With everything good thing that exists, there is always some opposing bad that goes with it. When talking about lithium-ion batteries, the good is the much-publicized capabilities of them as well as their eco-friendly properties. However, on the flip-side, they are a very dangerous fire hazard as demonstrated earlier this year by NASA.
In June this year, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, researchers came
unstuck a little when installing a new lithium-ion battery onto its RoboSimian and proceeding to charge it. Unfortunately for the NASA workers and anyone else nearby, the battery suddenly exploded without warning and completely burnt the poor robot to a crisp. So, as useful as lithium-ion batteries are, they are dangerous little beasts as well.
It’s not the first time there’s been a lithium-ion battery fire either. There seems to have been a spate of them recently after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 disaster, but NASA’s mishap just goes to show how extreme the fire can be. The fire was obviously heightened due to the fact that the bot had 96 batteries, but any fire is obviously not good. Exact details of the fire are yet to be disclosed by NASA in their final report about the investigation, but there is speculation that points to a damaged cell on the battery that became overcharged and ended up catching fire. So, if this is the first time you’ve heard about the lithium-ion battery fires then A) where have you been? B) It may be time to ditch that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 now.
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