A group of scientists headed up by Washington State chemistry professor Choong-Shik Yoo have created the most powerful battery known to man. Yo describes it as the "most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy," only this battery won't give your goldfish a third eye. And not only is it incredibly cool to imagine how long this could power your flashlight for, the process through which it was made it equally deserving of drool-infused awe.
The material of the battery is a white crystal, xenon diflouride (XeF2). And for the battery to be created, this crystal needs to be put under a lot of pressure. And we're not talking strongest man in the world squeezing it pressure (though that would be an awesome way to make batteries), we're talking halfway to the center of the planet pressure. Enough to squeeze Magnus into a Wall-E sized cube. This pressure is applied with diamond anvils. Diamonds!
Read on...
