The batteries of modern mobile phones can explode. Fortunately, this happens quite rarely, but the consequences are sad. An explosion of a phone battery can cause serious injury, which is why certain recommendations have been developed for the use of mobile devices.
All modern mobile phones and smartphones are powered by lithium-ion batteries. They have two important properties - high capacity and compactness. Moreover, all this is successfully combined in one building. First generation batteries consist of two electrodes, which are two types of foil - aluminum and copper. Between them is a porous material impregnated with a very active lithium-based electrolyte. It is lithium ions that carry electrical charge.
There are also newer batteries whose cathodes and anodes (negative and positive electrodes) are made of alternative materials. They have increased reliability, are less prone to fire, retain accumulated energy for a long time and are characterized by minimal self-discharge rates.
Each lithium battery comes with a built-in charge controller. It controls the charging current, preventing the battery from overheating due to too much current. Its failure leads to the impossibility of charging or, conversely, to uncontrolled charging of the battery with the likelihood of an explosion or fire.
Causes of battery explosion
The batteries of the first generations exploded and burned most powerfully. However, modern samples also perform well. During the explosion, many chemical reactions occur in them, resulting in the formation of flammable gases that support combustion. Even if you cut off the oxygen supply to a burning battery, it will burn until it burns out completely. The explosions are quite intense, causing injuries to users.
There are five most common causes of battery explosions:
- Factory defect - something can go wrong during the production process, resulting in a defective battery. Such batteries are ready to explode at any moment, and it is impossible to predict this.
- Failure of the charge controller - we talked about this a little higher. A high current leads to intense heating, after which the reaction becomes irreversible - a large amount of hot gases is formed, the battery explodes, flashing a yellow-white flame.
- An error in the development of the battery - for example, the manufacturer did not pay attention to the thickness of the case, which is why the battery could no longer withstand even mild thermal loads (overpressure occurs here).
- Overheating - this can occur due to high charging currents. Overheating is also possible as a result of improper battery operation (for example, the user likes to keep the handset under the pillow).
- Mechanical damage – can occur in smartphones and phones with replaceable batteries. It is advisable to dispose of a damaged battery.
Another reason is that the battery was manufactured by someone unknown and where. For this reason, it is recommended to purchase only original accessories.
Unfortunately, even the original battery is not a guarantee that it will not ignite or explode during charging.
Cases of explosions of popular smartphones
In 2016, the South Korean giant Samsung released the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone. It was from this moment that things went poorly for the company. The thing is that since the start of sales, several dozen cases of fire of this smartphone have been registered. The batteries ignited explosively. For example, on August 19, 2016, a school teacher from South Korea almost had her house burn down – her very same Samsung Galaxy Note 7 caught fire. And Wesley Hartzog from Florida complained about a garage that burned down because of a smartphone. A few days later, a jeep caught fire in the same state, and a couple of days later, one of the Samsungs in New York state caused burns on the hands of a child.
The worst cases of smartphone fires have occurred on board an airplane. Not a single aircraft was damaged - they all calmly reached the final point of the flight. By the way, Samsung Note 7 smartphones have been recalled by the manufacturer.
On September 23, a smartphone of a different brand exploded in the Taiwanese city of Taichung - here an iPhone 8 Plus exploded, having worked for only a few days. The problem occurred during the charging process, and the user was using a “native” charger. The exploding device went into the hands of experts. One of the latest cases occurred in November 2018, when American Rocky Mohamadali’s iPhone X exploded. This happened during an operating system update.
Many other smartphones also explode – for example, from Xiaomi. Xiaomi Mi A1 was one of the last to “bang”, and right while charging. There was a small fire, but the owner was not injured, as the explosion was mitigated by the cover.
How to avoid an explosion
Phones explode, and it is impossible to predict the moment of explosion. But if we analyze dozens of cases of explosions, we can see that most often this happens during charging. Batteries overheat and explode - good if not near the owner. To avoid becoming a victim of an explosion, follow these recommendations:
- Do not use the phone while charging - it may jerk right in front of your eyes or near your ear.
- Disconnect gadgets from the charger if they overheat.
- Try to use original chargers.
- Be sure to replace swollen batteries.
- Do not purchase non-original batteries.
- Do not buy cheap Chinese smartphones from little-known brands.
While charging, try to keep the phone in a case (here we mean cases in the form of pockets or handbags that will keep fragments from exploding).
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with
Recently, one of the residents of China's phone exploded while she was driving along the highway. The incident was captured on dashcam: her iPhone was lying on the dashboard, suddenly made a sharp bang and then caught fire, emitting acrid smoke. The woman was not injured, but was very scared. To prevent this from happening to you, we will tell you about several important rules for the safe use of gadgets.
The biggest danger in smartphones is batteries. These are the ones we will talk about. We are in website We found out what cases led to explosions of phone batteries, and we will tell you what should not be done to prevent similar situations.
1. Change the battery in unauthorized services
It turned out that a Chinese resident’s phone exploded due to a battery that turned out to be counterfeit. She had had this battery replaced at a local repair shop a few days before the incident. Moreover, the girl was not using her phone or charging it at the time of the explosion.
2. Throw the battery onto a hard surface
İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı"nda güvenlikle tartışan bir yolcunun yere fırlattığı powerbank patladı. Olay sonrası kısa süreli panik oluştu. pic.twitter.com/020qkMCVn0
— dokuz8HABER (@dokuz8haber) July 6, 2017
An external battery (Power Bank) also poses a danger under certain circumstances. So, last summer, at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, one of the passengers began to argue with a security officer: the latter forbade the man to bring the gadget inside. The man could not cope with his emotions and forcefully threw the device to the floor. There was a small explosion and smoke. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but people still had a slight panic.
This case eloquently shows that batteries(both external and regular) require careful handling.
3. Bite the battery
At the beginning of this year in China, a man bought an iPhone in one of the hardware stores. Unexpectedly, he decided to test the battery in the literal sense of the word, as a result of which it exploded. The man was not injured, as he managed to react, just like other visitors. But the explosion was quite powerful, as evidenced by this video. He later stated that he did so to test the battery for authenticity and durability.
This incident proves that Biting or gnawing on batteries is dangerous to your health and should never be done.
4. Falling with your phone in your pocket
This advice may sound stupid, but no one is immune from falls. And if the smartphone in your pocket bends when dropped, then there is a high probability of deforming the battery, which can lead to excessive heating and even fire. So, a few years ago, one guy fell off his bike and bent his phone along with the battery. As a result, he received a second degree burn. And one schoolboy from the USA simply sat on the phone, causing it to catch fire.
In general, these cases prove that You need to be careful with smartphones.
5. Use non-original charger
The quality of non-original chargers, in particular those that cost a couple of dollars, is often quite poor. It is cheap power supplies that cause fires due to overheating or explosion of capacitors. Of course, the chargers themselves must be used carefully, without bending the wires (as shown in the photo above, for example).
You should also be careful when purchasing fast chargers with high output voltage and current (3 amperes or higher).
6. Talk on the phone while charging
In addition, it is not advisable to use the phone while it is charging. So, this spring in India, an 18-year-old girl died due to a telephone explosion. Her brother, who was nearby, later reported that her sister’s phone was almost dead during a conversation with relatives. She decided to plug it into the charger without stopping the conversation. And then there was an explosion. The girl was taken to the hospital with injuries, where she died.
It’s not for nothing that they say: “Once a year the stick shoots.” Therefore, to avoid troubles It's better not to use the charger while talking As a last resort, use a Bluetooth headset.
You should also not do the following
7. Charge your phone in hot and sub-zero temperatures.
8. Continue charging your smartphone if it gets very hot.
9. When sleeping, place your phone next to you. Even on the bedside table.
10. Leave the phone to charge all night (if you have a cheap charger). Try to charge it throughout the day.
11. Expose your smartphone to prolonged exposure to direct sunlight (for example, leave it on the dashboard of a car or in the front seat, on the beach, etc.).
12. Use your phone connected to a charger while taking a bath.
13. Ignore situations when the battery is quickly discharged and do not contact a service center.
Bonus: also don’t forget to wipe your phone with alcohol or an antibacterial wipe
It's not just the phone's battery that is dangerous, but also the case itself. Microbiologists from the University of Arizona found back in 2012 that phones contain 10 times more bacteria than toilet seats. Think about it, you touch “public” objects dozens of times a day (door handles, elevator buttons, baskets in supermarkets, handrails in transport and buildings, money, etc.) and, as a rule, you use your phone at the same time. Come home, wash your hands, and then from time to time you pick up the phone, and besides, many people even take it with them to the toilet. And now admit it, how many of you have wiped your phone with alcohol at least once over the last week? Same thing.
In general, you should wipe your phone (or any other gadget) with alcohol or an antibacterial wipe at least once a week (but preferably more often).
Where do you keep your phone while you sleep? How often do you wipe your phone with alcohol?
Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption Samsung tried to improve the new smartphone model, but reports of problems began to come in again
Samsung has announced that it will stop all sales of the new model of its Galaxy Note smartphone due to reports that device fires continue even after repairs.
The company also urged consumers who have already purchased the new model not to use it and turn off the power while experts try to figure out the reasons for the defect.
What's going on?
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note 7 in August. Then the smartphone was called one of the best Android phones. It was supposed to become the main competitor to Apple's iPhone 7.
However, customers soon began to receive complaints about defective batteries exploding when charging. According to Samsung, we are talking about only 35 cases of fire out of 2.5 million devices.
But in the end, Samsung recalled the entire batch and released an improved model of the smartphone. Then the company assured that after the corrections were made, the devices were safe to use.
But at the moment, there are already two cases of fire in devices issued to consumers instead of defective ones.
Customers who have an original Galaxy Note 7 or an updated replacement model are advised to turn off the device, not use it, or try to fix the defect themselves in any way.
Samsung has asked all of its wholesale and retail partners around the world to stop selling and exchanging Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation continues.
According to Korean media, Samsung will most likely permanently stop selling the new smartphone in the near future.
Illustration copyright AFP Image caption Smartphone scandal could seriously damage Samsung's reputation, experts sayWhy do they explode?
Samsung uses the standard lithium-ion batteries that the entire industry uses - what makes them so dangerous?
It is important to understand the design features of such batteries. They contain a cathode, anode and lithium.
The cathode and anode are separated by an organic liquid electrolyte and a porous separator membrane.
Lithium moves through the pores of this membrane between the cathode and anode.
If the battery is charged too quickly, it generates a lot of heat and lithium flakes can form around the anode, which can cause a short circuit.
Other defects that can lead to a short circuit include the presence of contaminants in the form of small amounts of metal or miniature holes in the smartphone body, which appear after several charges as a result of thermal deformation.
How did this affect the company?
The scandal with smartphones has already led to a drop in the capitalization of the Korean company.
Just two days after the scandal began, Samsung shares fell by $158. Based on the number of shares outstanding, the company's market value fell by more than $22 billion in early September.
On Tuesday, amid news of a repeated recall of defective phones, the company's shares fell by 8%.
As technology analyst Andrew Milrow points out, the exploding phone scandal comes at the worst possible time for Samsung.
"Samsung has been catching up with its competitors. But this catastrophic mistake will seriously damage the company's position in the smartphone market," Millrow told the BBC.
The current fiasco, according to experts, could have an extremely negative impact on the degree of consumer confidence in the company's products.
Not gadgets in general, but new products that have now entered the market and have successfully become popular among people.
In particular, today we will talk about Samsung and apple mobile phones.
Surely, many of you have seen on the Internet, or in the news of Channel One, terrible things that happen because of brand new expensive gadgets.
As was shown just a couple of weeks ago, Samsung gadgets quite often explode, resulting in a car fire, burns, fear, and simply unpleasant news for any owner of an exploding smartphone.
Which phones often explode? This question has become quite popular on the Internet and now I will try to make some selection of gadgets and companies that missed something in their developments and made a fairly large number of defective devices and put them on the market.
Now, I just want to express my opinion about these problems and I would really like to hear your opinion about the explosions of gadgets in the hands, pockets, or on chargers of their owners.
Now, the situation at Samsung has worsened and their brand new Galaxy s7 began to explode in large quantities, which forced the company to recall the entire series from sales in stores. Yes, a big blow to the company.
From the video above it is clear that even replacing the batteries with new ones did not solve any problems. Phones have exploded and continue to explode.
What is their problem? Purely my opinion - poor quality power controllers. But, alternatively, it could be a firmware defect, incorrect processor synchronization, or maybe it’s just a defect that every company has, but the percentage of defects turned out to be catastrophic for an entire line of smartphones.
What do you think about it?
Also, recently, with the arrival of the new apple iphome 7, there have been cases of explosions from this company.
From the video it is clear that new items are also susceptible to explosions in pockets and on chargers. If you believe this video, then according to the data, one guy’s phone exploded due to charging with an adapter from an iPod, but was this precisely the cause of the battery explosion, or was it something else?
There is also a case where a schoolgirl’s iPhone exploded and began to melt right in her pocket during class, in the back pocket of her jeans. The girl was saved from severe burns, but what happens to the equipment?
Also, while writing the article, I had another opinion.
Galaxy7 and iphone7 share water resistance. Perhaps this is one of some factors of explosions? Perhaps the battery is not ventilated, thereby causing overheating and explosion in the future?
What do you think about it? Imagine being pushed into a plastic case, into which neither water nor air simply gets in, in general, nothing gets to you. How long can you last like this? I think no.
Well, I have several positions on this matter. Perhaps the company begins to save on its new products, because it needs to be a leader and offer new products at affordable prices, thereby companies simply begin to save and purchase components in bulk from dubious wholesalers.
It is possible that all these explosions actually occur in new products due to a complete vacuum, because batteries tend to heat up, and if there is no air, then it is quite problematic for them to release heat quickly. Accordingly, the battery overheats and explodes.
Also, there is a possibility that gadgets explode due to some kind of mechanical influence. An example would be long-term use, and we all know that if you use a gadget for a long time, the back cover over the battery gets very hot, after which you shove it into your pocket, where the phone does not have sufficient heat transfer, and also gets some deformations, which, due to its thicknesses are now very easy to obtain.
My dear friends. I would like to hear your opinion on such situations with brand new gadgets. You can also discuss which phones often explode, in addition to these devices that were in today’s article.
Well that's all for today. It was interesting to simply write my thoughts about this problem, which received publicity on the first channel of Russian television.
I wish everyone good luck with gadgets, long charges and reliable batteries. Thank you for your attention, I look forward to your comments on the article.
What brand is your mobile phone? I have an Iphone and it’s probably the most reliable assistant I’ve ever had, and I probably won’t go back to a Windows phone, and certainly not to an Android one.
The phone itself will never explode; the battery powering it, which is now most often a lithium ion battery, can explode.
The number of cases of explosions of gadgets containing such batteries has increased in recent years so much that lithium ion and simple lithium batteries have been recognized as dangerous cargo, and since the beginning of 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization has banned the transportation of such batteries to cargo compartments of passenger aircraft. At the same time, gadget batteries can be carried with you in the cabin, however, they must meet certain conditions: have a lithium content of up to two grams and a power of no more than 100 W/hour.
How does this happen?
Canadian scientists from the company CLS wondered what happens inside the battery at the moment of explosion? They were able to look inside the battery and published their observations in the Journal of the Electrical Engineering Society in Canada. It turned out that everything happens due to a short circuit inside the power source: the lithium anode (positive electrode of the battery) reacts with the electrolyte. The battery begins to heat up, the material from which the cathode is made (negative electrode) is connected to the process, and after the battery warms up to two hundred degrees, a sharp release of oxygen occurs,carbon dioxide and other gases. The battery is swelling. Often the matter is limited to this, but in some cases the process goes further: toThe oxygen ignites due to the temperature and a small explosion occurs. This is dangerous for humans, primarily due to burns and minor injuries, and for the environment – due to fire. There have been cases when cars and furniture in apartments burned due to a telephone explosion. Eyewitnesses say that the phones not only burn, but also “boil with chemicals” and can damage other devices or wires that are nearby. But why do they explode?
Charger
Scientists from the Institute of Solid State Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) believe that an explosion of a lithium-ion battery can occur for several reasons, including due to the charger.
The battery may be damaged if you use the wrong charger when charging your phone. Different manufacturers make battery electrodes from different materials and their charging speed is different. Some batteries can withstand charging at an increased speed, others, alas, cannot. If you connect the battery to an outlet using a more powerful “charger,” its partial destruction may occur: with a higher current, the inappropriate material heats up and the battery fails. This may not appear outwardly, but later the battery explodes.
Chip failure
Another reason is the failure of the device, which is required to monitor the charge level on the gadget. This is a tiny chip that monitors the charge level and prevents the battery from exceeding it: if it is exceeded, it simply turns it off. It will do the same if the phone overheats. But if the chip fails, expect trouble.
Mechanical damage to the battery
The researchers concluded that most often phones or smartphones explode due to mechanical failure of the battery. A breakdown can happen unnoticed - you dropped the battery on the floor while disassembling the device, or your child “played” with it. To damage the integrity of the battery inside, just try to bend it - and failure is guaranteed. According to statistics, several smartphones caught fire after their owners got into an accident or even simply fell off a bicycle. There is a known case when a smartphone caught fire in the cabin of an airplane: the owner dropped it on the floor in the aisle and stepped on it.
Canadian scientists also warn about damage: during experiments they saw that the destruction of the battery begins from those places where there was even the slightest violation of the integrity of the electrodes.
Manufacturing defect
Most often, consumers do not know where, who, or at which factory exactly the batteries that are used in gadgets are made, and the manufacturer sometimes tries to save money and buys cheap products. Tiny damage caused by an incompetent worker, a violation of technology, small particles of metal or other components that get into the electrolyte - all this can cause an emergency.
How to avoid this?
The measures are simple: you need to use only the charger that comes with the phone, handle the battery carefully, do not drop the phone, pay attention to the charging speed: if it suddenly speeds up, it means the battery is failing.
You need to pay attention to the temperature of the phone: if it gets very hot in a short time, then this is a bad sign.
You need to carefully put the battery compartment cover in place: if it fits into the grooves with difficulty, it may turn out that your battery is already swollen and dangerous to use.
Unfortunately, evolution in the battery industry is very slow. Russian scientists consider lithium-iron-phosphate batteries to be the safest, but for some reason they don’t make such batteries small.
The most serious incidents with telephones in our country occurred in Primorye, where a telephone caught fire in the hands of a schoolgirl right in class (the child received burns to his arms and legs and was hospitalized) and in Novosibirsk, where a telephone exploded in a crane operator’s cabin, marveling high above the earth.
