http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/ Engadget Comments for MIT researchers develop liquid metal battery for the grid and the home http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Sometimes it snows in April.]]>Nov 20th 2009 1:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 11:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
You forgot the "d" on the end of your name.

]]>Nov 20th 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 1:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 1:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
Sort of looks like the guy from Stargate Universe]]>Nov 20th 2009 1:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 21st 2009 5:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/

FTA: "The whole device is kept at a high temperature, around 700 degrees Celsius, so that the layers remain molten. In the small devices being tested in the lab, maintaining this temperature requires an outside heater, but Sadoway says that in the full-scale version, the electrical current being pumped into, or out of, the battery will be sufficient to maintain that temperature without any outside heat source."

Don't ask me if it'll work or not, I'm just pointing out that this was addressed in the article.]]>Nov 20th 2009 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 12:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 1:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
From the article: "It’s an electrochemical process that runs at high temperatures (700 deg C), and at a current of hundreds of thousands of amps...” “We’re talking about batteries of a size never seen before..." Sounds to me like they're talking about something on the order of a nuclear reactor. I just hope that the possible failure modes are not on the same scale.]]>Nov 20th 2009 1:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
*sigh* nuclear power is very, very safe. chernobyl doesn't count because it was a shitty USSR plant. the only incident worth mentioning in the US was Three Mile Island, and there were no casualties there. and plant design has even gotten much safer since then.]]>Nov 20th 2009 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/"possible failure modes" have nothing to do with relative safety, but what can happen if something DOES go wrong, however unlikely. You're more likely to suffer an accident at home or walking down the street than flying in an aeroplane, but tell that to the survivors of Japan Airlines Flight 123.]]>Nov 20th 2009 2:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 3:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/I don't think it's valid to Chernobyl doesn't count. What prevents some sketchy country from coming up with a poorly-designed liquid metal battery plant?

I don't actually mean to spread FUD. Rather, I'm just exploring the possibilities in all directions. If this tech really works, it's pretty exciting. But there do seem to be a few loose ends at the moment.]]>Nov 20th 2009 3:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/You can't fit a few hundred people in the back of a car, and you can't level a small town with one - or indeed demolish sky scrapers.]]>Nov 21st 2009 3:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/Nov 20th 2009 2:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/"Since these batteries are intended for the power grid instead of cellphones and Roombas, the researchers can use materials not feasible in consumer electronics"

How is this for the home?]]>Nov 20th 2009 3:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
I suspect the Engadget folks have some kind of affection with MIT. We're the university that gets most coverage here :-P]]>Nov 20th 2009 3:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
I have nothing against R&D, but PR departments and popular science writers who spin it as something imminently useful are not doing us any favors.]]>Nov 20th 2009 5:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/mit-researchers-develop-liquid-metal-battery-for-the-grid-and-th/
I'm with you. Even thought the heat generation was addressed for a full scale version. How much energy is required to keep the metal molten?

As Andir noted, I can't imagine a household application which would have the current demand required to do that, nor an alternative energy source, for home use, that could supply such a demand. I hope this new battery is efficient enough to offset the energy wasted in heat to operate it.

]]>Nov 20th 2009 5:28PM