What lasts longer rechargeable batteries or regular batteries ?
5-7058
Fifth Grade
Nativity Catholic School
2024 San Mateo County Office of Education STEM Fair
Abstract
By testing regular and rechargeable batteries, I want to see if my hypothesis is correct: that regular batteries are better than rechargeable batteries. My hypothesis is based on my experience with old rechargeable batteries that we have at home that don’t last very long and take very long to charge. If modern rechargeable batteries are comparable to regular batteries, I hope my research will help people switch to rechargeable batteries which are better for the environment because they are reusable over many years. My independent variable are the 4 new types of batteries that I use. My battery types are Energizer Alkaline batteries, Duracell Alkaline batteries, Rechargeable Energizer NiMH batteries, and Rechargeable Duracell NiMH batteries. My dependent variable is how long the batteries last. The battery life length is measured using a stopwatch. My control variable is how much energy my batteries have. The battery voltage is measured with an electric multimeter. My goal is to investigate how different batteries perform when powering the same devices under the same extreme conditions. My experiment showed me that regular batteries lasted longer than rechargeable batteries. I think happened because my rechargeable batteries heated up and that heat drained them faster. When my rechargeable batteries did not heat up so much, they lasted longer and almost as long as the regular batteries. In the end my experiment helped me see that switching to rechargeable batteries can help save the environment since rechargeable batteries can give us the power we need as long as we don’t push them to their limits.
Purpose Statement
I want to do this project because I want to help the environment. Through my project I want to see if rechargeable batteries are as powerful as regular batteries. The information that I get from the project will help others because it will help them see how regular and rechargeable batteries have improved. If the batteries are similar, more people can be convinced to switch to rechargeable batteries to help the environment.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that regular batteries last longer than rechargeable batteries. I think regular batteries last longer because they have been around for a long time and continue to get improved. In my experience, I have used regular batteries and they usually last very long. When I used old rechargeable batteries that we had at my home, my electronics usually don’t last very long. The rechargeable batteries that I used in the past also took very long to charge.
Experimental Procedures and
Materials
Materials are 4 battery powered radios, 4 flashlights, new packs of Energizer, Energizer Recharge, Duracell, Duracell Recharge batteries, a commercial electric voltage tester, and a stopwatch.
Flashlight Test�1. Fully charge the rechargeable batteries, 2. Get 4 of the same flashlights and label them with battery type (E Rech, E Reg, D Rech, D Reg) 3. Use the multimeter to test all the batteries, 4. Set the stopwatch and turn on all the flashlights in the highest setting at the same time 5. Monitor for complete loss of power and test voltage as batteries die off or at end of the experiment.
Radio Test:�1. Fully charge the rechargeable batteries 2. Get 4 of the same radios and label them with battery type (E Rech, E Reg, D Rech, D Reg) 3. Use the multimeter to test all the batteries 4. Set stopwatch and turn the radios on at the same time, station and volume, 5. Monitor and test voltage as batteries die off or at end of the experiment.
Experimental Results
Regular Energizer Alkaline Battery Flashlight Test: The 4 triple A energizer batteries stopped operating the flashlight after 120 hours or 5 days. The starting voltage of 1.61 volts and final average voltage was .902. The batteries lasted very long and dot feel warm at the end of the experiment.
Experimental Results
Rechargeable Energizer NiMH Battery Flashlight Test: The 4 triple A rechargeable Energizer batteries stopped operating the flashlight after 5 hours and 47 minutes. The initial voltage was 1.4 volts and the final voltage averaged .85 volts. The batteries felt really warm to the touch.
Experimental Results
Regular Duracell Coppertop Alkaline Battery Flashlight Test: The 4 regular triple A Duracell batteries stopped operating the flashlight after 102 hours and 35 minutes or 4 days 6 hours and 35 minutes. The regular Duracell batteries had a starting voltage of 1.66 and a final average voltage of .90 volts. These batteries lasted very long and did not feel warm.
Experimental Results
Rechargeable Duracell NiMH Battery Flashlight Test: The 4 triple A rechargeable Duracell batteries stopped operating the flashlight after 5 hours and 3 minutes. The starting voltage for these batteries was 1.45 volts and averaged .84 volts. These batteries also felt very warm.
Experimental Results
Regular Energizer Alkaline Battery Radio Test: The 2 double A energizer batteries stopped operating the radio after 14 hours and 5 minutes. The starting voltage was 1.62 volts and the final voltage average voltage averaged .931. They lasted very long. Batteries felt normal.
Experimental Results
Rechargeable Energizer NiMH Battery Radio Test: The 2 double A rechargeable Energizer batteries stopped operating the radio at 10 hours. The initial voltage was 1.264 volts and average final voltage was .852 volts. The batteries felt a little warm.
Experimental Results
Regular Duracell Coppertop Alkaline Battery Radio Test: The 2 regular double A Duracell batteries stopped operating the radio after 12 hours and 30 minutes. The regular Duracell batteries had a starting voltage of 1.66 and average final voltage of .938 volts. These lasted very long and the batteries felt regular.
Experimental Results
Radio Rechargeable Duracell NiMH Battery Flashlight Test: The 2 double A rechargeable Duracell batteries stopped operating the radio after 9 hours. The starting voltage for these batteries was 1.45 volts and average final voltage of .848 volts. The batteries felt a little warm.
Analysis of Experimental
Results
Experiment Analysis:
In my experiment, the regular batteries did better then the rechargeable batteries. My experiment tested these batteries as they powered my flashlights and my radios at their highest settings. One very important observation was that the rechargeable batteries heated up while the regular batteries didn’t heat up or heated up only slightly. During my research I found that the Energizer and Duracell websites said that battery temperature can significantly affect the battery life. I think that running my flashlights in the highest setting overheated the rechargeable batteries and made them lose their power really fast. In my radios, the rechargeable batteries did not heat up as much and almost lasted as long as the regular batteries. I think this helped the regular batteries to do better.
Analysis of Experimental
Results
It was really interesting to discover how battery temperature affects the life of regular and rechargeable batteries. Before starting my research, I thought that the batteries could be very similar. Even though my experiment proved my hypothesis, I still think that the batteries could have similar battery life if the conditions were different. I believe that if I tested my devices in normal conditions, this could have prevented the rechargeable batteries from warming up and draining so fast. My radio experiment helped me see that the rechargeable batteries that heated up only a little, had a battery life like closer to regular batteries. I think this was because the radios were not strong enough to push the batteries to their limit. This makes me think that, under normal conditions, the rechargeable batteries will have similar or better battery life than regular batteries.
Conclusions
Using regular and rechargeable batteries in my experiment helped me see that rechargeable batteries still need some improvements but are better for the environment. At the end of my experiment I was left with a stack of batteries. Half of those batteries were thrown out and the other half will be reused. My experiment helped me see that recharging batteries (when they don’t heat up) can compare to regular batteries. When they drain, they can be recharged and ready to reuse in 1 hour. I also learned that some of these batteries can last up to 5 years and charged hundreds of times. I think that using my new rechargeable batteries in normal conditions will give me the power I need and keep more batteries out of our landfills.
Acknowledgements
There is 2 people that I would like to acknowledge that helped me and they are my parents.
Bibliography and
Sources
Bibliography and
Sources
5. Christenson, Victoria. 2017. It’s a book. How batteries work