← Back to course
Inside the Machine G3 to G5 / Week 06 / Tuesday
2/6
Week 06 · Power and heat

Tuesday

Batteries and charging
// From the wall to the warm little fan
⏱ about 15 min

Tuesday: Batteries and charging

Rocket holds up a tablet with a red battery symbol. "The neighbor says it dies before lunch every day," he says. "It used to last all afternoon."

Raven taps the settings page. "What do you notice? The battery is three years old, and it charges every night."

Nova dims a little. "Would you like a hint? A battery is like a sponge. Squeeze it thousands of times and it holds a little less."

A battery stores energy

A battery stores energy inside. When the device needs electricity, the battery lets it flow out.

Charging pushes energy back in. The charger does this slowly, over an hour or more.

A battery symbol or a percent shows how full it is. One hundred percent means full. Zero means empty.

Most batteries today can be charged many hundreds of times. Slowly, over years, they hold a little less.

  • Checking the charge level is a fix a kid may do.
  • Plugging in the charger is a grown-up job.
  • A kid never opens, swaps, bends or pokes a battery.
  • A battery that is very hot, swollen or leaking is a grown-up emergency. Step back and tell someone.
BATTERY BASICS
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What does a battery do?
A tablet shows 15 percent. What does that mean?
Which of these may a kid do?

Why an old battery runs out faster

Every charge wears a battery a tiny bit. After years of daily charging, it holds less.

The tablet in the bay still works. It just needs charging more often.

A grown-up can decide what to do next. Sometimes a battery can be replaced by a repair shop.

A kid can help by closing apps that are not in use. Running apps use up charge faster.

StatementTrue or false?
Charging pushes energy back into a battery.?
A battery holds more after years of charging.?
A kid may swap a battery if it is small.?
Closing unused apps helps a battery last longer.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEBatteries wear slowly, and that is normal. Kids help by noticing and closing apps, not by touching batteries.
What word describes how full a battery is, shown as a number out of 100?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe percent tells you how much energy is left. Reading it is a safe, useful check.
PUT THE FAST-DRAINING TABLET CASE IN ORDER
  • ?Notice the tablet runs out before lunch
  • ?Tell a grown-up what you found
  • ?Test: does the charge last longer today?
  • ?Close apps that are not in use
  • ?Look at the charge percent and the battery age
WHY THIS EXERCISEA kid can gather clues and try one safe thing. A grown-up decides about the battery itself.
Try it
Pretend a cup of water is a battery. Full means one hundred percent.
Each time you pretend to use the tablet, pour a little out.
How many uses until it is empty? What does charging do to the cup?
Safety first
Batteries are grown-up only. Never open, swap, bend or poke one.
A hot, swollen or leaking battery is an emergency. Step back and tell a grown-up.
Keep batteries and chargers away from water and from pets.
For a grown-up
Show the battery settings page together. Point out the percent and any battery health number.
Talk about why the charger stays with grown-ups.
A battery stores
Pushing energy back into a battery is called
A battery that is very hot or swollen is a grown-up

Nice work! You can read a battery and know what is normal. Tomorrow you will find out why a hard-working device gets warm.

← Monday