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Warning: Exploding Batteries

Posted by timothy on from the and-exploding-and-exploding dept.

batlike writes "It seems I have been quite lucky up to this point as I habitually leave my laptop in the trunk of my car - which is just over the gas tank (duh!) . See this article in InfoWorld by Ephraim Schwartz for details. You may want to give it a once over if you currently use lithium-ion batteries."

3 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Not a fireball by shuz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Of course they don't really explode into a fire ball but rather short circuit, heat up, melt, and leak acid everywhere.

    --
    There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
    1. Re:Not a fireball by shuz · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Also mind you that for a truly violent "seeping of flame" to occur the Li-ion battery must be charging. I am not an expert but I would guess that if the unit is just sitting that it could still short circuit and heat up but the energy released could not exceed that of which is stored in the battery. If your charging a battery and it short circuits then the energy released could not exceed that of the current in your circuit breaker which is usually about 15-20amp's. If you figure that a typical charger is 9 volts thats 20*9 so 1800 watts max of released energy + E stored in battery, which of course is a hell of a lot of energy but then your circuit breaker goes and... I am rambling...

      --
      There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
    2. Re:Not a fireball by arivanov · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Litium is extremely toxic. And the energy density in an average laptop battery is enough to bring more then enough of it in the air.

      The scary part is that got allowed on board of airplanes after the FAA got convinced that correctly operating bateries are safe. Well... This brings up the obvious question - what about incorrectly operating ones. And what about ones that have had their short circuit protection removed? Nearly perfect bomb and perfectly legal to bring onboard passing all security checks with flying colours.

      Scary...

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/