> Without it, we would not have smartphones, tablets or laptops, including the device you are reading at this very moment. Yes we would. All these things existed without Li-ion. The power/space budget would be more constrained but it was perfectly achievable. What wouldn't work is senselessly burning cycles running managed code in a VM with heaps of battery sucking DRAM. People today have no concept of how much compu…
I still fondly remember how long my original Newton MP100 lasted on 4 AAA cells... An order of magnitude longer than my iPhone6 lasts on a charge.
His recollections are very detailed, and you can clearly see what a genius John Goodenough is. Many early computing and defense industry interviews have a similar feel as this one -- so wonderful to read and be inspired by material like this.
I remember looking at his work when I was a grad. student. Some of it was amazing. For example, I remember once he set up an apparatus to grow crystals using chemical vapor transport. To know when it was finished, he sealed wires to inside the quartz tube (as an open circuit) and connected them to a battery and a light bulb. When the crystal (which was conducting) grew large enough between the leads, the light bulb would turn on. It was elegant and simple. (Usually this type of synthesis occurs in a furnace where you can't tell the progress and just have to guess and take it out). We still refer to the "Goodenough-Kannamori" rules of thumb when we're trying to use heuristics to guess how an oxide will order magnetically. He's had a truly impressive career...
I remember looking at his work when I was a grad. student. Some of it was amazing. For example, I remember once he set up an apparatus to grow crystals using chemical vapor transport. To know when it was finished, he sealed wires to inside the quartz tube (as an open circuit) and connected them to a battery and a light bulb. When the crystal (which was conducting) grew large enough between the leads, the light bulb w…
Hopefully his career will continue and he comes up with a new breakthrough battery.
> Without it, we would not have smartphones, tablets or laptops, including the device you are reading at this very moment. Yes we would. All these things existed without Li-ion. The power/space budget would be more constrained but it was perfectly achievable. What wouldn't work is senselessly burning cycles running managed code in a VM with heaps of battery sucking DRAM. People today have no concept of how much compu…
> People today have no concept of how much computing power is wasted as excess heat because of modern software development practices. Or of how many new ideas are created because generous power/space ratios give us the luxury to develop quickly using abstractions higher than highly-optimized references and pointers. You can take a hit on optimal energy efficiency if it results in a larger ecosystem with more possibil…
But I think it is energy efficient already. The modern smartphone replaces the radio, tv, newspaper, store, school, workplace, you don't need a clock, a walkman or a map any more. All o these consumed energy or cost money to buy and are heavy to carry around.
Kind of off-topic, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this, but is it common to have clarity of mind at age 92? Is it mostly genetic or is it more like "keep challenging your mind and get enough sleep"? Anyone have good links?
At 29, I'm (probably prematurely) worried about cognitive decline. I only started challenging really myself last year.
Wish society would incentivize more smart people to tackle these important problems rather than go into finance, management consulting, working at the next hot tech startup, etc.
Kind of off-topic, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this, but is it common to have clarity of mind at age 92? Is it mostly genetic or is it more like "keep challenging your mind and get enough sleep"? Anyone have good links? At 29, I'm (probably prematurely) worried about cognitive decline. I only started challenging really myself last year.
(1.) The plasticity of the brain changes, which means that it takes more time to learn new things and change your mind. Many other abilities remain at a high level.
(2.) You may look up a chart that plots dementia against age. Prevalence of dementia increases at an accelerating rate as you get older.
We are actually not so far away from hitting the ceiling with batteries. There are fundamental physical reasons for why you can't put much more than 1eV per atom in a battery. That equates roughly to 850 Wh/kg, if memory serves, and we are currently pushing Li-ion towards 300 Wh/kg. So we can only keep growing at 5% for another couple of decades or so. Regardless of battery chemistry. What people often do to hide thi…
Gasoline manages 12kWh/kg, and I'm sure I've heard people talking about batteries at least approaching that density before, even if only on a theoretical basis. Leaving aside how safe I'd feel with a supercap of that density under the hood, are you sure about the 800Wh/kg limit? I'd be very interested in seeing a reference.
The 1eV per atom is really a rule of thumb, but easy to understand: At that value you are getting dangerously close to the ionization energy 13.6 eV for hydrogen, 5.4 eV for lithium), so you can no longer have a chemical battery. Note also that this is average eV for all atoms in the battery, so those actually providing electricity will be carrying atound 1.5 - 2 eV.