Streamyx

100,000,000 iPod owners and counting! A remarkable tribute to Apple's iPod music player - no question! I wonder how many of these iPod owners know how their iPod battery works. Understandably most people don't really care as long as it does. However I am interested and I'm sure there are others out there as well who want to know how their iPod battery actually delivers power to their iPod.

Most people would never realize how complex an iPod battery is nor would they realize how many components can be found within their iPod battery. For starters your iPod battery is made up of highly specialized battery components including:

• iPod battery connector
• iPod battery fuse
• iPod battery charge and discharge FETs
• iPod battery cell pack
• iPod battery sense resistor
• iPod battery primary and secondary protection ICs
• iPod battery fuel-gauge IC
• iPod battery thermistor
• iPod battery pc board

These components together allow your iPod battery to function so that you can listen to music while doing the various activities of your day. Before we can delve deep into each of these ipod battery components I want to make sure that we understand that these components together work in an effort to produce electrical current to supply to the iPod.

iPods require electrical power in order to function. iPods?draw electrical current on demand from your iPod battery. However your iPod battery is not a storage house of electrical energy but instead your iPod battery is your iPods internal electrical factory?that creates electrical energy through a process known as an electrochemical energy conversion and subsequently your iPod battery delivers electrical current to your iPod. The electrochemical energy conversion is a process of replenishing of electrons and it is this electron replenishment that causes the chemical conversion to take place and create the electrical energy byproduct. To understand electrochemical conversion lets see how electricity is created in the first place.

Electricity is a property of subatomic particles which couples to electromagnetic fields and causes attractive and repulsive forces between them. This repulsive force between the subatomic particles creates an electric current; the flow of electric charge transports energy from one atom to another. Electrical current is measured in amperes, where 1 ampere is the flow of 62,000,000,000,000,000,000 electrons per second!

Inside your iPod battery engineers have designed a constant state of disequilibrium, which cause a continuous flow of electrons. When electrons move between the atoms (atoms are made up of particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons) a current or flow of electricity is created. But how is this current of electricity created to begin with? This comes back to our electrochemical conversion. In order to create electrical energy (or a constant state of disequilibrium, which cause a continuous flow of electrons) there must be an electrochemical system which includes the electrodes and the electrolyte housed within your battery. Electrons flow from one electrode to another and the electron flow is conducted by an electrolyte. In ipod batteries for example an electrochemical system can be comprised of the electrodes consisting of Carbon/Graphite for the negative electrode and Lithium cobaltite for the positive electrode. Between these electrodes is an electrolye which can be a highly conductive solution consisting of lithium hexafluorophosphate. The electrolyte solution is a chemical compound that when dissolved in a solvent (i.e. water) forms a solution that becomes an ionic conductor of electricity. Hence the electrochemical conversion!

Once the electrochemical conversion begins then the balance of the ipod batterys specialized hardware components I mentioned above can be put to work transferring and monitoring the iPod battery and the iPod ?all for the sole purpose of delivering power to your iPod.

Dan Hagopian
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included with link. Dan Hagopian of http://www.batteryship.com is a known electronics author that specializes in portable power gadgets. His work can be found on the BatteryShip blog at http://www.batteryeducation.com He frequently writes about pda batteries, ipod batteries, general battery technology for our mobile world, new fuel cell technology and interesting power related inventions. For further information please visit http://www.batteryship.com where you can also find PDA battery replacement kits, smartphone batteries, twoway radio batteries, barcode scanner batteries, camera batteries, and camcorder batteries.

The WiMax craze is not over, but the train has certainly slowed a bit. The difference between what was expected and when it finally arrives has tempered some enthusiasm amongst Wisp afficiandos. Just what will we see... and when?

Some of the advertising for WiMax promised we'd all be delivering internet, tv, phone, running water, nicely done toast, etc to 300 customers per AP... all while driving 250mph in their Porsche's. So far it's not there yet and some wonder if it really even makes sense for the average rural Wisp. The current lineup of 802.11 gear has it's issues when used outdoors like Wisp's do, but the low cost and good compatibility between suppliers has allowed many Wisps to turn a profit (finally). Most aren't excited at all about spending lots more for equipment that solves problems that they really don't have. Not everyone is rural, but with low population densities it really doesn't pay to do much more than internet. Maybe some VoIP, but the investment for other services is hard to make work with too few possible customers.

So, what do Wisps really want? Personally, I'd think they'd like to not make their investment in equipment worth zero really quick, so it would be great if whatever comes next is compatible with some of the current hardware (8186, etc). Also, the idea of having more customers per application is great, but everyone has their own poling design. Also, better and more stable links with better NLOS capability are things Wisps can all use. Part of what makes the Wisp thing work is low cost equipment... and low cost equipment happens when there is decent competition and a standard to design to.

I doubt it will be backwards compatible. For years manufactures of Wimax were going back and forth arguing over "who's" standard to use. To this date everyone is still scratching their head to see who's they plan to use!

Wisps build out networks on todays equipment. That's just reality. They are not going to wait around for the magic bullet that will never appear... and if it does will not be anywhere near what they claim.

Generally, as a Wisp you have to look at what the needs are in your specific area and go from there. For example 802.11 b /g "stuff" will only take you so far. If you ask, I am sure every Wisp has started with it in one form or another... and expanded from there due to the needs of the environment and or client.

In all honesty, what you buy today will still be good a couple years down the road. And if you lay out your business plan correctly it will all be paid for... and you will be turning a profit by the time any new stuff comes out that you may need based on your client's needs. Then again... maybe you will be happy for the next 5-6 years with what you have now.

The moral of the story? Change is not always bad... but beware what you ask for. In the meantime keep truckin' with what you have. That may be all there is for awhile.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications....including DS3-Bandwidth.com and Business-VoIP-Solution.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you're always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.