Smartphones have never been more crucial as they are today. The world today is even more dependent on these pieces of unbelievable technology that enabled us to do so many things that we couldn't even think of doing seven and a half years ago. I know what you're thinking, "What a number has Arnesh chosen! Can't he choose ten or five years or something? And you would be right.", but taking care of this 'piece of evolutionary technology' is overlooked many times.
Introduction
Let's start with your smartphone's charging. Well, what could go wrong there? You have to plug your phone into the charger. Then the phone charges and what could go wrong here? Sounds good right? Nope. But, to explain this clearly, let's first learn how this charging mechanism works.
How do our phones charge?
The batteries have two ends, the negative and the positive. When a battery is at full capacity, there are a lot of free electrons in the negative end and fewer on the positive end. Seeing this, the electrons (-ve) start moving towards the positive end. The batteries have two ends, the negative and the positive. When a battery is at full capacity, there are a lot of free electrons in the negative end and fewer on the positive end. When we put our phone on the charge we connect the ends of the battery to the two small prongs in the charge. This causes the electrons (-ve) to start moving from the negative to the positive end. Electrical energy is harnessed from the electrons and the smartphone powers itself. The energy is available until all the electrons travel to the positive end. That's when you run out of charge. Now that we have run out of charge, we use a charger to bring the electrons back to their original position only to start the cycle again.
So, what is wrong here?
When the electrons are back in the positive end of the battery and at the same time the charger continues to be turned on. Resistance is created in the movement of the electrons, causing the total capacity of the battery to reduce overtime. This is what we call in lay man's terms, 'overcharging'. Nowadays, we have fast chargers, that have excess power to make the electrons move faster. But, due to this excess power, heat is also generated along with the electricity, causing battery capacity degradation. When all the electrons are back in the negative end caused by the electricity from the charger, an imbalance is created because there are just too many electrons over the positive ions in the negative end. This imbalance causes battery capacity degradation as well.
So, what's the way out then?
The batteries must degrade over time, that's a fact. But, how quickly they degrade, that's on us. Here are some tips that you can follow:
Don't charge your phone overnight.
Remove your phone from the charger when the battery is filled to somewhere above 90% to prevent overcharging.
Some high-end (flagship) smartphones have some features to prevent battery degradation, but most are just software gimmicks and nothing else.
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