Are lithium batteries actually dangerous?

[Alligator Alcatraz]

Discarded old phones left in drawers, wireless headphones lost under the bed, old laptop batteries no longer holding a charge, rechargable mp3 players and batteries just strewn about the homes of the average consumer who has one thing on their mind: "Which case should I buy for this year's ipad and how fast will Amazon deliver it to me?"

Everything has lithium batteries these days. Bloated time bombs waiting for a nudge, a bit of pressure, before combusting into a violent explosion...or are they?

Are lithium batteries actually dangerous? If so, why don't we see more reports of explosions in the news?

 

[Justtocheck]

Phone sized batteries won't "explode" like a bomb, but might burn really hard if it's suddenly broken and create a small fireball. They are sealed pretty good, so unless you fucking start hammering a battery very hard, I would say it's pretty hard to cause that reaction.

 

[byuu]

Discharged or old lithium batteries that barely hold a charge are not very dangerous.

It's the massive amount of electrical energy that a healthy charged lithium battery contains that makes them dangerous.

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

If your worried about them track them down and safely dispose of them, the one's I am most worried about are Laptop batteries because a lot of people don't throw them out they just toss the old laptop in the draw an forget about it for years those things can be seriously temperamental after some time.

 

[WelperHelper99]

If you're some bumfuck Slavic dude with a staple gun, yes

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

So can I use my bb gun on dismantled fake ipod 2nd gen shuffles from a distance?

 

[Poppavalyim Andropoff]

Yeah but you probably shouldn’t breathe that smoke in

 

[Shamefur Dispray]

So can I use my bb gun on dismantled fake ipod 2nd gen shuffles from a distance?

Nah they are completely safe up close. Hold one at arms length and shoot it, or for a really fun time put it on your head or between your teeth and have someone else shoot it.

 

[shapelesswaste]

Nah they are completely safe up close. Hold one at arms length and shoot it, or for a really fun time put it on your head or between your teeth and have someone else shoot it.

I've done this a million times. As an added note OP, if you funnel the fumes into a bag and huff them, it will give you a magnificent high. You should definitely do that.

 

[Catler]

Unless they're physically damaged not really. If they're bloated, punctured, have gotten too hot, or are charged incorrectly? They very well might be.

A discharged, undamaged, old battery isn't a really big deal.

 

[D_Tractor]

The cheap chinese made ones are much more dangerous than name brand ones from S. Korea or civilized countries.

 

[SandyCat]

So can I use my bb gun on dismantled fake ipod 2nd gen shuffles from a distance?

Usually its less of an "explosion" and more of a fire being spewed out under pressure. You're more likely to burn something down than you are to blow something up