# Do lithium phone batteries really explode like grenades? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2017, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335 "2017-07-02T08:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/1 "2017-07-02T08:23:52Z")
Well, there are lots of comments on the note seven meme on the internet that have lots of people comparing the burnout to a grenade. How is this even remotely similar, though? I also overheard a couple of people the other day saying that they don’t trust lithium batteries and they might replace their phone batteries with a nimh equivalent which would be much heavier and bUlkier. They said that had a friend who was working on his phone when the battery exploded like a sick of TNT and actually blew him to smithereens and there was nothing left of him except for thumb sized bits of flesh scattered around the place. However, I also saw someone on the internet say that their friends was killed by a acid battery. They said it exploded and a single fragment of shrapnel flew into his jugular and he died. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/2 "2017-07-02T10:46:04Z")
People exaggerate. ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/3 "2017-07-02T11:29:40Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > People exaggerate. They weren’t exaggerating, they were serious. There were other people agreeing with them, exclaiming things like “oh my god i know right wow it’s a wonder how we survive at all right all these so called “brilliant inventions” are just soooo dangerous, wow (lol) even the most apparently benign things are reeeeally dangerous wow.” Plus I’ve seen plenty of people say things like that. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/4 "2017-07-02T13:09:37Z")
They are still exaggerating. First of all, did they have first hand experienced of a grenade explosion for comparison? No. They’re just talking shit. People make stuff up, make things sound bigger and better (or worse) than real life, etc. People on the internet say lots of stuff. _Sometimes_ it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/5 "2017-07-02T13:12:01Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zqV6zEO7hEQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Li-Ion battery explosion") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqV6zEO7hEQ) Here is a lithium battery “exploding”, nothing like a grenade. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/6 "2017-07-02T13:29:24Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > They are still exaggerating. > > First of all, did they have first hand experienced of a grenade explosion for comparison? No. They’re just talking shit. People make stuff up, make things sound bigger and better (or worse) than real life, etc. People on the internet say lots of stuff. _Sometimes_ it’s true. And even grenades (I don’t think) don’t leave nothing but thumb-sized chunks. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/7 "2017-07-02T14:04:05Z")
I seen video produced by the NTSB of what happens when a nail pierces a lithium battery pack. It is quite spectacular. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/8 "2017-07-02T14:54:12Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > They weren’t exaggerating, they were serious. There were other people agreeing with them, exclaiming things like “oh my god i know right wow it’s a wonder how we survive at all right all these so called “brilliant inventions” are just soooo dangerous, wow (lol) even the most apparently benign things are reeeeally dangerous wow.” Plus I’ve seen plenty of people say things like that. Why don’t you ever quote these “people” who are “saying” things so that we can see the originals and put them in context? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/9 "2017-07-02T17:17:19Z")
As for people dying by exploding Lead-acid batteries, that I could believe. They generate Hydrogen gas when charging, and that can explode and send pieces of the case flying at dangerous speeds. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/10 "2017-07-02T17:21:13Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > However, I also saw someone on the internet say that their friends was killed by a acid battery. They said it exploded and a single fragment of shrapnel flew into his jugular and he died. This is a bit more plausible. Lead/acid batteries (like a car battery) give off hydrogen gas, and should it collect in high enough concentration and if there’s a spark (like when you connect jumper cables) you can cause one to explode. That’s why, when jump starting a car, they tell you to make the last connection to a ground away from the battery. It happened to a friend of mine (not the jugular and dying part, just the exploding part). He had a new car, and on about the 3rd or 4th day, it didn’t start. No electrical power at all. He popped the hood, and wiggled the battery connection. There was a flaw in the battery where one of the post didn’t make a good connection internally, and it went boom. He got an acid bath. He was at home when it happened, and he had sense enough to run into the shower and rinse off. It missed his face (and eyes), and the only damage was to his clothes. The car also survived, just a little discoloration in the engine compartment. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/11 "2017-07-02T17:22:20Z")
I gotta learn to type faster ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/12 "2017-07-02T17:27:02Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Here is a lithium battery "exploding", nothing like a grenade. What do the smoke/fumes consist of? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lithium-phone-batteries-really-explode-like-grenades/790335/13 "2017-07-02T17:44:47Z")
It looks like OP is gone but there was a fantastic episode of the …fantastic show NOVA that originally aired a few months ago. The show details much of the current state of the art and has a lot of battery explosion footage. It seems to be on youtube. > **[Search for the Super Battery](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/search-for-the-super-battery/)** > > Explore the hidden world of energy storage and how it holds the keys to a greener future.