Let’s Abuse a Battery! - Experiment 2

For those of you who missed my first blog, “Taste the Power! – Experiment 1”, I recently got the second edition of “Make: Electronics” by Charles Platt and decided to try all of the experiments presented in the book. This is my documentation of how the second experiment turned out.

Before we begin, for those who might be thinking of ignoring Mr. Platt’s advice and want to see what happens when you short a lithium battery, just watch this AWESOME video instead:

How to blow a fuse

I used two different 1.5 V AA brand new batteries, but unfortunately, I was unable to blow the 3 A fuse (I even tried with a 9 V battery).

Luckily, I had a 1 A fuse at home, which did burn, but only by applying the wires from the battery holder to it directly.

The reason I wasn’t able to blow the fuse with the test leads could be that some cheap test leads don’t allow enough current to flow through them.

The book has so far introduced us to batteries and fuses. To learn more about these components you can check out chapters 2 and 4 of Charles Platt’s “Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 1”.

If you would like to recreate this experiment yourself, you can get everything you need for this experiment from DigiKey!

• 1.5 V AA Batteries
• Battery carrier
• 3 A Automotive Fuse
• Safety Glasses
• Test leads with alligator clips at each end

EXTRA

If you would to explore this topic some more, check out the links below.

Why do Lithium-ion batteries explode

https://www.howtogeek.com/338762/why-do-lithium-ion-batteries-explode/

Types of fuses

https://www.electronicshub.org/fuses-types-fuses/

How batteries work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OVtk6G2TnQ

Alessandro Volta – The Battery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is8wAeoTqHQ

Solid state electronics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_electronics

Surface mount technology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-mount_technology

AC Power plugs and sockets

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

The Voltaic pile

https://libraries.mit.edu/collections/vail-collection/topics/electricity/the-voltaic-pile/