Let’s do a little battery experiment

Why would a Stanford researcher want to drill a hole through a battery he just invented?

Well, you know how long it takes to charge up a cell phone. It can take hours. But a group of researchers at Stanford University just announced a new type of battery that charges in how long?

“It can be charged within a minute,” said Stanford graduate student Ming Gong.

He was demonstrating a battery made out of aluminum and graphite that can charge in a minute and then power a cell phone.

Those of you who follow theses things know that there have been many announcements of battery breakthroughs. Back in 2013, the University of Illinois announced a super-powerful lithium-ion battery that could recharge itself in a second and was so powerful, you could use your cell phone to jump start your car.

But it seems to have disappeared possibly because, as Ming pointed out, lithium-ion batteries can be scary. For example, you would never drill a hole in one.

“If you drill a hole through the battery, it will probably catch on fire,” Gong said.

That’s why the 787 had to be grounded for a while, as you recall. But the new Stanford battery has nothing to with lithium. It uses aluminum.

“The aluminum battery is non-flammable,” Gong explained. “So if you drilled a hole through it, it’s still running for awhile.”

For a while. Drilling a hole is not recommended, but Gong did so just to demonstrate. Nothing happened. There was no fire, not even a wisp of smoke. The voltage didn’t even drop.

So maybe, finally we see the kind of battery that will keep your cellphone on, power your electric car for more than 100 miles, and heck, even provide some backup to the power grid so Washington D.C. doesn’t go dark.

By the way, I don’t believe for a minute that was accidental. If you watch House of Cards, you know that was straight out of season two, episode six. Go ahead. Look it up.