Battery Life at High Altitude (Cold Temperature)

[rednewguy]

I happen to notice that my mobile, camera and laptop battery life is really poor at high altitude (it was freezing cold, btw).

I've been to cold places (not so high), where battery life is normal.

So I guess, this is something to do with altitude.
Do they have any relation? In what way could altitude affect the battery life.

Life, I meant not in terms of service life, but in terms of "retaining charge".


Thanks
-RNG

 

[cks3976]

Batteries will have an Arcing potential by the virtue of which they conduct electricity. At very high altitudes the atmospheric pressure is very low. Hence the arcing is affected. So a battery tends to loose its stored charge faster as most of its stored energy goes in accelerating the chemical process to ignite the arc...

Hope this is correct....