Electricity and batteries go hand in hand with electrochemistry and physics. These topics keep over 10,000 scientists busy at Argonne National Laboratory. Despite this, their Joint Center for Energy Storage Research still has to find a better battery for devices than lithium-ion. Batteries are technically complicated. But they are easier to understand if we try imagining batteries are like water reservoirs.
Introducing the Water Flow Analogy of Electricity
We wrote earlier about the water flow analogy. We imagined electricity flowing down wires like water in pipes. In our minds, we managed the flow with switches similar to faucets and stopcocks.
We could go further and imagine a circuit breaker responding to thermal overload. We are stretching things slightly, but that’s a bit like a pressure cooker blowing off steam, or is that a little over the top?
Now Let’s Try Imagining Batteries are Like Water Reservoirs
A reservoir is a large dam, natural or artificial lake, or other container that stores water for future use. Engineers usually place reservoirs at higher altitudes than end users, so gravity feeds water naturally to them. If not, they use pumps to deliver the product. Therefore, in this sense a camping shower hanging from a tree is a reservoir too.
Batteries also store a product, in this case electricity for future use when it flows down wires to devices. We can compare the voltage in a battery to water pressure, and the size of a water reservoir to its capacity.
Finally, we can imagine the electric current like the water flow itself. Do you find imagining batteries are like water reservoirs helpful?
Each type of battery has a different capacity. Not all of them supply the same voltage. There are regulators to prevent them overcharging, but if these fail batteries swell and may explode. That’s a little like a reservoir overflowing. So there you have it. Did you find imagining batteries are like water reservoirs fun?
Related
Water Flow Analogy of Electricity
Heart of US Battery Research at Argonne
Preview Image: Dam Near Todmorden
