Eli5: Why do batteries have the potential to explode?
In: Technology
I tend to think of it as three things. Energy, size and time.
The sun provides a load of energy. But it’s right across the surface of the earth. We can deal with that. Use a lens to focus just a bit of it, though, and you can set stuff on fire. You’ve concentrated spread out energy into a small area.
Now for time. Fill your car with petrol. That’s a lot of energy. It can power a car to go at 80mph for hours. Set fire to that can of petrol and you’ll blow up a house. The difference is time: releasing it all at once or releasing it slowly.
A lithium ion battery does all of these things. You need enough energy to power a computer, screen, radios, audio etc etc for a day. You squeeze that into a really, really small space. That’s all fine provided that you release it slowly over that day. But if the battery gets damaged or short circuited so that there’s no control over its release, it all comes out at once.
Latest Answers