Short battery history lesson: in 1800, the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile which is recognized as the first chemical battery.

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Moreover, he derides as "pseudo science" the battery of chemical and other tests restorers use to determine what art works originally looked like.

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The chemical that allows the battery to charge or discharge is held in vessels outside of the battery and it flows between the electrodes when it is time to do some work.

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Matthews is also a former executive of UltarLife where he served as a battery designer and chemical engineer.

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She exposes them to the chemical she is interested in, cobalt oxide and gold in the case of her battery work, and selects those viruses that produce proteins with an affinity for the chemical.

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This molecular mouthful has the rare ability among solvents of being able both to dissolve cellulose and to act as an electrolyte that is, a chemical that can carry current between the electrodes of a battery in the form of charged molecules, or ions.

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On Tuesday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was conducting a chemical analysis of internal short circuiting and thermal damage of the battery that caught fire in Boston.

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Unlike in most batteries, where one chemical turns into another chemical as it releases or stores charge, the vanadium in this type of battery simply takes on or releases electrons.

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