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Batteries: Why They Explode and the Multicell Future
gizmodo.com — "It occurs when the touchy elements inside a Li-ion battery heat up to the point where the internal reaction accelerates, creating even more heat. In the case of a laptop flameout, the chemicals break out of their metal casing. Because lithium ignites when it makes contact with the moisture in the air, the battery bursts into flame." Read on
IvanB- 202 diggs
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- Alexius, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2That's the hole story with a direct link to it: http://digg.com/tech_news/Building_a_Better_Battery
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5This isn't accurate. I've cut open LIon batteries before and had them leak. The goo inside is nasty, but it doesn't catch fire when it contacts air.
There are plenty of compounds of lithium that don't catch fire when exposed to air, and this is one of them.- dattaway, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Take a blow torch to it. Seriously. Be sure to take the battery apart first before igniting and let the molten lithium reach ignition. Its an unforgettable pyrotechnic demonstration. The coin batteries deliver a bright lime light that is brighter than the sun. Also lithium can do the boat trick in water a bit better than sodium, which is quite unstable.
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hell yes, if you get them hot, they'll ignite. It just isn't spontaneous at room temperature.
- sinembarg0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's the point, they got HOT and leak, and then they catch fire. The batteries don't just break open and instantaneously catch fire. When was the last time you used a laptop that wasn't hot?
- pgiessel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Does anyone else think its stupid to have a different battery for each component? What happens when your at 90% of overall battery capacity and your screen's battery runs out? Yeah, thats going to be helpful.
- CamZak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21,000 batteries? I find that every 1/20 batteries or so are bad/lack a high charge. I'd say the odds of one battery out of 1,000 going bad is pretty high..."Great...I just got my new laptop...sadly the keyboard and ethernet batteries don't work...everything else is fine." seems like just an added source of complexity.
Simple solution:
Strap a big battery to a small electronic device. An example would be taking a very thin cell phone, and putting on a battery big enough so the thing is the size of a normal cell phone. Sure, it might not be hip or cool as it was originally, but a day or more of talk time on a single charge is well worth it. These days the focus on electronics seem to be form over functionality, see how small a device can be made. I'd rather have decently sized devices at a slightly lower cost with much better functionality...but...manufacturers have to cater to the retards, they're the majority.
- CamZak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21,000 batteries? I find that every 1/20 batteries or so are bad/lack a high charge. I'd say the odds of one battery out of 1,000 going bad is pretty high..."Great...I just got my new laptop...sadly the keyboard and ethernet batteries don't work...everything else is fine." seems like just an added source of complexity.
- reknaps, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If we cant make one battery right, why would we wanted 'thousands' of batteries in a single device.
- Red_Eye, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Looking over at my Thinkpad T41 now and its battery temp is at 32c in its docking station fully charged and plugged in. Maybe the linux kernel gods should be the first to take a step to put an end to thermal runaway. A new module that watches the ACPI temp reading for the battery, any sudden spike over a certain temp powers down the laptop or play an alarm or some such. I doubt most laptops have software controllable settings to stop a battery from charging but it would be a good first step until the lazy laptop manufacturers build it into the hardware that if temperatures spike to disconnect the charging source.
- TRENT310, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, if that plan is actually how they will build laptop batteries in the future, so much for any chance of using /switching spare battery packs.
- CriX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"On one hand, its nice to see Wired get back to its geek roots after a period where it just seemed like it was tech newbie-ish. On the other hand, the feature gets into a depth that even Popsci wouldn't attempt."
Is that part about Popsci a joke? Wired's articles are usually more sophisticated.
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