Mondo Knows Facts
The lead acid battery dates from 1859
Gaston Plante paired lead with lead dioxide in dilute sulfuric acid and could recharge the cell many times Plante formed his plates by passing current through two sheets of lead in acid, which created a layer of lead dioxide on the positive one. Each cell produces about two volts, so six in series make the twelve volt battery found in cars. The chemistry survives because it is cheap, tolerates abuse and can deliver very large currents for a few seconds. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Tags: batteries, lead-acid, electricity
The lead acid battery dates from 1859: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Gaston Plante paired lead with lead dioxide in dilute sulfuric acid and could recharge the cell many times. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a technology fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.