A tiny radioactive battery could keep your future phone running for 50 years::A glowing horizon for phones

  • @Papanca@lemmy.world
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    661 year ago

    And now for 50 years worth of security updates for a phone like that. Not to mention what people might do with throwing a phone in the trash or something

    • Obinice
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      151 year ago

      The EU are going to mandate removable batteries in phones, so I don’t see any reason you can’t take a standardised battery that lasts decades and swap it into your next phone, if they’re all designed properly with compatibility with this miracle battery in mind :-D

      • shastaxc
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        51 year ago

        Perfect. Then they’ll sell the battery separately and it’ll cost $5000

        • @Nindelofocho@lemmy.world
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          11 year ago

          A battery that last several years and can be used in a plethora of devices would be reasonably expensive yes. $5000 is a lot but maybe $500 is more reasonable for something like that?

      • @Papanca@lemmy.world
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        11 year ago

        Exactly; if Usually, it takes years, if not decades, before laws and regulations are actually in place

    • @Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      11 year ago

      I’m not so optimistic.

      When ever we discover a new, much better power source, the cartel who is going to lose a shitton of business go on a smear campaign. Look at solar power. Look at electric cars. Hell, look at hemp.

      Companies would bury this so fast, and this tech would be a niche thing.

    • @smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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      11 year ago

      No. Document the device for PC-like lifetime software support from first and third party. Long security update support for phones, great, but we still have a stupid thing when people buy whole new phone for little software feature.

  • Dem Bosain
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    621 year ago

    Nickel-63 is pretty safe as radioactive elements go. It’s proposed as an energy source for pacemakers.

    Standford says 0.1mm of plastic will absorb all emissions.

    • @Siegfried@lemmy.world
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      91 year ago

      He got it right in a lot of aspects, partially because he didnt gave many details about certain stuff, but I remember a pretty good description of a nuclear powered e reader… if I remember it correctly, the nuclear part was a tiny nuclear reactor though

      • @sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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        31 year ago

        Seemed like all the writing of that era was under the spell of nuclear power. I remember thinking “wtf?” to a nuclear-powered desk side trash incinerator in one of Asimov’s books. Maybe Foundation.

    • @GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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      421 year ago

      No offense but it’s a “I wasn’t paying attention in high school physics” comment. It being beta decay with a half-life of 100 years should already indicate it’s relatively safe. In fact someone else in this thread already already added the references showing how safe it is. If it’s safe enough to power a pacemaker it’s safe enough to sit in your phone that sits your pocket.

      Personally I think that battery would have much bigger issues than safety, such as power requirements which are much harder to control with nuclear decay. Also obviously the device itself deprecating before the battery because tech will definitely advance a lot in 50 years, I imagine after a decade the phone will be useless. And finally the pricing considering Ni-63 doesn’t occur in nature which means you need a specific process to create the materials necessary for the batter.

      • @Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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        -101 year ago

        That’s a silly comparison. You’re not dropping your pacemaker down escalators or throwing it the trash when the screen breaks, and middle schoolers aren’t dissambling them with butter knives. You’re not throwing them out every few years. Please teach me more about high school physics though you smug sob.

        • @GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Most current phones use lithium ion batteries that can combust or explode in your pocket if tampered or damaged, but you don’t seem to be worried about that. You only seem to be worried about the battery in the article because the only thing you remember about radiation from your high school physics is “radiation bad”. Had you paid more attention in school you wouldn’t need my smug ass correcting you.

        • @DrRatso@lemmy.ml
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          71 year ago

          You are just moving goalposts here. None of these scenarios are particularly relevant anyway. Even if the phone shell cracked, the battery casing would be enough to shield from the radiation. And what does throwing the phone in the trash have to do with keeping it in your pocket.

    • @Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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      81 year ago

      Some people havent read the article where it states they use radioactive batteries like this in pacemakers and that there is no external radiation from the battery.

    • @Aganim@lemmy.world
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      71 year ago

      Depends, in my country ionization detectors have been banned over 20 years ago, you’ll mostly find optical / photoelectric detectors here.

  • Phoenixz
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    131 year ago

    Battery scam #364256373

    I’m seeing at least 5 of these per week now, can we PLEASE stop this bullshit?

    Also, batteries from radioactive elements is one of the stupider ideas that has been floated around, sounds about at the same level as the thorium powered car.

    It would be so nice if tech sites could write about actual tech and not CGI bullshit dreamed up by a guy who really isn’t going to scam you, he just needs a little bit of start up capital for his Ferrari.

  • Boozilla
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    121 year ago

    Remember when folks wore watches with radioactive paint on them? Good times.

  • @hark@lemmy.world
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    101 year ago

    I’ve heard of these kinds of batteries before and it’d be cool to have long-running electronics, but would these produce enough power?

    • @CucumberFetish@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      They do, if you give them enough room. And if you are born into an oil family.

      The power density is about 0.01125m³ per watt. A high end smartphone (11w of peak power) with a body size similar to Galaxy s23 ultra, would be almost 10 meters thick.