Question

Do some research, and look up the difference between the zinc-carbon battery described in the lesson, and the alkaline battery (shown at the bottom), which is another common dry cell that we use every day. What are the electrodes made of in the alkaline battery? The electrolyte? Does one type have an advantage over the other? Write a short essay.

Answer 1

Here it is:

The difference between a zinc battery and the alkaline battery is the type of electrolyte in them. Zinc batteries are mostly composed of ammonium chloride. But alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide.

Alkaline-manganese, also known as alkaline, is an improved version of the zinc-carbon battery and delivers 1.5V. Lewis Urry (1927–2004) invented alkaline in 1949 while working with the Eveready Battery Company laboratory in Ohio, USA. Alkaline gives off more energy at higher load currents than zinc-carbon. The Canadian inventor Lew Urry patented the first modern primary alkaline battery in 1959.

The alkaline manganese battery utilizes electrodes of zinc and manganese dioxide, but the electrolyte is potassium hydroxide. The electrolyte of a battery consists of soluble salts, acids, or other bases in inside a liquid, in gelled and dry formats. The electrolyte also comes in a polymer, as used in the solid-state battery, solid ceramic, and molten salts as in the sodium-sulfur battery.

As expected, the capacity of both batteries is different. Because of the composition, an alkaline battery delivers more energy than a zinc battery. The only consequence of this is that both batteries should be used in different applications.