Nickel-cadmium laptop batteries are toxic, as are many other batteries, but how hard an impact force can they survive and not leak their toxic contents?
Internet wisdom seems to be that “If you don’t see anything obviously leaking, all’s good and safe,” but is that too simplistic? And how do you clean up if your nickel-cadmium battery did get smashed hard enough to leak?
As long as the battery case isn’t punctured, or not grossly deformed, they aren’t going to leak.
At least not very much - there is an over-pressure vent in most NiCds that tend to leak a bit all the time (hence the white “fuzz”). The electrolyte in NiCds is Potassium Hydroxide, a strong base (lye), but it’s not super-toxic or that dangerous. Just wear gloves and wipe up the spill with a paper towel. If you really wanted to make sure there was no residue, spray with some Vinegar, but that might cause more corrosion than just leaving the KOH residue in place.
If you genuinely thought your battery was compromised, I’d be far more worried about a fire or explosion than anything on the MSDSsheet. Youtube has some exciting videos of NiCd (and even more for LiPo) battery failures.
Certainly your laptop is going to be extremely destroyed by the time the batteries become a worry.
Do they still make Ni-Cad laptop batteries? I’d have thought they’d all gone to lithium ion or lithium polymer long ago.
The battery on my laptop says “Nickel-Cadmium.”
What year is it from? 1984?