Question

Which of the following is used widely in the manufacture of lead storage battery?
(a) Arsenic
(b) Lithium
(c) Bismuth
(d) Antimony

Answer 1

Hint: The lead-acid battery comes under the class of rechargeable batteries. In 1859 Gaston plante (a French physicist) discovered the lead-acid batteries. Sometimes the lead-acid batteries contain metals such as antimony, calcium, tin, and selenium to improve the quality of batteries.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
The lead-acid batteries belong to the class of secondary batteries, which have a reversible chemical reaction. In lead storage batteries, the materials that produced electric current can be restored by passing the electric current into it from an external source.

The negative plate (made up of lead), positive plate (made up of lead dioxide), and electrolyte (concentrated sulphuric acid) are the main components of lead-acid batteries.
In lead-acid batteries, the concentrated sulphuric acid retains most of the chemical reaction.

Metals such as antimony, calcium, tin, and selenium are most common alloys used in lead-acid batteries. Batteries with antimony and Calcium types of grids are sometimes also known as lead-antimony and lead-batteries.

Sometimes in lead-acid batteries an antimony grid is used to improve the castability, corrosion resistance and strength of the batteries.

In lead-acid batteries with antimony content, it is found that at the negative electrode the self-discharge rate is several times stronger than at the positive electrode.
Hence, the above statements have described that antimony is the most common metal used in lead-acid batteries. Therefore, option (d) i.e. antimony will be the correct answer.

Note: The lead-storage batteries are used in computers, electric scooters, electric wheelchairs, motorcycles, and marine applications. The room temperature is the optimum temperature for lead-acid batteries. Increasing the temperature range cause the shortening of the life span of lead-acid batteries.