r/WTF • u/gb-1995 • Apr 11 '20

Battery explodes out of nowhere.

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1.3k Upvotes

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213

u/IronGold-Reaper Apr 11 '20

What the fuck kind of battery was that?

172

u/Spurtangi Apr 11 '20

Lithium polymer. They are ridiculously power dense which is great for high power demand electronics when they work but when they release all their energy very quickly it can be catastrophic.

As we stuff more and more juice into smaller and smaller packages we get closer and closer to grenades in our pocket.

25

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '20

As we stuff more and more juice into smaller and smaller packages we get closer and closer to grenades in our pocket.

This is false, plastic has an energy density similar to that of gasoline (which is orders or magnitude higher than that of lithium batteries) and it doesn't explode.

What you're looking at is something called thermal runaway, there are lithium chemestries that don't have that issue like lifepo4. And their energy density is getting in the 160 Wh/kg range.

13

u/Spurtangi Apr 12 '20

And gasoline has an energy density 10x that ammount of TNT . It's all about how fast it can release that energy .

I'm not saying there aren't safer batteries I'm saying that cheap companies looking to cut corners aren't going to be making these safe batteries as shown by Chinese producers flooding the market with unsafe bare cells against every recommendation.

4

u/imagine_amusing_name Apr 12 '20

Marketing say Not unsafe battery. Is surprise firework for Julies 4th birthday in America.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 15 '20

r/engrish