Batteries

[eric100]

2 days ago for no obvious reason a battery exploded. This battery was in a small pot with a couple of other batteries but they were not toching in any way.They were resting on a shelf no where near a heat source. the force of the explosion shattered the pot and left pieces of battery between 2/3 feet away. Any ideas

[treaclefight]

spooky eric, poltergeist? incitatus' mother in law? (see previous questions for the mother in law problem) :-D

[Zwanzig]

Was it made by a reputable manufacturer?? It could just be age, but none of the good brands (say Duracell etc) should even leak nowadays due to design. Probably one of those things. Slightly alarming if it blew up a plant pot though. Perhaps with enough of them you could leave a sackful outside an ex's house and await a result?? :-D

[Gef]

They must have been touching and short cicuited. I know eric 100 says they were not but did he watch them 24 hour a day?

[treaclefight]

the other half (who is right clever when it comes to blowing stuff up) says that batteries subjected to temperature fluctuations become very volatile, the temperature change does not have to be great, just enough to start the chemicals turning into gases, then cooling and then slight heating again, do it enough times and you have a tiny hand grenade. its reasonable to assume you have you turned the central heating on in last few weeks and that this has started the chain of events. :-)

[treaclefight]

other half also reckons they were probably touching and this is what caused rupture, force of explosion being down to gases produced inside by temperature changes (thankfully he's quite thick when it comes to other stuff :-D)