Battery Faq: Some Basics About Batteries Word Count: 386 Summary: * How do batteries work? Batteries give life to all kinds of appliances. They work in cars, personal computers, MP3 players, video games, and cell phones. A battery is packed with chemicals that produce electrons. The chemical reactions generated by electrons are called electromechanical reactions. The battery is a life-giving piece. Cars and other electronic gadgets and equipment will not run without batteries in place. The reaction produced by the battery gives equipm... Keywords: batteries, voltage, cathode, electrolyte, rechargeable, battery Article Body: * How do batteries work? Batteries give life to all kinds of appliances. They work in cars, personal computers, MP3 players, video games, and cell phones. A battery is packed with chemicals that produce electrons. The chemical reactions generated by electrons are called electromechanical reactions. The battery is a life-giving piece. Cars and other electronic gadgets and equipment will not run without batteries in place. The reaction produced by the battery gives equipment the power they need in order to perform. * What are batteries made of? A battery is certainly the pacemaker of the heart of a machine. Most of the machine depends on the voltage and its capacity. A battery is made of the container, cathode, separator, collector, and electrolyte. The container is the housing case of a battery. It is where the electrochemical reactions take place. The cathode is the layer where manganese dioxide and carbon mix, in order to increase the reaction occurring in the container. A separator is a non-woven, fibrous fabric that separates electrolytes. The collector is the part of the battery that has a brass pin in the middle of it. An electrolyte has potassium hydroxide that gives a solution in water that carries ionic content to the inner part of the battery. * How long does a rechargeable battery last? The life of the rechargeable battery under regular use is about 500 to 900 charge and discharge processes. This will mean a couple of years of battery life for a regular use. As the rechargeable battery begins to stop working, the running rechargeable amount of time will start to go down. The user must recharge the battery correctly to avoid explosion. When the charge supply of the battery only reaches a couple of minutes, it is time for a replacement. * How do I know if a battery is good or not? Sometimes, you can tell if a battery is good by simply looking at its packaging and checking for leaks. Below are some other things you can do to check the quality of the battery: - Check the battery first for defects such as a broken circuit, a short, or a broken housing or container. - Check the battery's capacity using known measuring techniques to ascertain the problem. - Check for a flexible plate covering. A battery will store more energy with a galvanic plate covering.