The stages of an exploding laptop battery

Beware young and old -- want to know exactly what stages your poor little laptop battery will go through when it ignites? We kind of didn't either, but that didn't stop us from fighting our compulsion to watch the above YouTube vid. Scary, sobering stuff. You did return your recalled battery, right?

[Thanks, Chris and Drakonen]

[SomeOne @ Nov 14th 2006 1:21AM]

h0!y $h!t.....

[Rev. Nathan @ Nov 14th 2006 1:27AM]

Pretty nerdy-neat.

But fire over 1000 degrees? Doesn't the fire change to blue at that temperature? Methinks their thermometer just gave them an error code; not a bunk reading.

[Brandon West @ Nov 14th 2006 1:39AM]

Their reading is probably accurate, they just go to great lengths to make it sound impressive.

A candle's flame is about 1400°F. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire

[Ian @ Nov 14th 2006 1:39AM]

I think the color of the flame has more to do with what is burning, and the oxygen composition than just the temperature (eg magnesium always burns white regardless of the temperature, where as copper burns green in the presence of halogens).

I don't know if Lithium fires change color as they increase in temperature or not, but that looked pretty hot. 1000 degrees would certainly be possible for a reactive metal fire.

[Dominic @ Nov 14th 2006 1:34AM]

Well children...what have we learned today?
Bobby: "I learned that we should always check and see if my laptop's battery is on the recall list"
Sally: "I learned that I should always back away from a flaming laptop."
James: "I learned that it's soo cool!! I want to try it!!"
...there will always be that one person who doesn't check if his/her manufactured laptop battery is on the recall list, cause' they think it'll never happen...the next thing you know, we'll be needing instructions added to that little Airplane safety card, on what to do if your laptop battery explodes...I have to say though this was an amazing demonstration..very well done...:)

[Chris @ Nov 14th 2006 1:36AM]

Fire color can depend on what is burning. Lithium chloride is a carmine (reddish purple) colored flame according to Wikipedia so the temp is probably accurate.

[Nick @ Nov 14th 2006 1:39AM]

definetly removed my laptop from my lap half way through that vid...... (not on recall list)

[Brennan @ Nov 14th 2006 2:01AM]

this y i dont like laptops for gaming, they could explode on ur lap at anytime.

i would like to see a PC catch on fire :-D

[Juaquin @ Nov 14th 2006 2:25AM]

"this y i dont like laptops for gaming, they could explode on ur lap at anytime."

The laptops that have been exploding have been cheap Dell's and Sony's. Have you seen an Alienware explode? How about a Falcon Northwest? Voodoo? Hypersonic?

Nope. They're built to a better quality, not to mention they have a lot more cooling power than those standard machines. I'd trust my fiery gaming laptop over some Dell any day.

[rockintom99 @ Nov 16th 2006 4:53AM]

"at any time"

Ok, how many people had these recalled batteries? And how many of them exploded? You would have better odds of winning the lottery than having your laptop explode.

[DM @ Nov 14th 2006 2:12AM]

Finally, something laptop users can relate to. And yes, that includes you Macbook users.

[Scabies @ Nov 14th 2006 2:16AM]

is it just me, or is that sitting on a pancake griddle?

(and seeing the violent way whatever shoots out of the battery one cell at a time... I dont think I am going to challenge temperatures, as the force would make even a 'lower' temp very dangerous)

[jeff @ Nov 14th 2006 2:57AM]

"Nope. They're built to a better quality, not to mention they have a lot more cooling power than those standard machines. I'd trust my fiery gaming laptop over some Dell any day."

This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the battery issue. It is *not* dependent on the laptop manufacturer- the batteries have been incorrectly produced Sonys. In addition to Sony and Dell, Lenovo and Apple have also had recalls.

It has nothing to do with notebook build quality. This is probably more a reflection on the market sizes of the Dell, Sony, etc, comapared to the miniscule market size of a specialist maker like Alienware.

[Aaron @ Nov 14th 2006 2:38AM]

Well... At least it looks like you have plenty of time to get the hell away from it before the real fireworks start.

[NeoteriX @ Nov 14th 2006 3:01AM]

With the nonchalant narration, I feel like I'm watching a Discovery Channel special on exploding laptops out in the Serengeti Safari.

[yo @ Nov 14th 2006 3:51AM]

CTRL ALT DELETE!!!! :D Well done, I hope the spectators weren't breathing in the fumes.

Without the voiceover, if you throw in some oinka-doinka music, it sounds like the guys are watching a strip show.

[daniel @ Nov 14th 2006 3:54AM]

I haven't checked the recall list, but i know my battery was manufactured by Sony. This video kinda eases my worries. It will probably start to get very hot and smoke, thus melting plastic BEFORE it explodes. If my laptop gets overly hot and/or starts to smoke, I'll know what to expect. Does any one know where i can check the recall list?

[G @ Nov 14th 2006 5:25AM]

Popper-stopper. Please. That's all I'm saying. They cost $25, or you can make one out of old pantyhose and a wire coat hanger. You don't get to use that fancy CG intro anymore until you learn to use a popper-stopper on your microphone. Thank you very much. Good day.

[Revrant2394 @ Nov 14th 2006 6:44AM]

G - E..E-wah, E-wah-wah-wah. ;)

The most amusing thing about this is all of the utterly retarded people who were screaming that it was some kind of Myth and anti-Notebook propaganda.

[Rasmus @ Nov 14th 2006 9:33AM]

The best part of this video is when the battery explodes and the guy in the background goes: "OH YEAH... yeeaah..." like it's a porn movie he's watching or something...

[icerabbit @ Nov 14th 2006 9:39AM]

This clip would have much better without the people in the background giggling and screamin 'oooh' 'yeah' etc.

[shaninho @ Nov 14th 2006 9:45AM]

the chinese invented fireworks ... sony of japan perfected them.

[Karl Viklund @ Nov 14th 2006 10:07AM]

Yeyeye, sure. I think it was a DELL...

[Rick Lyon @ Nov 14th 2006 11:31AM]

Great press for Sony.

[patachon @ Nov 14th 2006 11:57AM]

how did those guys artificially force the start of the fire ?
Was the original battery actually used, or did those pseudo analysts install another stuff just to produce a discutible show on my (your) tube ? what is the stuff under the laptop?

such events, if repetible, then need a scientific approach, well verificable , controlled and established parameters, a.s.o to give some truth to those firecracks. take care


never believe blindly just what you see on some screen, much less on some TV shows or manipulated media,

[louis @ Nov 14th 2006 2:04PM]

"how did those guys artificially force the start of the fire ?"

They probably punctured a hole in the battery pack or heated it...something like that. Lithium-ion batteries are kinda volatile when oxygen combines with the lithium in the battery; the combination of the two creates a massive build up of heat. They're also rather unsafe if heated up.

I'm not explaining it in the best way but thats basically why all laptop batteries are potentially hazardous if they're mistreated or not manufactured properly. In Sony's case, it was small metal particles in the batteries left over from manufacture that created a short circuit, and then the chain reaction.

[clangnuts @ Nov 14th 2006 12:31PM]

Will having a Firewall protect me from this?

[ThisIsNo @ Nov 14th 2006 2:15PM]

The scientific validity of this demonstration is negligible. I don't think that's what they were going for anyway. It's just a demonstration of how the "exploding laptop" process proceeds. The method that they used to induce the explosion and flare-up (namely, putting the laptop on a hot plate) would cause most sealed-casing batteries (not just laptop batteries) to explode or otherwise rupture and leak nasty chemicals. Real laptop battery failures are caused by a number of variables being met as a result of manufacturing defects (or poor design), operating conditions of the computer and other stochastic variables that can't be predicted.

See http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dell-battery-fire.htm for an explanation of what's going on within these exploding batteries.

[Imran @ Nov 14th 2006 2:36PM]

Holy crapinolie! "If this happens in a real life situation, move away quickly" Nah(!) I'd stand over and inspect the laptop while it's exploding in my face!

[Matteo @ Nov 14th 2006 6:11PM]

I Know, I know, i have the solution!
This notebook is property of Ethan Hunt used in mission impossible!
.......
I've smoked too much this night.......good night

[justdave @ Nov 14th 2006 9:45PM]

I love the 'if this were a real life situation, the best strategy would be to move away from the laptop, quickly.' REALLY? Surely not. The bloke cheering like it's porn is genius too... 'ohhh yeah yeahh.' Cracked me up. On the other hand, I'm now fully expecting my macbook to remove my left hand cleanly at the wrist at any second. nice.

[Someone @ Mar 21st 2007 12:51AM]

Poor thing, see how it suffers. PETE (Electronics) will hear of this.

[hrdn @ Aug 1st 2007 12:29PM]

the chinese invented fireworks ... sony of japan perfected them.

http://www.dl4all.com
http://www.4shared.us
http://www.parsiforums.com

[Full Downloads @ Sep 4th 2007 6:30PM]

They probably punctured a hole in the battery pack or heated it...something like that. Lithium-ion batteries are kinda volatile when oxygen combines with the lithium in the battery; the combination of the two creates a massive build up of heat. They're also rather unsafe if heated up.

I'm not explaining it in the best way but thats basically why all laptop batteries are potentially hazardous if they're mistreated or not manufactured properly. In Sony's case, it was small metal particles in the batteries left over from manufacture that created a short circuit, and then the chain reaction.

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http://www.downloadwarez.org

[Full Downloads @ Sep 4th 2007 6:32PM]

Will having a Firewall protect me from this?


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http://www.downloadwarez.org