Newsgroups: sci.electronics Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Panasonic speakerphone forbids alkaline batteries Message-ID: <1990Jul6.034230.17946@zoo.toronto.edu> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <840@sagpd1.UUCP> <9382@pogo.WV.TEK.COM> Date: Fri, 6 Jul 90 03:42:30 GMT In article jac@paul.rutgers.edu (Jonathan A. Chandross) writes: >I have had alkaline batteries leak and ruin equipment. Carbon-zinc batteries >are DRY cells; take one apart and you'll find a black, tarry, very solid >mixture. No how, no way is this going to leak... Unfortunately, it can and does. "Dry" cells are dry in comparison to "wet" cells, which have sulfuric acid slopping around in them. The electrolyte in dry cells is still mobile enough to leak; they can and do leak. Alkalines can too, at the end of their lives (I too have seen it happen), but it is less likely and the lives are longer in the first place. -- "Either NFS must be scrapped or NFS | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology must be changed." -John K. Ousterhout | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry