3. ELI5: Why is there a need for both AA and AAA batteries?

ELI5: Why is there a need for both AA and AAA batteries?

Battery technology is fairly limited by chemistry. The voltage is limited by the electro potential difference between the two chemicals in the battery, and the amount of charge a battery can deliver is limited by the quantity of the chemicals the battery can hold.

If you want a battery to last longer the way you do this is put more fuel in it. Which means it must be made bigger.

A AA battery holds about twice as much fuel as a AAA, so in any given application lasts about twice as long. A C holds about three times as much as a AA, and a D holds almost twice as much again.

The trade off with each is the batteries take up more and more space. So if you want to go to a single standard for things that drain the battery at any appreciable rate you either need to make the device physically bigger to accommodate the larger batteries, or you have to deal with replacing the batteries much more often.

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