The Story of the Battery Reading Answers - IELTS Passage, Detailed Answers

The IELTS Reading section is one of the easiest sections for many test-takers. It includes three passages to be completed in 60 minutes. One of the commonly practiced topics in the Reading section is "The Story of the Battery."

The Story of the Battery IELTS Reading passage features a total of 7 questions. These are divided into two main question types: Table Completion and Sentence Completion. In this article, you will find a sample passage based on The Story of the Battery along with practice questions and detailed answer explanations. This will help candidates better understand how to approach IELTS Reading question types and improve their overall score.

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The Story of the Battery IELTS Reading Passage

The passage below, "The Story of the Battery," is a very common Reading passage in the IELTS exam. Read the passage to answer questions 1—12, which are given below. 

The Story of the Battery

1. When people consider today how indispensable the Internet is, they often overlook that without electricity, it would not function. Living without the Internet would be a significant inconvenience today, but without electricity, life as we know now would collapse. Since we started using electricity, which was in the middle of the nineteenth century, we have worked on ways to move and store it easily and efficiently and one of the most common ways of storing electricity has been the battery. A battery does not actually store electricity. A battery, which is actually an electric cell, is a device that produces electricity from a chemical reaction. The story of the battery is one of people trying to create different compounds to create an electric current. The two goals on improving batteries have always been to create ones that can produce an electric current for a long time and to make them smaller and smaller.
2. Alessandro Volta is credited with creating in 1800 the first battery and the first practical method of generating electricity. Luigi Galvani, another Italian scientist and contemporary of Volta, almost made the discovery, but misinterpreted his research results. Using a frog’s leg in an experiment, Galvani concluded that the electric current was ‘animal electricity’ and did not come from the apparatus he had set up. Volta’s battery was made by piling up layers of silver and paper or cloth, soaked in salt, and zinc. These layers were assembled, without paper or cloth between the zinc and silver, until the current was created.
3. Volta’s battery was not good for delivering currents for any significant duration. This restriction was overcome in the Daniell Cell in 1820. Using different chemicals, John Daniell used a copper pot, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid and mercury to produce his electric current. Although we now know better than to put mercury into batteries, this battery, which produced about 1.1 volts, was used to power telegraphs, telephones, and even to ring doorbells in homes for over 100 years. Although many other chemical combinations were used in batteries over the years, the lead acid battery is one that stands out. First made in 1859, it was further improved in 1881 and this design even now forms the basis of the modern lead acid battery found in cars.
4. One very common battery used today is the lithium-ion battery, which was developed by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a part of their efforts during the Cold War. The idea surrounding the lithium-ion battery was to create a power source that could provide a long duration, high-density energy supply in a small package. In the early 1960’s, both the private and public sectors were experimenting with creating batteries using lithium, but the breakthrough in the chemistry was achieved by adding the ion into the equation. Not long after its invention, the CIA shared the lithium-ion battery concept with the public and a company working on an exploratory project developed and created the first patent for the lithium-ion battery for commercial use in 1968. Used for a variety of different applications, the first lithium-ion battery was a game-changer in the medical industry, where it is used as the power source in heart pacemakers.

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IELTS Reading Answers: "The Story of the Battery" 

Questions 1 – 5 

Complete the table below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1 – 5 on your answer sheet.

Some Older Batteries
Battery	Notes
Volta’s Battery	* Invented in 1800 * Beat his contemporary, Galvani, who made errors with his (1) __________ * Used silver, paper or cloth, salt and zinc in (2) __________ * Not good for long (3) __________
Daniell’s Battery	* Made using different chemicals * Used (4) __________, which is not used any more * Produced just over 1 volt and was used for over 100 years
The Lead Acid Battery	* A significant development from 1859 that still is used in (5) __________ today

Questions 6 – 7 

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 6 – 7 on your answer sheet.

6 The lithium-ion battery was invented as part of the United States’ contribution to the _______________.

7 The _______________ that allowed the success of the lithium-ion battery was the chemical addition of the ion to the equation.

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The Story of the Battery IELTS Reading Passage Answer

Questions 1–5: Table Completion

1.

• Answer: research results
• Location: Paragraph 2
• Reference: “Galvani… misinterpreted his research results.”
• Explanation: Galvani made a mistake by interpreting the frog’s leg movement as ‘animal electricity,’ not realizing the current came from his setup.

2.

• Answer: layers
• Location: Paragraph 2
• Reference: “piling up layers of silver and paper or cloth, soaked in salt, and zinc.”
• Explanation: Volta's battery design involved stacking layers of different materials to produce electricity.

3.

• Answer: duration
• Location: Paragraph 3
• Reference: “Volta’s battery was not good for delivering currents for any significant duration.”
• Explanation: The main limitation of Volta’s battery was its inability to provide electricity for long periods.

4.

• Answer: mercury
• Location: Paragraph 3
• Reference: “sulphuric acid and mercury to produce his electric current.”
• Explanation: Daniell’s battery used mercury, which is now considered unsafe for modern battery use.

5.

• Answer: cars
• Location: Paragraph 3
• Reference: “modern lead acid battery found in cars.”
• Explanation: Despite its age, the lead-acid battery is still commonly used in vehicles today.

Questions 6–7: Sentence Completion

6.

• Answer: Cold War
• Location: Paragraph 4
• Reference: “developed by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a part of their efforts during the Cold War.”
• Explanation: The lithium-ion battery was created during Cold War initiatives for compact, long-lasting power sources.

7.

• Answer: chemical addition
• Location: Paragraph 4
• Reference: “the breakthrough in the chemistry was achieved by adding the ion into the equation.”
• Explanation: The key innovation that made lithium-ion batteries successful was the chemical inclusion of ions in the process.

Read more about: Tips For Reading in IELTS Exam | IELTS Academic Reading | IELTS Reading Tips And Tricks | IELTS General Reading Test |

Conclusion

Practicing with “The Story of the Battery: IELTS Reading Passage with Questions and Answers” helps you learn about the history and development of batteries, from Volta’s early experiments to the lithium-ion batteries used today. 

Answering different question types, like table completion and sentence completion, will improve your reading skills and help you get used to the IELTS test format. 

If you want more practice, step-by-step reading help, or expert feedback on your answers, connect with upGrad experts.