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iPod Dangerous When Wet
puggsincyberspace writes "What do you do when your mom washes your iPod? Fix it, of course. A teenager in Australia found out the hard way that messing with the insides of his iPod is dangerous and needed medical attention after it exploded."
The NINE and TEN news (australian local television) both said that the battery was torn open and that they "flash flame" when exposed to the air.
Utter nonsense. BeO is (was) only used in some high-power RF devices in the industrial market as it has good thermal conductivity properties. You will not find it in any modern consumer products.
The iPod uses lithium poly batteries, they're slim, they're powerful and they pack a punch when you rupture them.
With model aircraft, we use them a lot for our electric motors however they carry with them a lot of cautions. If you should happen to rupture or over charge them it's time to STAND CLEAR.
Typically a lipo will puff up for a bit then have a fairly impressive flame out (as the lithium starts burning). I'd personally be worried about the guy if he inhaled too much of the fumes, it's fairly toxic.
Oh, he probably ruptured the battery with the screwdriver. Normally if we have a "dud" cell, we put the cells into a bucket of salt water and then puncture the cells (UNDER WATER), the cells will bubble quite a bit and eventually after a few hours settle down.
He might've just shorted the battery, which could also cause it to explode.
There are 3 common ways for LiIon batteries to explode.
1. Short circut.
2. Overcharging.
3. Physical.
As explosions is a way to ask for being sued, most manufacturers have short circut tests as part of manufacturing. Charge regulators are also put into the casing of the battery or in the appliance (Ipod, cellphone etc). Just to make sure no law suits come from 1. and 2.
The only thing they can't protect themselves from is physical abuse on the battery itself. Like screwdriver through it.
Sorry, but it always bugs me that this is brought up implicitly or explictly as an example of 'public stupidity' and 'bad lawsuits'.
Read this and note particularly point 12:-
McDonald's admitted that its coffee is "not fit for consumption" when sold because it causes severe scalds if spilled or drunk.
McDonalds admitted its coffee was 40 to 50 degrees hotter than is fit for human consumption (Google cache; article is gone from original website).
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