The other night I was discussing different battery chemistries that are commonly available today with a friend via the local 2m repeater, and naturally LiFEPO4 came up. "Lithium-ion?" "No, lithium-iron." "Well what's the difference?" "About 3 times the price." That's the way a lot of these conversations go. OK, so say it with me, just to get everyone on the same page: "lithium iron phosphate." Lithium ion batteries are something else entirely.
Just then, the biologist-in-residence drifted through, pulled out his smartphone, and looked up the Wiki page. We were discussing the way that the one double bond is sort of shared among the four oxygens, in the usual can't-pin-it-down quantum mechanical way, when the friend on the other end of the 2m link said something about all this quantum indeterminacy making his head hurt. So here's a set of links to some PBS videos to help with the headache:
- The Quantum Experiment that Broke Reality (this has the most to do with "which oxygen?")
- How the Quantum Eraser Rewrites the Past (but only a little bit at a time, so don't worry)
- Quantum Entanglement and the Great Bohr-Einstein Debate (this is where it gets weird)
Really though, these are all very good videos, and they explain things as best as they can be explained without power lifting the math. Remember, Einstein struggled with this and ultimately got it wrong, so if it doesn't entirely make sense to you, you're still in very good company.
BTW, LiFePO4 batteries absolutely rock, especially when you have to carry them around. At 1/5 the weight of conventional lead-acid batteries, they will also significantly lighten your wallet.
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