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Non-solid-state batteries have liquid/gel electrolyte.

by jojobas 2mo ago

qwery 2mo ago
Wood is a solid-state battery. The term has obviously been selected because of how revolutionary solid-state electronic devices were/are. And it's not like they selected it after a revolutionary energy storage device was introduced. Solid-state batteries (cells) are an incremental improvement, at best. And because this is the web: I am not being negative about the technology. I happen to be of the radical opinion that incremental improvements are good, actually.
- jojobas 2mo ago
  The word "battery" is a stand-in for electrochemical cell, which wood obviously isn't. Quite some advantages are expected from batteries that don't involve liquids or gels, whether incremental or not.
  - qwery 2mo ago
    I don't know what more I can say to convince you that I'm not trying to put down the technology. I'm interested in it, that's why I think it's a shame to curse it with a used-car salesman marketing name. As for wood batteries, Most usage of the term 'battery' is independent of technology, outside of usually wanting electricity as the interface. The fact that most batteries people talk about happen to be electrochemical cells is incidental -- it's irrelevant to whatever they are actually talking about. So yes, a lot of the time 'battery' happens to refer to electrochemical cells, but it also refers to energy storage devices in general, which wood obviously is. The problem with wood being a "solid-state battery" is surely the solid-state part. Q: I mean how does that even work, solid-state combustion? A: No, it's still obviously a normal chemical cell. You do a chemistry and these special "electrodes" turn the result into electricity. Q: Can you recharge it? A: Well, not in your own home, but in your backyard, maybe sort of. If we are to use the term 'solid-state' to refer to anything that is solid, as in "solid-state battery", and we can get electricity from burning wood, I don't see the problem with referring to wood as a solid-state battery.
    - jojobas 2mo ago
      You're trying to put down the terminology and it's both unhelpful and incorrect.
    - jjk166 2mo ago
      > Most usage of the term 'battery' is independent of technology, outside of usually wanting electricity as the interface. The fact that most batteries people talk about happen to be electrochemical cells is incidental -- it's irrelevant to whatever they are actually talking about. So yes, a lot of the time 'battery' happens to refer to electrochemical cells, but it also refers to energy storage devices in general, which wood obviously is. Wood isn't an energy storage device. You can't have a piece of wood where the energy has been depleted. There is no device. Wood is the stored energy - it's a fuel. You consume it in some device, like a furnace, to generate energy.
      - qwery 2mo ago
        Your argument seems to be that some bits of tree doesn't constitute what we would usually call a "device", and that's fair enough really. I called that out myself in the same comment, so I guess you picked up what I was laying down! The "wood is a solid-state battery" thing was an absurd rhetorical device I used to point out -- particularly in a field so significantly connected to electronics -- that merely substituting a liquid for a solid does not justify using what will obviously be understood to be a reference to solid-state electronics. P.S. A coal-fired steam engine is a solid-state motor.
        jjk166 2mo ago
        It's not a reference to solid-state electronics, it's a reference to solid state chemical reactions. These are reactions where the reagents are all in the solid state (hence the name). A steam engine isn't a solid-state motor.
  - adolph 2mo ago
    There is a nine box chart with x-axis of doctrine or how it is used and y-axis of structure; each axis has three values, purist, neutral and radical. For the purist in doctrine and structure, wood is not a battery. If one is somewhere between neutral and radical, then wood is a battery that was built by its integrated disposable solar cells.

Non-solid-state batteries have liquid/gel electrolyte.

by jojobas 2mo ago

Non-solid-state batteries have liquid/gel electrolyte.

qwery 2mo ago

Wood is a solid-state battery. The term has obviously been selected because of how revolutionary solid-state electronic devices were/are. And it's not like they selected it after a revolutionary energy storage device was introduced. Solid-state batteries (cells) are an incremental improvement, at best. And because this is the web: I am not being negative about the technology. I happen to be of the radical opinion that incremental improvements are good, actually.

jojobas 2mo ago
The word "battery" is a stand-in for electrochemical cell, which wood obviously isn't. Quite some advantages are expected from batteries that don't involve liquids or gels, whether incremental or not.
- qwery 2mo ago
  I don't know what more I can say to convince you that I'm not trying to put down the technology. I'm interested in it, that's why I think it's a shame to curse it with a used-car salesman marketing name. As for wood batteries, Most usage of the term 'battery' is independent of technology, outside of usually wanting electricity as the interface. The fact that most batteries people talk about happen to be electrochemical cells is incidental -- it's irrelevant to whatever they are actually talking about. So yes, a lot of the time 'battery' happens to refer to electrochemical cells, but it also refers to energy storage devices in general, which wood obviously is. The problem with wood being a "solid-state battery" is surely the solid-state part. Q: I mean how does that even work, solid-state combustion? A: No, it's still obviously a normal chemical cell. You do a chemistry and these special "electrodes" turn the result into electricity. Q: Can you recharge it? A: Well, not in your own home, but in your backyard, maybe sort of. If we are to use the term 'solid-state' to refer to anything that is solid, as in "solid-state battery", and we can get electricity from burning wood, I don't see the problem with referring to wood as a solid-state battery.
  - jojobas 2mo ago
    You're trying to put down the terminology and it's both unhelpful and incorrect.
  - jjk166 2mo ago
    > Most usage of the term 'battery' is independent of technology, outside of usually wanting electricity as the interface. The fact that most batteries people talk about happen to be electrochemical cells is incidental -- it's irrelevant to whatever they are actually talking about. So yes, a lot of the time 'battery' happens to refer to electrochemical cells, but it also refers to energy storage devices in general, which wood obviously is. Wood isn't an energy storage device. You can't have a piece of wood where the energy has been depleted. There is no device. Wood is the stored energy - it's a fuel. You consume it in some device, like a furnace, to generate energy.
    - qwery 2mo ago
      Your argument seems to be that some bits of tree doesn't constitute what we would usually call a "device", and that's fair enough really. I called that out myself in the same comment, so I guess you picked up what I was laying down! The "wood is a solid-state battery" thing was an absurd rhetorical device I used to point out -- particularly in a field so significantly connected to electronics -- that merely substituting a liquid for a solid does not justify using what will obviously be understood to be a reference to solid-state electronics. P.S. A coal-fired steam engine is a solid-state motor.
      - jjk166 2mo ago
        It's not a reference to solid-state electronics, it's a reference to solid state chemical reactions. These are reactions where the reagents are all in the solid state (hence the name). A steam engine isn't a solid-state motor.
- adolph 2mo ago
  There is a nine box chart with x-axis of doctrine or how it is used and y-axis of structure; each axis has three values, purist, neutral and radical. For the purist in doctrine and structure, wood is not a battery. If one is somewhere between neutral and radical, then wood is a battery that was built by its integrated disposable solar cells.