# Why Do Car Batteries Drain On Cement?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366 "2001-07-05T17:06:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Happy\_Feet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c77e96/32.png) [@Happy\_Feet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Feet)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366/1 "2001-07-05T17:06:07Z")

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My Mom told me this yesterday and I cant for the life of me understand why. So, why DO car batteries lose all their energy when left sitting on top of cement?

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**Author:** ![bashere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bashere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bashere)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366/2 "2001-07-05T17:22:16Z")

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They don’t. Its a myth. Or, at least no slower than they would if placed anywhere else.

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**Author:** ![bashere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bashere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bashere)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366/3 "2001-07-05T17:25:31Z")

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I was told that this is a myth by my father. It occurred to me after posting that you probably wouldn’t take his word for it (which doesn’t offend me, because eris knows I almost never do). So, here’s a link on the subject:

[http://www.nsf.gov/nstw\_questions/phys/quest044.htm](http://www.nsf.gov/nstw_questions/phys/quest044.htm)

We can probably trust the National Science Foundation on this one.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366/4 "2001-07-05T17:45:40Z")

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Happy Feet, welcome to the board. This has been discussed several times in the past and I remember a recent thread. If you do a search you will find it. It is good practice to always search before you ask as your question may have been discussed before.

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**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-car-batteries-drain-on-cement/71366/5 "2001-07-05T18:15:33Z")

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Here is the earlier [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=30982), but you really only need to read [this](http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns/Archive/1999/November/06.html).