battery Any of a class of devices, consisting of a group of electro¬ chemical cells (see electrochemistry), that convert chemical energy into electrical energy; the term is also commonly applied to a single cell of this kind. A wet cell (e.g., a car battery) contains free liquid electrolyte; in a dry cell (e.g., a flashlight battery) the electrolyte is held in an absor¬ bent material. Chemicals are arranged so that electrons released from the battery’s negative electrode flow (see electric current) through a circuit outside the battery (in the device powered by it) to the battery’s positive electrode. The battery’s voltage depends on the chemicals used and the number of cells (in series); the current depends on the resistance in the total circuit (including the battery—and thus on electrode size). Multiple batteries may be connected in series (the positive electrode of one to the negative electrode of the next), which increases total voltage, or in par¬ allel (positive to positive and negative to negative), which increases total current. Batteries that are not rechargeable include standard dry cells used in flashlights and certain wet cells for marine, mine, highway, and mili¬ tary use. Car batteries, many kinds of dry cells used in cordless appli¬ ances, and batteries for certain military and aerospace uses may be recharged repeatedly. See illustration on opposite page.
battery See assault and battery
battlement Parapet (portion above the roof) of the exterior wall of a fortification, consisting of alternating low portions (crenels) and high por-
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battleship ► Baudrillard I 179
tions (merlons). Rooftop defenders would shoot from behind the merlons during times of siege. Medieval battlements were often bracketed out (see corbel) to form a machicolation (overhang) with holes in its floor through which objects could be dropped on encroachers below.
battleship Capital ship of the world’s navies from c. 1860, when it began to replace the wooden-hulled ship of the line, until World War II, when it was superseded by the aircraft carrier. It combined large size, powerful guns, and heavy armour with fairly high speed and great cruis¬ ing radius. The most powerful could hit targets at a range of more than 20 mi (30 km) and absorb heavy damage while remaining afloat and con¬ tinuing to fight. It originated in early ironclad vessels with mixed sail and steam propulsion, such as the French armoured frigate Gloire (1859). In 1906 HMS Dreadnought revolutionized battleship design by introducing steam-turbine propulsion and an array of ten 12-in. (305-mm) guns. In World War II (1939^15) battleships were used mainly for specialized tasks such as bombarding enemy coastal defenses in amphibious warfare. After the Persian Gulf War (1990—91), the U.S. decommissioned its last two active battleships.
Batu \'ba-tu\ (d. c. 1255, Russia) Grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Golden Horde. In 1235 Batu was elected commander in chief of
carbon - anode
metal — cathode
sodium -
sulfur—
alumina
anode
sodium alumina sulfur
The sodium-sulfur (NaS) battery, patented in 1965 by the Ford Motor Company, has been used in some electric cars. During discharge, the sodium reacts with the ceramic alumina electrolyte, losing electrons, which travel out the anode to the cir¬ cuit the battery is powering. The ionic sodium then combines with sulfur, which has acquired electrons from the cathode. The reaction is reversible, so the battery can be recharged. The advantage of this battery over other rechargeables (e.g., lead- acid, nickel-cadmium, or nickel-metal hydride batteries) is that it can provide the same amount of power with a smaller, lighter battery. However, since the chemicals must be heated to a molten state (about 325 °C, or 617 °F) and pure sodium is very reactive, failure of the battery casing or ceramic electrolyte is potentially dan¬ gerous.
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the western part of the Mongol empire and given responsibility for the invasion of Europe. His troops burned and sacked Kiev in 1240, and by the end of 1241 he had conquered Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and the Danube valley. Only the death of Ogodei prevented him from invading western Europe. Batu established the state of the Golden Horde in southern Russia, which was ruled by his successors for the next 200 years.
Baudelaire \bod-'ler\, Charles (-Pierre) (b. April 9, 1821, Paris, France—d. Aug. 31, 1867, Paris)
French poet. While a law student he became addicted to opium and hash¬ ish and contracted syphilis. His early reckless spending on fine clothes and furnishings led to a life dogged by debt. In 1844 he formed an associa¬ tion with Jeanne Duval, a woman of mixed black and white ancestry who inspired some of his finest poetry. He published a single novel, La fan- farlo, in 1847. His discovery of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in 1852 led to years of work on Poe, which pro¬ duced many masterly translations and critical articles. His reputation rests primarily on the extraordinary poetry collection Les fleurs du mal (1857; The Flowers of Evil), which dealt with erotic, aesthetic, and social themes in ways that appalled many of his middle-class readers, and he was accused of obscenity and blasphemy. Though the title became a byword for depravity, the book became perhaps the most influential collection of lyrics published in Europe in the 19th century. His Petits poemes en prose (1868) was an important and innovative experiment in prose poetry. He also wrote pro¬ vocative essays in art criticism. Baudelaire’s later years were darkened by disillusionment, despair, and mounting debt; his death at 46 resulted from syphilis. He is regarded as the earliest and finest poet of modernism in French.
Baudot \bo-'do\, (Jean Maurice) Emile (b. 1845, Magneux, France—d. March 28, 1903, Sceaux) French engineer. In 1874 he pat¬ ented a telegraph code that by the mid 20th century had supplanted Morse code as the standard telegraphic alphabet. In Baudot’s code, each letter is represented by a five-unit combination of current-on or current-off sig¬ nals of equal duration, providing 32 permutations (sufficient for the Roman alphabet, punctuation, and control of the machine’s mechanical functions). Baudot also invented (1894) a distributor system for multiplex (simultaneous) transmission of several messages on the same telegraphic circuit or channel. The baud, a unit of data transmission speed, is named for him.
Baudouin \bod-'waii\ I (b. Sept. 7, 1930, Stuyvenberg Castle, near Brussels, Belg.—d. July 31, 1993, Motril, Spain) King of the Belgians (1951-93). The son of King Leopold III, Baudouin lived with his family under house arrest in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. After postwar exile in Switzerland, Baudouin became king on his father’s abdication (1951). He helped restore confidence in the monarchy after the stormy reign of his father and became a unifying force in a country divided between Flemish- (Dutch- ) and French-speaking factions. Because Bau¬ douin and his wife, Fabiola, were childless, he was succeeded by his brother, Albert II.
Baudrillard \bo-dre-'yar\, Jean (b. 1929, Riems, France) French soci¬ ologist, philosopher, and social critic. He taught sociology at the Univer¬ sity of Paiis from 1966 to 1987. He is known for his theories of consumer culture and of the influence of contemporary electronic media, especially television. In a series of works in the 1970s, he applied ideas from semi¬ otics to argue that consumer culture and especially advertising constitute a “code” of images and ideals in terms of which individuals construct their social identities. In works published during the 1980s and ’90s, he argued that the exchange of words, images, and other symbols through increasingly pervasive electronic media created a new kind of reality, the “hyper-real,” in which symbols become partly constitutive of the reality they serve to represent. An example, according to Baudrillard, is the tele-