Car batteries powered by relativity
January 14, 2011 By Lisa Zyga 
Scientists found that 80-85% of the voltage of a lead-acid battery is due to relativistic effects. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.
(PhysOrg.com) -- French physicist Gaston Plante invented the lead-acid battery in 1859 – almost 50 years before Einstein developed his theories of relativity. Now scientists have found that the lead-acid battery, which is commonly used in cars, strongly relies on the effects of relativity. Specifically, the scientists calculated that 1.7-1.8 volts of the lead-acid battery’s 2.1 volts (or about 80-85%) arise from relativistic effects.
The physicists and chemists who performed the study – Rajeev Ahuja, Andreas Blomqvist, and Peter Larsson from Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, and Pekka Pyykkö and Patryk Zaleski-Ejgierd from the University of Helsinki – have published their results in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.
"This is a new, well-documented case of 'everyday relativity,'" Pyykkö told PhysOrg.com. As the scientists noted in their study, the finding essentially means that "cars start due to relativity."
The lead-acid battery is the oldest type of rechargeable battery, with the main component being lead. With an atomic number of 82, lead is a heavy element. In general, relativistic effects emerge when fast electrons move near a heavy nucleus, such as that of lead. These relativistic effects include anything that depends on the speed of light (or from a mathematical perspective, anything that involves the Dirac or Schrödinger equations).
The lead-acid battery contains a positive electrode made of lead dioxide, a negative electrode made of metallic lead, and an electrolyte made of sulfuric acid. Through their calculations, the scientists found that the battery’s relativistic effects arise mainly from the lead dioxide in the positive electrode, and partly from the lead sulfate created during chemical reactions.
The discovery of relativistic effects in the lead-acid battery also sheds some light on why no corresponding “tin battery” exists. In the periodic table, tin is located directly above lead and has an atomic number of 50, making it lighter than lead. According to the scientists’ calculations, a tin battery would basically be a lead battery with very minimal relativistic effects. Although tin and lead have similar nonrelativistic energy values, tin’s small relativistic effects prohibit it from being used in an efficient battery.
As the scientists noted, relativistic effects have been found in other areas, such as the perennial yellow color of gold and the liquidity of mercury, although the latter is still not very well proven.
Overall, the scientists predicted that this understanding of relativity’s importance to the lead-acid battery will probably not help researchers improve the battery; however, the insight could be useful for exploring better alternatives, especially those that involve any sixth period element (found in the sixth row of the periodic table, like lead).
More information: Rajeev Ahuja, et al. “Relativity and the Lead-Acid Battery.” Physical Review Letters 106, 018301 (2011). DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.018301
Copyright 2010 PhysOrg.com.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of PhysOrg.com.
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Jan 14, 2011
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At least that's my understanding. If you follow the link to the article you will find out that only a brief extract is available without charge.
Jan 14, 2011
Rank: 3.5 / 5 (8)
No pun intended?
Jan 14, 2011
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Jan 14, 2011
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Jan 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
No pun was intended. By the way, I was shocked when I discovered the charge.
Jan 14, 2011
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Jan 14, 2011
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A Slim Whitman record for that man!
Now, take a battery and immerse it in a long cylindrical magnet with a single pole core.
You will get a VERY notable increase in the lifespan of the battery, as compared to another, outside of the magnet.
You can do that test all day and on 100's of different batteries. The anomaly will not disappear.
Think about it.
Jan 15, 2011
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What is satisfying about the paper is that the calculated voltage matches reality very well but only if you take relativity into account.
Jan 16, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (4)
Alchemy is about consuming a monatomic orbitally deformed (created through extreme pH chemistry) PMG element and this bonds to the DNA. US naval academy says that DNA is superconductive, look it up. This bonding of the deformed orbital element has 'one leg in this dimension and one leg in the next'. Thus it 'supercharges' DNA to something outside of relativistic considerations. Oddly enough, the materials in the battery are like that of alchemy..... Duh. Alchemy has to be done at specific times, for the same reason that Nukes show different yields according to planetary alignments and position on the globe. (seriously, look it up). Also, see my earlier comment.
Detractors: Use your head, not your angst. I'm not crazy, you don't want your reality disturbed by these considerations, so you lash out instead of researching. Smart people always look into anomalies, as that's where the answers hide.
Jan 16, 2011
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Jan 17, 2011
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A commenter there speculated a possible use of the carbon based foam in new battery technology.
Is there a reason not to combine the relativistic effect with lead above? Could a foam carbon and lead lace create a new energy storage cell?
Jan 17, 2011
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This story makes no sense. The enthalpies of formation for tin compounds are bigger than for lead. Tin sulfate, dioxide, and monoxide's yields are more than lead sulfate, dioxide, and monoxide's.
Jan 18, 2011
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