Description of Dry Cell

Dry cell batteries A dry cell is the most common type of battery used today, according to Robert Asato, Ph.D., of Leeward Community College, in Pearl City, Hawaii. Dry cell batteries power small portable electronic devices, such as flashlights, audio players, watches, cameras and TV remotes. Disposable or rechargeable, dry cells range from pencil tip-sized batteries used in medical applications to enormous batteries designed to provide backup for cities in case of power outages.

    History According to Energizer, archaeological digs suggest batteries were invented in some form at least 2,000 years ago, but the forerunners of batteries we know today began in 1798 with Count Alessandro Volta's "voltaic pile," a crude battery made with copper and a salt or acid solution. French chemist Georges Leclanche's 1868 design of the "wet" cell battery was the forerunner of the first "dry" cell, invented in 1888 by German scientist Carl Gassner, which was similar to modern carbon-zinc batteries.

Types Asato points to the carbon-zinc battery, with ammonium chloride providing the dry "paste" for the chemical reaction, as common type of dry cell. Alkaline batteries last longer, however, because the electrolyte sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide used is less corrosive of the zinc. Other types include silver batteries, mercury cell batteries often used for calculators, and nickel-cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries, which can be recharged.

       FUNCTION A standard dry cell battery works by providing an electrochemical reaction when inserted into a device and completing a circuit between the cathode (often carbon), and anode (often zinc), separated by an electrolyte, which generates an electric current collected elsewhere in the cell that can then conduct the electricity to the exterior circuit.

Disposable or Rechargeable    Commonly, low voltage and rarely used devices such as flashlights use disposable carbon-zinc dry cell batteries as well as the longer-lasting alkaline dry cell batteries. The Green Living Tips website states that nickel cadmium (Nicads) or nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are the most frequently purchased rechargeables, sold in most if not all the same sizes as disposables. Rechargeable batteries generally save you money, if the device being powered is used so often that fresh batteries are constantly required.