MINIATURE LAMP burns for about a minute as this simple storage battery discharges.
By Carleton J. Lynde, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus of Physics, Columbia University
Y OU can easily make a small storage
battery that will light a 1-1/2-volt
lamp, ring a bell or run a toy motor—
and you can do it with safe, easy-to-find,
inexpensive materials. All that's re-
quired is a small amount of sheet lead,
a few tacks, a strip of wood, a short
length of wire, two dry cells and a
tumbler or beaker of water.
Your first step is to cut the sheet lead
into two 4xl-1/2-inch strips. Then take a
4xlx1/2-inch strip of wood and tack the
lead strips on opposite sides as shown in
one of the photographs. Put one tack in
each side first. The second tack on each
side is used as a terminal for a nine-
inch length of wire, so wrap the end of
the wire under the head of the tack be-
fore you drive it in. Next dissolve a
heaping tablespoonf ul of baking soda in
a tumbler of hot water and lay the
wooden strip across the top so that the
lead strips are in the solution.
To charge your battery, you must
106
connect the two nine-inch wires for five
minutes to two 1-1/2-volt dry cells joined
in series. The last photograph shows
how the wires are connected to accom-
plish this. When the five minutes are up,
disconnect the wires from the dry cells
and connect them to the terminals of a
light, bell or toy motor. Your storage
battery will operate any of them for
about a minute.
Here is what happens: Originally,
each strip of lead has a gray coating of
lead oxide (PbO) which is formed natu-
rally from contact with the air. When
the strips are connected to the batteries,
one is connected to a plus terminal and
the other is connected to a negative
terminal; thus one is a positive strip and
the other is a negative strip. The direct
current from the batteries causes oxy-
gen to be deposited on the positive strip
and hydrogen to be deposited on the
negative strip. The hydrogen combines
with the oxygen on the negative strip
Mechanix Illustrated
 and takes it away, leaving lead (Pb).
The oxygen combines with the oxy-
gen on the positive strip and stays,
making it lead peroxide (PbO,).
Therefore, one strip is lead and the
other is lead peroxide and your stor-
age battery is fully charged.
When you disconnect the wires
from the dry cells and connect them
to a lamp, bell or motor, your storage
battery starts to discharge and the
direction of the current, or the flow of
the hydrogen and oxygen, is re-
versed. Then the hydrogen causes the
lead peroxide (PbO2) to change to
lead oxide (PbO) and the oxygen
changes the lead (Pb) to lead oxide
(PbO). Thus both strips are once
again lead oxide and your storage
battery is fully discharged. You can
repeat the process by recharging the
storage battery with the dry cells.
Naturally, with larger plates, you can
draw more current. •

SHEET LEAD is cut into strips. It has a TACKS secure strips of lead to wood. A
naturally acquired coating of lead oxide. wire extends from one tack on each side.

BAKING SODA is dissolved in a beaker CHARGE the battery by connecting the

of hot water before immersing the lead. wires to two dry cells wired in series.

July, 1959 107