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An atomic battery, nuclear battery, radioisotope battery or radioisotope generator uses energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. Like a nuclear reactor , it generates electricity from nuclear energy, but it differs by not using a chain reaction .
Diagram of an RTG used on the Cassini probe. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), sometimes referred to as a radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect.
Batteries are used on spacecraft as a means of power storage. Primary batteries contain all their usable energy when assembled and can only be discharged. Secondary batteries can be recharged from some other energy source, such as solar panels or radioisotope-based power (), and can deliver power during periods when the space vehicle is out of direct sunlight.
Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual — a 60-page instruction book written by Dr. Ralph E. Lapp; Learn How Dagwood Split the Atom — comic book introduction to radioactivity, written with the help of General Leslie Groves (director of the Manhattan Project) and John R. Dunning (a physicist who verified fission of the uranium atom) [11] [12]
A battery charger, recharger, or simply charger, [1] [2] is a device that stores energy in an electric battery by running current through it. The charging protocol—how much voltage and current, for how long and what to do when charging is complete—depends on the size and type of the battery being charged.
A German patent [3] [4] provides a description of an optoelectric nuclear battery, which would consist of an excimer of argon, xenon, or krypton (or a mixture of two or three of them) in a pressure vessel with an internal mirrored surface, finely-ground radioisotope, and an intermittent ultrasonic stirrer, illuminating a photocell with a ...
The battery is a betavoltaic cell using carbon-14 (14 C) in the form of diamond-like carbon (DLC) as the beta radiation source, and additional normal-carbon DLC to make the necessary semiconductor junction and encapsulate the carbon-14. [2]
Some Beta-M generators have been subject to incidents of vandalism when scavengers disassembled the units while searching for non-ferrous metals. [2] [4] [6] In December 2001 a radiological accident occurred when three residents of Lia, Georgia found parts of an abandoned Beta-M in the forest while collecting firewood. [4]