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Episode Request: Understanding Alkaline battery recharging

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waoj:
Hi Dave,

Longtime viewer here from Kansas City, Kansas, USA (watch out for tornadoes!), and I've been curious about something for a while that I bet you understand a lot better than most.

How do alkaline battery chargers "recharge" non-rechargeabe batteries?

* What do the chargers actually do?
* Why do the batteries leak fluid?
* How and why does their capacity diminish when recharged?
* How does the energy cost of charging compare to the cost of new cells
* Why is it futile to recharge?(assuming it is)
I'm more or less wanting you to talk me out of trying to recharge them.   But I feel like my current understanding alone is not good enough to justify giving up.

I only buy lithium or nimh cells these days.  Are there strong arguments for buying alkaline and using an alkaline recharger?

I searched through your video archive and watched anything that sounded like it could be related, twice, over the last month before writing this.  You did some good observational research work on leaky cells at one point that showed results but didn't go into chemistry details.  If you think you have covered it before in this detail, sorry for missing it but I'd be grateful if you would point out the episode #.  You're the only person I can think of who I believe could understand this well enough to explain it!

-Billy Croan

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