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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."
Or Killer iPod?
...the primary choice of militant geeks everywhere.
getting wet for electronic devices is a dangerous thing.
The kid pierced the Li Ion battery with a screwdriver. It wouldn't matter if this was an iPod, rio, nomad, dell dj, mobile phone or the interior of a LiIon laptop battery from any manufacturer.
The kid tried to argue with the laws of physics, and as always - lost.
You mean batteries made out of combustable metals can be dangerous? They should put warning lables on them. And this could mean the end for my forthcoming line of Rubidium dildos!
Good bye iPods in planes, trains, work-places and public buildings...
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
... playing with fire will get you burned, suprisingly!
"We treated him on the scene for minor breathing difficulties but he was fine and then we scooted out and helped save the rest of Melbourne,"
The kid was trying to fix his ipod on his BED after his MOM washed it . . . he is far from fine.
-- sometimes AND gates turn me on.
..if your cell phone falls into the toilet... duck and cover...
No, all that matters now is that when the press runs a story with the words 'iPod' and 'exploded' it won't matter how much you talk about LiIon batteries, people are going to believe that iPods are the problem and that they randomly explode.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
A fireman that rescued me (barely sensible) after an electronic device exploded, said that BeO was probably the culprit. I had been in the room when the device(s) exploded and was the first one to ring for help.
h tml
About 15 minutes later (I hadn't been feeling too good), I collapsed and was taken to hospital.
BeO is highly toxic by ingestion and inhalation (Material Safety Data Sheet: http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/BE/beryllium_oxide.
).
Apparently it is one of the more common toxic substances emitted in smoke/fumes. Particularly in domestic / non-chemical-factory settings.
...as a Toyota Prius mechanic.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
.. i've always considered Melbourne to be the 'city of superheroes', and well .. now its supported in print.
horrible place.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Is this anything like exploding capacitors? I remember a class where my teacher accidentally turned a capacitor into a toxic smoke-grenade, it was a pretty impressive sight to see all that stuff come out of one little cylinder.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
The kid tried to argue with the laws of physics, and as always - lost.
You don't always lose. In Kansas, the second law of thermodynamics is illegal. Apparently people there live for ever.
More like iPwnd.
Natural selection.
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.
Guess what's going to put you on the no fly list when the Department of Homeland Security gets to work in a few hours.
Somehow I don't think iPods will be making to an eBay auction either.
Gotta love Darwinism in action...
perl -e'print$_{$_} for sort%_=`lynx -dump svanstrom.com/t`'
Shockingly enough
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
.. that the iPod is also a choking hazard if you attempt to swallow it.
I think this is where RFID could help a LOT. There's just no reason for electronics class device to be inside a washing machine.
fucktard is a tenderhearted description
Ah, if only they did explode randomly.
;-)
I for one would spend my free time sitting in the park looking out for gyrating youths and betting with my friends whether they were dancing or in severe pain from their exploding portable music players.
Hours of fun.... But then I don't get out much
while (true != false) process_more_stupid_code();
Do not machine-wash happy fun Pod !
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
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.
FTA (page title)
Teenager's iPod goes boom - Breaking - Technology - theage.com.au
That's breaking technology alright.
Sample this!
I will have to remember not to commit iPodicide by stabbing it to death with a screwdriver while I am filling the car with petrol (gas for you North Americans). Jeeze Bruce, but us Aussies can be dumber than a bag of hammers. From what was reported, the ambulance service spokesperson hammed it up a bit too.
I had a pager about ten years ago - one of the chunky number-only things that were around before SMS got really popular.
One drunken evening it got put into the wash - a full cycle. When I found it in the shirt pocket afterwards, it was full of water... there was a bubble in there too so it was more useful as a spirit level.
I tried to turn it on (you never know) but no joy - so I put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.
Four years later I found it again (thoroughly dried out) and tried turning it on - success! Amazingly enough, it worked fine.
I suppose an electronic gadget can recover from being soaked as long as you haven't short-fried any circuits.
In my day, when you washed your (1st generation, flash-based) mp3 player, you just put it on top of your (17", radition levels that burn out brains) monitor with the memory card out for a few hours to dry
Same with cellphones, flash keys, etc. But noooo, someone had to go and put rustable moving parts into mp3 players...
You don't see what really happened until much further down the article (around 3/4 of the way through) emphasis mine:
Gotta love the media. Anything for a sensational headline.
H
When VCR's are outlawed, only outlaws will have VCR's.
Did you also know that McDonalds coffee is hot?
Only one person could have that kind of information.
Thats right.... He must be the real killer..!!
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
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.
I don't know why, but I read this an another slashmeme-in-the-making:
In Soviet Russia, X Ys YOU!
In Korea, only old people X!
In Kansas, X is illegal!
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself
..Darwin, would he?
Backward%20compatibility%20is%20over-rated
I knew someone who got into a kiddie pool with his iPod still on himself. He simply sent it back to Apple who fixed/replaced it and EXPRESS shipped it back to him for free. No questions asked, even though it was his own fault.
Now why couldn't our exploding friend do the same?
--Mike Boos
Watching an actual news story (as opposed to only watching the "And coming up at 11: 3 year old invents flying car...") is tantamount to R'ing the FA and will be punished by -5 Troll.
Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. --Mark Twain
We had DRM'ed MP3, now we have DRM'ed electronic equipment - intentional self desctruction?
The battery contains lithium. If he torn the battery opened, the water probably entered into contact with the lithium. Lithium explodes in toxic fumes when in contact with water.
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.
Most all batteries - from in your car, to your watch, could potentially explode if you short it.
Trust me, a broken battery makes quite a mess.
Breaking news: capacitors found to exist!
No comment.
I mean, it's just a kid. His expensive Ipod was dead, he prolly panicked. And he messed with stuff he knew nothing about.
It's a stupid accident I have to admit. But isn't mucking about with stuff you don't (yet) understand one of the trademarks of the true hacker?
Cut him some slack. It could well be possible he could've gotten the moist out before the oxidation got too worse. With a bit of luck he could have re-assembled it and be listening to it right now.
He's learned a lot of things now, maybe he'll do better in the future.
--> Insert Funny Sig Here
I used to do this all the time. Mostly with broken electronics that would otherwise be thrown in the trash.
I'm surprised more geeks aren't on his side.
What's with the comments about natural selection, and darwin and killer ipod. You are the morons!!!
Natural selection doesn't work just because you have "breathing difficulties". You have to DIE before reproducing.
"In other news, the boy's Mom cut her finger while chopping celery. Geeks everywhere make Darwin jokes."
I had a full dental xray last week.
Is that considered a cavity search?
Group 1A metals (aka alakline metals) react with water in their metalic states. However, ionic compounds containing alkaline metals, like sodium chloride don't have this property. Looking at the name (Lithium Ion), I'd guess that it's in some type of ionic compound.
My ipod went into a river as I was jumping from boat to bank at one point. It was in for maybe 10 seconds, so presumably shorter than the washing machine and without the associated stresses; I popped the back off, poured the water out, detached the battery and tilted the HD away from the motherboard, put it above a radiator for a few days to be sure, then put it back together again and it worked absolutely fine, with no loss of battery life or memory errors.
There may have been something happening with the washing powder in solution or water being forced into various places by the high Gs at high spin; however as I opened up my ipod it was completely inert. Something really strange must have happened to pierce his battery (solid Li skids around and pops a little when placed on top of water); however then you would expect it to have happened inside the washing machine. The implication there is that he pierced the battery with the screwdriver, which is no mean feat since it's around a 180 corner when you're trying to get in. Makes me wonder exactly what he was trying to do at the time.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
Why didn't he just take it back to the Apple store and get a new one? My friend did the same thing, left his iPod in the wash and ruined it. He took it to the Apple store, they gave him a new/refurb (not sure which). As long as there is not obvious physical damage and it's within warranty, then it should be no problem.
Microsoft claims Apple is a terrorist organization.
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).
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Running a thin, blunt knife e.g. a small butter knife or screwdriver around the joins should reveal where the plastic lugs are. Then insert similar shims at each locked point until the container pops open. It takes a bit of practice but if you're careful you soon learn the tolerance of the material - i.e. how hard to apply pressure before anything snaps. Also - check there aren't any screws hidden behind sticky labels etc. by running your finger over them and feeling for giveaway circular depressions. When you're putting it back together bend the lugs out a bit so they catch.
You might want to consider investing in a mouse with screws - the couple of Logitech meeces I use are only secured with a couple of easily-accessible screws. Which is handy if I need to clean them or do simple maintenance such as pushing the optical sensors back in line.
> The Golden Age of the slashmeme is over; it's getting too self-concious now.
>I was there at the birth of the 'In Korea' meme, and it came across as a contrived attempt to create a meme and out-Soviet 'Soviet Russia'.
"The Golden Age of the Slash-??? is over!"
I coined it first!
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
The combination of Lithium with water is also a very bad idea. It simply explodes -- that's why throwing pieces of lithium into water was one of my chemistry teacher's favourite experiments.
Maybe either the machine washing treatment caused water to get inside the battery, or more likely, the iPod was still wet inside when the kid was opening it. If he then damaged the battery and water got inside, it was only logical that the battery exploded. Even humid air is enough to cause the Lithium to react!
Coincidence? I think not.
-------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.
Any time you have energy storage, there's the potential for this sort of thing and modern batteries store a LOT of energy in a small volume.
Waaay back in the early 70's I worked as an Engineer in the Texas Instruments Calculator division. We purposefully tested calculators to destruction to see what sort of trouble people could cause by doing stupid things. One thing we learned early on was that it was stupid of **us** to use the standard 3.5 mm jacks for chargers if the jack was connected directly to the batteries because you can short then during normal insertion. This was brought home to us graphically when that scenario happened on a desk model scientific calculator that had NiCad C-cells! Nobody was hurt but the calculator was destroyed internally. This led to the use of the barrell type connectors you see nowadays for power connections. Another design thing we did was to use small gage wire to connect the batteries so that the wire would "fuse" before other "bad stuff" happened.
Back to the destructive testing.. We tried using the wrong chargers, including those from various other manufacturers and escalated on up to applying 120 VAC to the charging terminals. We also, where the batteries were in an externally accessible holder, tried other similar sized batteries, alkaline and carbon-zinc dry cells. All testing was done inside a sturdy wooden enclosure. The worst-case situations sounded like someone had fired a 12 gauge shot-gun in there. In that case, where 120 Vac was applied to carbon-zinc cells, the carbon rods had gone through the side of the plastic calculator case.
It's clear to me that people can mess up most anything. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.". I'm in agreement.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
News Flash!
Jabbing screwdrivers into soaking-wet Lithium-Ion batteries is a bad idea.
More on this stunning news as it develops.
No wireless detonator. More space than nitro. Only Lames.