Your phone utters its final plaintive "bleep"

你的手機發出最後一聲平淡的"嗶嗶聲&quot。

and cuts out in the middle of your call.

並在你的電話中切斷了。

In that moment, you may feel more like throwing your battery across the room

在那一刻，你可能會覺得更想把電池扔到對面去

than singing its praises,

比歌頌它。

but batteries are a triumph of science.

但電池是科學的勝利。

They allow smartphones and other technologies to exist

它們允許智能手機和其他技術存在

without anchoring us to an infernal tangle of power cables.

而不需要把我們固定在無盡的電線上。

Yet even the best batteries will diminish daily,

然而，即使是最好的電池也會日漸減少。

slowly losing capacity until they finally die.

慢慢失去能力，直到最後死亡。

So why does this happen,

那麼為什麼會出現這種情況。

and how do our batteries even store so much charge in the first place?

而我們的電池又是如何首先儲存這麼多電荷的呢？

It all started in the 1780s with two Italian scientists,

這一切都始於1780年代的兩位意大利科學家。

Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta,

Luigi Galvani和Alessandro Volta,

and a frog.

和一隻青蛙。

Legend has it that as Galvani was studying a frog's leg,

傳說，當加爾瓦尼在研究一隻青蛙'的腿時。

he brushed a metal instrument up against one of its nerves,

他用一個金屬儀器抵住了它的一根神經。

making the leg muscles jerk.

使得腿部肌肉抽搐。

Galvani called this animal electricity,

加爾瓦尼稱這種動物為電。

believing that a type of electricity was stored in the very stuff of life.

相信一種電是儲存在生命之物中的。

But Volta disagreed,

但沃爾塔不同意。

arguing that it was the metal itself that made the leg twitch.

辯稱是金屬本身讓腿部抽搐。

The debate was eventually settled with Volta's groundbreaking experiment.

這場爭論最終以沃爾塔'的突破性實驗而得到解決。

He tested his idea with a stack of alternating layers of zinc and copper,

他用一疊交替的鋅和銅層來測試他的想法。

separated by paper or cloth soaked in a salt water solution.

用紙或布浸泡在鹽水溶液中分離。

What happened in Volta's cell is something chemists now call oxidation and reduction.

Volta'的細胞中發生的是化學家們現在所說的氧化和還原。

The zinc oxidizes, which means it loses electrons,

鋅會氧化，也就是失去電子。

which are, in turn, gained by the ions in the water in a process called reduction,

而這些物質又被水中的離子在一個叫做還原的過程中獲得。

producing hydrogen gas.

生產氫氣。

Volta would have been shocked to learn that last bit.

沃爾塔如果知道最後一點，一定會很震驚。

He thought the reaction was happening in the copper,

他認為反應發生在銅裡。

rather than the solution.

而不是溶液。

None the less, we honor Volta's discovery today

儘管如此，我們今天對沃爾塔的發現表示敬意。

by naming our standard unit of electric potential "the volt."

命名我們的電動勢標準單位"伏特&quot。

This oxidation-reduction cycle creates a flow of electrons between two substances

這種氧化-還原循環在兩種物質之間形成電子流。

and if you hook a lightbulb or vacuum cleaner up between the two,

如果你把燈泡或吸塵器掛在兩者之間。

you'll give it power.

你'會給它力量。

Since the 1700s, scientists have improved on Volta's design.

自17世紀以來，科學家們對沃爾塔的設計進行了改進。

They've replaced the chemical solution with dry cells filled with chemical paste,

他們'已經用填充有化學漿料的乾燥細胞代替了化學溶液。

but the principle is the same.

但原理是一樣的。

A metal oxidizes, sending electrons to do some work

金屬氧化，送出電子來做一些工作

before they are regained by a substance being reduced.

在它們被減少的物質重新獲得之前。

But any battery has a finite supply of metal,

但任何電池的金屬供應量都是有限的。

and once most of it has oxidized, the battery dies.

而一旦大部分氧化了，電池就會失效。

So rechargeable batteries give us a temporary solution to this problem

所以充電電池給我們暫時解決了這個問題

by making the oxidation-reduction process reversible.

通過使氧化-還原過程可逆。

Electrons can flow back in the opposite direction

電子可以向相反的方向迴流。

with the application of electricity.

隨著電力的應用。

Plugging in a charger draws the electricity from a wall outlet

插上充電器從牆上的插座中取電。

that drives the reaction to regenerate the metal,

促使該反應再生金屬。

making more electrons available for oxidation the next time you need them.

使更多的電子在下次需要的時候可以用於氧化。

But even rechargeable batteries don't last forever.

但即使是充電電池也不會永遠持續下去。

Over time, the repetition of this process causes imperfections

隨著時間的推移，這一過程的重複會導致不完美的情況發生

and irregularities in the metal's surface that prevent it from oxidizing properly.

和金屬表面的不規則，使其無法正常氧化。

The electrons are no longer available to flow through a circuit

電子已經不能在電路中流動。

and the battery dies.

而電池沒電了。

Some everyday rechargeable batteries

一些日常充電電池

will die after only hundreds of discharge-recharge cycles,

只需經過數百次的放電-充電循環就會死機。

while newer, advanced batteries can survive and function for thousands.

而較新的、先進的電池則可以存活下來，並可運行數千次。

Batteries of the future may be light, thin sheets

未來的電池可能是輕薄的薄片。

that operate on the principles of quantum physics

運作的量子物理學的原理的

and last for hundreds of thousands of charge cycles.

並可持續幾十萬次充電週期。

But until scientists find a way to take advantage of motion

但是，在科學家們找到利用運動的方法之前。

to recharge your cell battery, like cars do,

來給你的電池充電，就像汽車一樣。

or fit solar panels somewhere on your device,

或在你的設備上某處安裝太陽能電池板。

plugging your charger into the wall,

將充電器插入牆壁。

rather than expending one battery to charge another

而不是用一個電池去給另一個電池充電

is your best bet to forestall that fatal "bleep."

是你防止致命的最佳選擇。