BRIEF HISTORY OF BATTERY AND ELECTRICITY

In 1962, a team of scientists produced a special radio station that had a range of fifteen miles. Even though communication was being accomplished in space at a range of more than a million times this distance, the new radio station caused much excitement among scientists. The reason: its power supply was a battery made of bacteria. For the first time, practical amounts of electricity were being produced by a form of life and put to use.


Bio-cell, the new power supply had a liquid fuel containing tiny forms of life that changed the fuel directly into electric energy. This was far more than an interesting experiment. The bio-cell is being developed as producer of electricity for radios, for signals to guide ships, for lighting and for other uses. Though the working bio-cell is only a few years old, some scientists feel that it will one day produce power cheaply as is now being done by other methods, and that the bio-cell will use materials that would otherwise be considered a waste. Early bio-cells were powered with sugar, but a wide range of fuels can be used. Work is being done using sea water to feed the bacteria.

Electricity from living cells is no new idea. Man experienced the strange shock produced by some fish even before electricity was really discovered. Then in time, there were other discoveries. Benjamin Franklin found that lightning in the sky was electricity. Lulgi Galvani found some electricity in the muscles and nerves of animals. But the African catfish produces far more electricity than most other living creatures. And another fish, the electric eel, well named, for it has an even greater electric charge. Research works also discovered that even humans produce small amounts of electricity in their bodies. Our hearts produce a very small amount that can be measured, so do our brains. The bio-cell is completely new in the field of power production and, as yet, no mass-produced models have begun to replace the older types of batteries. It might be wondered, then, what the excitement is all about.

Adapted from the Department of English (1998) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife: The Use of English Text...San cata™