National Battery Day (February 18)
Check out the weird holiday National Battery Day on February 15. Learn the history of National Battery Day and get ideas on how to celebrate.
One weird holiday on February 15 is National Battery Day. Check out the other weird February holidays!
History of National Battery Day
This is a holiday everyone should celebrate, as it’s almost impossible to find someone who hasn’t benefited from a battery in their daily lives. From your car battery to your phone battery to the TV remote, batteries are everywhere.
A battery works by changing chemical energy into electricity. Batteries that are small enough to fit in your pocket and be used on a daily basis have only been around in the last 50-60 years, but the concept has been around for much longer than that.
In 1936, a Parthian tomb that was about 2,000 years old was uncovered near Baghdad during the construction of a new railroad track. The items – including a clay pot that contained an iron rod encased by a copper cylinder – were stored in the basement of the Baghdad Museum. When the archaeologist and German painter Wilhelm Konig found the items years later, he called this clay pot the Baghdad Battery.
In 1748, Benjamin Franklin came up with the word “battery.” He used it to describe an array of charged glass plates that he thought reminded him of a battery of cannons.
The Italian scientist Alessandro Volta worked with chemicals in 1800 in order to create an electrical charge. He put silver, cloth, and paper soaked in salt, acid, and zinc into different layers that he called “voltaic piles” that created a small electrical current. The word “voltage” comes from his name and is used to describe the potential electricity.
This holiday is celebrated on February 18 because Volta was born on February 18 in 1745.
Two years after Volta’s piles, an English chemist named William Cruickshank designed a battery that was used for mass production, but they had problems with corrosion.
This issue was reduced significantly in 1820 by John Daniell when he invented the Daniell Cell, which used mercury to reduce the corrosion.
In 1896, the National Carbon Company manufactured the first commercially available battery, which was called the Columbia. They then invented the first D-sized battery for the first flashlight just two years later.
The Hamilton Watch Company created the first watch in 1957 that used a battery instead of winding to keep time.
Nowadays there are two types of batteries that are often confused: litium and alkaline batteries. Lithium batteries last longer, can be recharged, are less expensive, and are more durable than alkaline batteries.
Ideas for National Battery Day
Other than replacing all of the batteries in your house, here are some ways to celebrate today.
Pumpkin Battery
Did you know that you can use pumpkin and squash as batteries? Give it a try on National Battery Day!
Where to Recycle Household Goods
For National Battery Day, read this post about the best way to recycle your used and dead batteries.
How to Make a Clock with Driftwood
The invention of the battery for watches and clocks was a gamechanger. Learn how to make your own clock out of driftwood on National Battery Day with this tutorial!
Lemon Battery Science Experiment
The science behind how food can power a light bulb is really fascinating. Food has energy, and you can use National Battery Day as an excused to build a lemon battery!
Electric Play Dough
Making electric play dough is a really fun and easy science experiment to try out at home with your kids on National Battery Day. They can learn about circuits and electric currents, tinker with the materials and experiment whilst getting creative with their playdough.
Cricut Recycled Batteries Container
It’s important to recycle batteries and with this DIY recycled batteries container made using a Cricut on National Battery Day you can keep them organized and ready to be recycled.
Build A Potato Battery – a Circuit STEM Activity for the Science Fair
The process of building the potato battery is relatively simple but will involve some investigation and testing. Learn how to make one on National Battery Day!
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