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Safe and sustainable cities will depend on lithium-ion batteries to power our modern lives. But what are the costs?

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The Science of

Lithium-ion batteries in your favorite devices make our daily lives possible, but they also come with risks. Join the search for safer solutions.

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Safe and sustainable cities will depend on lithium-ion batteries to power our modern lives. But what are the costs?

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Overview

With the Science of Extraction to E-Waste, students will: 

  • Understand trade-offs we make as we become more reliant on lithium-ion batteries
  • Learn what supply chains are and how they connect to the technology we use in our daily lives
  • Consider impacts of lithium-ion battery supply chains at a local and global level
  • Explore solutions to the growing epidemic of e-waste
  • Ideate ways to make their communities safer and more sustainable

This pathway can be completed in 1-2 class periods.

Relevant NGSS Standards
  • Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
  • Earth and Human Activity
  • Engineering Design
  • Matter and its Interactions
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The Science of

Extraction to E-Waste

The pathway is broken down into 7 main sections.

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1
Introduction

Take the journey of a lithium-ion battery, like the one in your phone, from extraction to e-waste to understand what the risks are and what we can do about them.

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2
Extraction

The mobile phone in your pocket is powered by a small, light-weight, powerful lithium-ion battery containing natural minerals that are extracted, or mined. Follow the global journey for five of these minerals to see the critical role they play in the development of the battery.

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3
Manufacturing

Small, lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries power the mobile phones in our pockets. Those batteries are made of materials that were once natural resources. What knowledge, skills, processes, and machinery do you think are used by the professionals who make batteries?

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4
Transportation

After lithium-ion pouch cells are made, they are packaged up for the next part of the supply chain: transportation.

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5
Use

At this point in the supply chain, the mobile phone and battery have made their way to the end user: you!

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6
Disposal

Mobile phones and their batteries are one of the fastest growing categories of e-waste. Let’s see what happens when you dispose of your phone.

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7
Solutions

Lithium-ion batteries power our lives, but they present us with both benefits and drawbacks. We have the power to evaluate the trade-offs and contribute to solutions that reduce those drawbacks.

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In-class Resources

This topic includes stand-alone resources that can be used on their own or in combination with each other.

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