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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 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.