From: MKow1234_at_aol.com
Date: Thu Apr 29 2004 - 05:35:40 PDT
Hello Everyone:
I found the postings about the "slam-the-Hell-out-of-it" battery rejuvenating
technique quite interesting. When you stop and think about it, it makes
perfect sense: a battery cell is just a bunch of chemicals with two metal
electrodes in it (Back when I was in elementary school, I used to tear batteries
apart, to use the zinc strips and magnesium hydroxide{?} for various chemistry
experiments). The physical jarring of the battery probably shakes some ions or
something from the surface of the electrodes, allowing for a bit more electrical
storage capacity. I think this would be a fine topic for an episode of "Car
Talk" {Could be a potential way to get some international exposure on the
radio for the Newton community, too}!
I used to work in an IT demonstration facility, where I helped the IT people
by writing proposals, statements of work, drawing network diagrams, etc. Our
bosses were cheap SOBs, giving us old cast-off computers to work with (I
typically experienece three system crashes per day!). On not infrequent occasion,
an old hard drive would be discovered that either had stopped spinning
entirely, or, was on its last legs. The IT gurus showed me a trick: the hard drive
would be physically dropped from a height of roughly two or three feet, on to a
counter top! The IT guys explained to me that this could be done once, as a
last-ditch effort to make the damn thing spin a bit longer. If the hard drive
did not respond after one drop, then it was time to replace it (usually done
with a hard drive that was only slightly less decrepit than its predecessor).
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get started on my letter to "Car Talk".
:O)
Matt K.
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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