BATTERIES: THEIR POWER CAN BE SHOCKING

Brenda Woodard, manager of Radio Shack at West Park Mall, compared watch batteries at a store display.

Barry Finley, store director for Toys R Us, held one of the many toys that require batteries to operate.

Batteries give power.

In the wide world of consumer electronics, it is difficult to think of a product that has had more impact on people's lives than the simple battery.

The average U.S. household has 10 battery-operated devices, which keeps many families always searching for these small sources of energy to power toys, games, cameras and laptops.

Frost and Sullivan researchers predict $7.7 billion might be spent in the U.S. this year for batteries. The impact of these convenient and portable sources of energy is enormous.

"We sell a lot of batteries," said Brenda Woodard, manager of the local RadioShack Co., in West Park Mall. RadioShack nationally sold more than 100 million batteries in 1994.

"If we don't have a battery to fit your need in stock, we'll special-order it and have it sent to your home," said Woodard.

Toys R Us Inc., a retail toy outlet, also sells a lot of batteries. Many of today's toys and games require them, said Barry Finley, director of the Cape Girardeau store at 210 S. Silver Springs Road.

Battery sales continue to increase. Sales in 1994 were up 11 percent over 1993 sales, and 1995 sales topped 1994 sales.

With so many battery-operated electronics in the home, it is surprising that almost 75 percent of all battery sales are on impulse.

A study by one battery manufacturer, Rayovac, shows that 32 percent of batteries are purchased for miscellaneous uses. Twenty-four percent are purchased as spares, 17 percent for audio devices, 15 percent for toys and games and a whopping 12 percent just for flashlights.

There are hundreds of different batteries.

According to the Duracell Co., there are more than 150 batteries just for computers, and more than 50 different battery packs for mobile telephones.

There are round batteries, square batteries and rectangular batteries.

Are they all necessary?

"Yes," said Leon Lutz, the battery buyer for RadioShack, which has more than 750 different types of batteries in its inventory. There has been an explosion of new portable consumer electronic products needing batteries during the past 20 years.

And only this year another battery will have to be added to the long list of battery types -- the Delco Remy, a 10-volt battery that will be used to power General Motors Corp.'s new EV-1 Electric cars, which will go on the market this fall.

GM is the first of the Big Three automakers to mass market the electric car. The car will debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The vehicle will be powered by four racks of eight 10-volt batteries. In normal use, the car can be expected to travel between 60 and 70 miles on a charge, at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. Charging time will range from three to 15 hours.

The car will sell for about $30,000, minus the battery charger.

All batteries available are either "primary" or "secondary" batteries. In general if the chemicals used in the electrochemical system cannot be recharged after being depleted it is a "primary" battery. If the chemicals can be recharged it is a "secondary" battery.

Of all batteries purchased by consumers in the U.S., Rayovac reports that 99 percent are primary batteries.

The secondary, or rechargeable batteries, are more expensive, and can cost as much as four times the price of primary batteries. However, the actual cost over the life of secondary batteries could be lower because secondary batteries can be recharged for only pennies using ordinary household current (except for the EV-1 batteries).

Batteries come in a number of sizes, ranging from N, AAA, AA, C and D to the two or more cell six and nine-volt rectangular batteries. According to Pure Energy Co., AA size batteries make up about 60 percent of the battery market.

The longer the power is needed, the larger the battery. Larger batteries have a bigger supply of chemicals, and therefore, usually last longer than smaller batteries using the same chemicals.

Button batteries and battery packs are more recent developments in the battery industry. The button batteries were developed in response to the need for miniature power sources with a longer life than standard, cylindrical batteries. They're used in pacemakers, watches, hearing aids, calculators, computers and photography.

The most common rechargeable battery pack is the NiCd, used in the "Three Cs," -- computers, cellular phones and camcorders. Frost and Sullivan predicts the NiCd market could grow to $510 million this year in the United State, and that the worldwide market could grow to $10.2 billion by 2002.

Challenging the NiCs' dominant position in rechargeable sales is the NiMHs, which represented about 10 percent of the rechargeable sales in 1992, but is expected to grow to 50 percent by 1997.

Although natural electricity has been generated almost since the beginning of time, the first chemical battery wasn't invented until 1789, the first year that George Washington was president of the United States.

The first practical battery was developed by Count Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist.

Volta's invention became known as a "Voltaic Pile," and consisted of a stack of pairs of silver and zinc disks. The parts were separated from one another by disks of cardboard moistened with a salt solution.

In 1836, John F. Daniell, an English chemist, introduced a more efficient primary cell. The Daniell cell had two liquid electrolytes and produced a steadier current than Volta's device.

The history of the battery continued in 1859 when a French physicist, Gaston Plante, invented the first secondary battery, the lead-acid storage battery. During the 1860s, another French scientist, Georges Leclanche, invented a type of primary cell from which the modern dry cell was developed.

Through the years, scientists have designed smaller but increasingly powerful batteries for a growing number of portable electric devices. For example, a lithium cell is so tiny that is often called a button battery. But it produces voltage higher than any other single cell. Lithium cells are used primarily in calculators, cameras, pacemakers, and watches.

Until just before World War II, only chemical energy was used in battery electrical systems. During the past 50 years, two additional power sources for electrical systems have been developed as a result of better understanding the structure of atoms: Solar energy and nuclear energy.