since joining Mingle.Your contributions add to the enjoyment of many Forum users.
It is wonderful to see a man of 94 driven by a desire to still serve the community for humanitarian reasons rather than financial gain.I'm quite sure this is part of the reason he is still going strong at 94,long may it continue for him.
I prefer the word synergy as opposed to complementarity,it is easier to spell.

quite true!

And at 97, he could explain quantum physics to today's audience in terms of a relationship between men and women - two different things that improve or emphasize each other's qualities like matter and wave energy.

nice to read but I can hear people saying, "hah! he should stick to batteries"

Thanks for the insightful read Jai

Thank you, Busi :}

How soon, I wonder, before a working battery is built to test the theories.

I cannot see how a car battery can ever be charged in only minutes. That would require thousands of amps, which I don't think is practical given the health and safety laws currently in place.

My thinking about car batteries is that the battery could be on a tray under the car. When it needs to be recharged, the tray drops down and a new fully charged one takes its place. That would take less time than filling a petrol or diesel car. The garage would put these batteries on charge and when ready they would join the pile of fully charged batteries waiting for customers.

MKgentleman,

What I understood is general knowledge so there was no real point in responding.

But for today's news:

mk i did some digging and from what i can see these batteries don't suffer from the the same thermal charging effects that lithium or conventional lead acid batteries do. so higher current and top end voltage can be applied resulting in faster recharge rates