
Oxford has an electric bell that's been ringing for 173 years - nkoren
http://io9.com/oxford-has-a-bell-thats-been-ringing-for-173-years-486147066
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mey
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Electric_Bell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Electric_Bell)

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Someone
2Hz for 140 years? At PI seconds in a nanocentury, that's over 8 billion hits
of those bells
([http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/history.asp?page=exhibit1](http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/history.asp?page=exhibit1)
claims ten billion)

Given that each hit produces a sound, it should be possible to estimate a
lower bound for the energy loss at each ring of a bell, and from that, a lower
bound on the amount of energy output by each battery so far. Anyone dare make
a guess what amount of power each hit of a bell takes?

Also, this thing seems to operate in air. Air resistance will make some
contribution, but movement of the sphere seems to be minimal.

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gus_massa
Perhaps they can use gamma-ray tomography to see the internal structure of the
battery without opening it:
[http://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=12301&pNid=240](http://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=12301&pNid=240)
I don't know if it can be modified to distinguish the materials.

~~~
Someone
Gamma rays are ionizing. Couldn't that cause problems, discharging the
batteries faster (see e.g.
[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=641274...](http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6412744&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6412744)
for an indication that there will be some effect)?

I also don't know how large such a tomograph is. It might just be impractical
to move it (or can these bells be moved?)

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jv22222
A video of the oxford bell:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dx1-f8xQio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dx1-f8xQio)

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speeder
I wonder how much people can hear it...

I saw some people claiming you cannot hear it on the article comments and
linking to youtube video, but I can...

But I can hear other things as well, so I am not surprised (for example I
absolutely hate being left alone with certain models of ultrasound machines, I
dunno what they do, but when they are idling, I can hear them... When someone
is actually using the ultrasound, then the sound stops...)

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incision
I've had a similar experience with certain laptops - an electronic squealing
sound that apparently only I can hear. As best I can tell, the sound comes
from an inverter connected to the displays.

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kryten
It's usually one of two things:

1/ An electromagnetic/mechanical effect in the transformer in the inverter.
You can usually stop it by carefully undoing the tape around the transformer
and giving it a squeeze.

2/ The audio system is routed next to a bus somewhere and it is just plain old
noise being pumped out of the speakers.

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BaconJuice
This is very interesting! I wonder if I can get the same battery in my Android
phone so it can last longer.

~~~
jlgreco
The makeup of the batteries is unknown, but they are most likely just Zamboni
piles. There is probably nothing impressive about the batteries themselves,
the longevity of the experiment owes itself to the extremely low power draw of
the apparatus.

~~~
wtallis
I'd say the self-discharge rate of these batteries is impressive compared to
any of the commonly-used battery types on the market today. Of course, they
deliver so little current that they're unusable for most purposes, but the
shelf life is amazing.

