Persistent, Shmersistent. Give Me A 12 Year Personal Nuclear Battery

[Ed Hansberry]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/personalnuclearpowernewbatterylasts12years

There has been a lot of talk this week about persistent storage and Windows Mobile 5. Who needs that? Give me the 12 year personal nuclear battery! "A new type of battery based on the radioactive decay of nuclear material is 10 times more powerful than similar prototypes and should last a decade or more without a charge, scientists announced this week. The longevity would make the battery ideal for use in pacemakers or other surgically implanted devices, developers say, or it might power spacecraft or deep-sea probes."



Or, they could do something practical with it, like power our computing equipment. Dell, HP, HTC or whomever builds the device gives it a good charge of tritium before it leaves the factory and you never ever have to mess with it again. :mrgreen:

[Ed Hansberry]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/personalnuclearpowernewbatterylasts12years

There has been a lot of talk this week about persistent storage and Windows Mobile 5. Who needs that? Give me the 12 year personal nuclear battery! "A new type of battery based on the radioactive decay of nuclear material is 10 times more powerful than similar prototypes and should last a decade or more without a charge, scientists announced this week. The longevity would make the battery ideal for use in pacemakers or other surgically implanted devices, developers say, or it might power spacecraft or deep-sea probes."



Or, they could do something practical with it, like power our computing equipment. Dell, HP, HTC or whomever builds the device gives it a good charge of tritium before it leaves the factory and you never ever have to mess with it again. :mrgreen:

[griph]

Although Tritium is a weak emitting radioisotope - the lead radioactive shielding required for H&S legislayion will be detrimental to the portability of the PDA ;-)

[ADBrown]

Hell, if it lasts 12 years, I might be able to pass my electronics down to my web-toed children.

[biglouis]

.... but the web site this story comes from, Live Science, is really cool. Thanks for the story and the link

LouisB

[Paul]

Just like how laptops shouldn't be kept on laps, pocket pc's will no longer be safe in your pockets...

[Phoenix]

"I lost two teeth today, but DANG, if this here pee-cee in ma pocket ain't been runnin' like a Timex!"

[hoodmeister]

Regardless of alpha emmission (or rather the lack of it) from the device, it would never get H&S authorisation. Tampering with the device could be very dangerous.... Especially if you managed to get the power source intravenous of your body O.o

OK, so these risks still exist to a lesser extent with, say, a pacemaker, it's not hugely practical to use standard batteries with something as mission critical as that - where as it is with a PPC.

The only application I can see in the electronics world, for this, is as an emergency back up generator...

[Darius Wey]

Originally Posted by hoodmeister

Especially if you managed to get the power source intravenous of your body O.o

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...1596760144B215

"A Japanese research team has developed a fuel cell that runs on blood without using toxic substances, opening the way for use in artificial hearts and other organs."

[Jon Westfall]

We all understand that this kind of technology would be great in a medical, life-saving, high ethical concerns environment, but Ed raises a good point. Why shouldn't things like this trickle down to consumer electronics. Heck, if we can implant it in someone's chest, I assume it must be safe enough to have in a pocket.

[pauljacks UK]

I have a Tracer wristwatch made by mb-microtec with luminous gasious Tritium vials on the hands and dial.
I also have eight fingers on my left hand....
http://www.mbmicrotec.com/