But how would you procure potassium hydroxide? I'm certainly not a chemist, or as well versed in it as he is, but I get the feeling that it is not a chemical that can be readily synthesised on the go.

+Ring0Resident It used to be done in the medieval times. Burn trees or plants, probably bananas, get potassium carbonate from the ashes and then add calcium oxide (also know as quicklime), boil in water and there you go potassium hydroxide.

Cheers man.

@MrBlackRapp so the zombie apocalypse WILL be televised!

Hell, one of his projects may start a zombie apocalypse.

Greatest comment ever

U put the $ sign in the wrong place

@@gri5in862 That baited you didnt it.

How much it is in canadian pesos?

Sometimes, I click those link, and it shows 1 or 2 lines with a pic and lots of ads. I click Next, and then the process continues for another 10 page and I never found out what the simple trick is and I close the page.

+bruce wayne same

+bruce wayne Batman, needing to learn something. I thought you had Alfred for that? Oh yeah, he's retired now, right?

2degucitas wrong universe man.

bruce wayne Ah, ok. Hard to tell from a distance. Keep on bat'n on!

+bruce wayne he is the reincarnation of merlin.

This guy took all the theoretical stuff from school waaaaay too seriously

what i did was pry them open and see what could be done

Its not so much of a recharge as a rebuild.

lol and will have 1000x the experience when he gets into his field. the more diverse knowledge base you have, the easier leaps in logic become to new designs and ideas. you can sit in class and study theory all you want, but practical application is where the real learning and understanding comes from. Cody is the kind of person who will come up with some idea that will turn into a multi million dollar product that probably does the world quite a bit of good.

By recharge they normally mean running backwards voltage into the battery, why he did was refill the battery casing. :)

+Cody'sLab _some parts get cut due to time._ We really don't mind an extra 5 minutes of Awesome.

+RonJohn63 I second this!

+Cody'sLab I go for your longest videos first usually. ;)

YEAH I've been noticing recently that he's skipping parts and it seems like he's making false videos. Kinda like the recent canning experiment.

ravemastaj it wasn't a dry cell battery. Dry cells are the manganese dioxide and carbon rod batteries

Don't forget, "I'll get around to that later," or some variant thereof.

I'll be off to my "double A" meeting now.

but before you start the game, you have to make your own alcohol with some chemicals that would usually kill you. :p

don't forget "I was right"

Cody in two years: "It's only a rocket engine, so I can replace it." Cody in seven years: "It's just antimatter, so I can replace it." :P

battery's he had = not much charge battery's he ended up with = good charge recharge: restore an electric charge ???

+SparksThePhysicist however the batteries he ended up with were not really the same batteries as he begun with, they just used the same casings. (It's sort of that "if you replace every plank in a ship is it still the same ship?" dilemma)

CoolAsFinnBro Except the only thing in the ship that was actually replaced was the cargo, so it is the same ship.

+CoolAsFinnBro technically the only part of the ship which is unable to be replaced is the keel (repairing a damaged keel is possible, but it weakens the strength of the hull). so replacing every plank, still makes it the same ship as long as the keel is intact. this is true for most ships. maybe untrue for fibreglass hull ones but those mostly yatch and smaller sailboat and boats.

Heh, you're not wrong, but I think you might be missing the point of the question, I think the spirit of it is that you assume that even the keel can be replaced.

Hellallulot

I interpreted it as "Helika"

It's a Toyota celica lot better

Not just sunscreen, zinc oxide is also pretty good for wounds. Slightly antimicrobial and all that.

Since the electrolite around it is potassium hydroxide, I'd not be so keen to smear it over my skin. :p

Keep in mind, there could be additives and the formula is secret so who knows what is actually in it other than zinc oxide! It is easy to take some chemistry classes and get a confused idea of what chemicals you're actually working with in various real life scenarios. If it isn't even a food, don't just assume it is pure-whatever!

Mátyás Fodor That's why he said it should be washed first.

He did say after you wash it, no of course you should not use it strait up XD

Yeah, I thought the same

But then I'm wondering why they put more manganese oxide than zinc. I mean if zinc was finished and still some Mn oxide was available... It seems strange and a waste of manganese

@@Bert0ld0 The manganese miners union put that in their contract.....makes about as much sense as ethanol in our gasoline....people who fail science and math become politicians and legislate nonsense....

@@Bert0ld0 I think it has something to do with preventing case corrosion and leakage - that way the zinc and potassium hydroxide is used first and the cell is not as corrosive. Plus the manganese dioxide also acts (if I remember correctly) as a depolarizer, preventing the formation of hydrogen bubbles which would reduce the surface area and thus the current generation capability.

Please correct the type, it's Change, not chage.

+Michael Mast (TurboAAA) I read that you can actually recharge regular alkaline batteries somewhat if you just do it slowly enough. Haven't tried it myself though.

+h3rteby no you can't, it's a chemical reaction and once the chemicals are depleted, game over

h3rteby Though they do have a limited ability to hold a charge if you run them through a charger, its not recomeneded (and not just by the manufacturer). So you could charge them but in the long run it will be more trouble than its worth.

+Michael Mast (TurboAAA) Also, if you discharge them below 1,25V you will NEVER be able to recharge them.

Michael Mast Yeah, what I saw was an electronics guy who modified a charger with a resistor I think, so that it would charge much slower, and that way he could charge alkaline batteries without overheating them.

Wouldn't that be Mn(OH)2?

There is one that's water powered, it's basically this, but powdered electrolyte so that when you add the water it completes the battery and powers it up, same idea basically. Called hydrotorch, or something to that effect.

***** This is not as simple, aspecially with chemical batteries

Voltage is current multiplied with the resistance. If you're using a perfect voltmeter, with an inner resistance of infinite ohms, there's no current, though you detect a voltage. Without a closed circut, you don't have a current.

A science channel always attracts smart people :)

+Cody'sLab 1-2 vs 181k, hmm who wins?

+lil Chiller There recently was a problem with bulb in a car not lighting up. Voltmeter showed 12v, but bulb would not work :D Contacts in other place further were oxided, it stopped current from flowing :)

***** it should, but not very quickly. according to a 1968 patent i dug up on ore refining... heating it will speed it up, but going over 1400F will start to favor MnO h2o2 should oxidize it quickly but then must be removed

vevenaneathna But hydrogen peroxyde quickly turns into water in contact with air so it's a very valid solution

if any h2o2 were left in the battery, it would turn to water.... and also oxygen gas too. not sure you want that in your batteries.

vevenaneathna duh, let it reduce before inserting the mixture in the battery

***** Actually you don't need to refill MnO2 into battery. What is left in battery when MnO2 is partially consumed is a solid state solution of MnOOH (Mn+3) in the MnO2 lattice (Mn+4). More importantly these ions are quite mobile in lattice and you can replace/oxidize easily Mn+3 to Mn+4 (unless most of +4 is already lost) just applying external voltage to battery - just charge battery! I'll suggest to use a current source with few mA of current in the course of many days, the slower the better.

Me tooooo, me tooooooo...

I think he said "hell" and didn't mean to, and tried to play it off by adding "ck" to say heck. Didn't really work though. :P (the -ava is run together, of a, "hell/heck of a")

@@41A2E c'bnb ccx

That's nominal load, no load should be 1.45, same with 18650s which state 3.7 but a fully charged cell no load will be 4.2. Car batteries are 12v right? Nope most are over 14v.

Car batteries are 12 volts. Car alternators put out over 14 volts.

@@themikeshow 12.8, I kinda went high on my comment

@@Gunzee 13.6 one hour after charging. They tend to lose charge in time. also AGM has higher voltage than that

@@Gunzee 12,68 v

that would be a bomb rather than a battery

Do it do it do it

@@diosilva16 Maybe... maybe not. We will never know unless we make it. One thing is for sure: whatever comes out of it would be awesome :)

@@philipthepirate1762 3:19

@@diosilva16 Exactly, I agree and I see. I mean, it's not impossible to do a larger scale battery, just a matter of preparation, which would be complex. Either way, it would be fun.

Depends how you want to define recharge. Originally to recharge something meant to reload or refill it.

I agree by the definition of the word he is recharging it but normally recharging a battery means running backwards voltage into it, not replacing the contents of the battery

+CoolAsFinnBro I guess the title could be considered a little misleading, but if recharging was as easy as that it wouldn't make a very interesting video, and I think interesting is the goal here

Alkaline cells CAN be recharged by applying voltage to them. Just as long as you do it slowly and watch the temperature. But not when the cells are this far gone

This is the only way you can recharge an alkaline battery.

Jessie Parker needs a carbon electrode which is kinda impractical

vevenaneathna Pencil leads bundled with a rubber band or wire maybe.

good idea. pencil "lead" has a lot of clay and other softeners in it, but should work. it is quite brittle as a result. i remember reading somewhere that tin/SnO2 electrodes is a popular choice instead of carbon for this reason. "tin" is harder to come by now days

***** Awesome! Can't wait to see if they work well enough to be a viable option. Thanks!

vevenaneathna not really, pure tin solder isnt too hard to come by. get some industrial tin solder like this www.ebay.com/itm/Lenox-WS10297-50-50-1-4-Tin-Lead-11-1-4-Tri-Bar-Solder-10bar-bundle-30oz-/281727698805 and use that. it's not super cheap, but not out of this world expensive either. you might get away with regular electrical solder which is for the most part around 60-70% tin other than that you have pewter, which, like electrical solder is around 70% tin. this might be easier to find if you rely on scavenging scrap. getting tin in any large quantities however is harder.

@Jeff Caligari Sorry, but no. I successfully recharged a 1.5v button cell at 5v with no problem, although it was only able to run the watch for a week. You just have to monitor the cell's temperature, in this case it stayed cold to the touch, but if it had warmed up I would have definitely backed away.

If you charge it with an arc welder.

HTME check it out, someone doing the same thing with a tad bit of help (some from cody)

You can get AA to D Cell adaptors and then throw in some Alkalines, Rechargeable AAs or Lithium AAs (Non-rechargable)

+umperthay but not all dead! :)

I totally agree. As you probably know, what states the true power of a battery is just that - power, not voltage.

_LED bulbs will burn bright on almost dead batteries._ - by using a Joule Thief to _milk_ the last remnants of juice out of them. It's a obvious that Cody has a type of incandescent bulb (halogen, xenon, simple vacuum etc) in his flashlight with to the visible 'ramp-up' and down of the filament when he switches on and off, whereas LED would be hard on and off. I agree it looks very bright for 2.5v into a 3v rated bulb

jayc2469 I agree. - I was dead tired when I typed the comment. 1 amp is plenty to light one well (if the voltage is descent - which it was).

LEDs are more sensitive to the voltage than halogens though.

SDD525 no, giving something a charge is recharging. .. replacing the contents is considered rebuilding, in my opinion. great job, Cody

Charging literally in the dictionary includes filling something. Charge a musket, charge a goblet, charge a battery. Always remember to check the dictionary before attempting to correct vocabulary. ;)

the thing with dictionaries is that they give many examples ... but not all definitions are applicable. Yes, "charge" can mean to fill something that is empty...but in this case, the battery was full of the material, but it had lost its ability to produce electricity, so the actual contents had to be removed before he could add the new material. To DIScharge a battery is to use it as a power source until it is "dead"...but the contents are still inside it, just not chemically reacting to produce electricity. If you were to recharge the battery you would either connect the battery to a current to replenish its electrical reserves, or you would disassemble the battery, remove the contents and replace the material altogether, which is a rebuild or re-manufacture...or perhaps reload.

+TheGreatMoonFrog You would get expelled from your own team though because you cant offer any skills, lol ;D

+Emil Brandwyne zombie decoy *

Ahahaaa! psssh nothing :P

***** TMI hehehe

TheOtherSteel places that just throw them away you mean? :p

Silly rabbit, lithium type batteries you take for special disposal. That's the coin and button cells, mostly. Alkaline batteries, yes, you just throw them away unless they were made before about 1988.

IKEA stores collecting all the old batteries, they clearly stating this on their Eco-recycling campaign, they collecting old batteries for the minerals inside which can be reused esp. if battery died fresh, of course the recycling made by separate contractors for IKEA

Dude just take the lithium foil out.

You can use pretty much any two metals with dissimilar sized atoms by the way, Zinc/manganese, Silver/iron, Zinc/copper, lead/coppper and you will always get a similar result. To have a battery that is continuosly charged by the universe (and never needs charging) you need bonded pairs of dissimilar sized atoms aligned in series... all the little 1.2v soon add up and then you will have lightning (aligned H2O molecules). That is also how lighting clouds (aligned H2O particles) continuously recharge after each bolt of lightning. Nature aligns the H2O molecules as a phenomenon and when the particles are no longer in alignment the storm dissipates. You can find bonded pairs of atoms which is the sludge at the bottom of used lead/acid car batteries. The atoms leave the battery elements and form bonded pairs during the eletrolysis process. When all the atoms that can leave the surface of the elements, have left the surface, the battery is considered spent. But they can be recycled by cleaning out the sludge and re-etching the surface of the elements. Cheers x2.