: Why do lithium ion batteries explode/catch fire when they are punchered?
In: Chemistry
It’s a battery’s job to hold on to energy and release it when you need it. If you traumatize the battery, it may release surprising amounts of energy in unpredictable ways like catching its internal components on fire, changing shape, getting extremely hot, or spitting sparks.
You discharge a battery by connecting a load between its negative and positive terminals. If there is no load, like if you just connect a wire with low resistance, you get a lot of current flowing and that turns into heat.
If you puncture the battery, you can have the same effect: touch the positively-charged part of the battery to the negatively-charged part and turn the energy into heat.
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