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> After reading up on the matter it seems that lithium batteries can swell... People really need to be educated on battery chemistry when they buy battery oper

> After reading up on the matter it seems that lithium batteries can swell... People really need to be educated on battery chemistry when they buy battery operated products. Here's a programmer, so I assume he has some technical abilities/interests, and yet even he doesn't seem to know that some batteries can do this.

josefresco 10y ago
How would one educated on battery chemistry do anything different? The author states "however with the newer unibody laptops there is no way you can see this swelling happening." You can't see it swelling so there's no actionable item here.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  In this case he happened to handle it pretty well. Educating people that this CAN happen will allow them to handle it when it does happen. Most people probably would not handle it this well. Actually, the touch pad tends to pop up when the batteries start swelling. It may not have in this case, but it's common enough that people get _some_ warning.
k-mcgrady 10y ago
>> People really need to be educated on battery chemistry when they buy battery operated products. Or it should be illegal to sell products that can catch fire/explode. I admit to knowing nothing about battery tech but if there were suddenly massive penalties for exploding batteries I don't think it would be long until we had a workable solution. It should not be up to a consumer buying a phone/laptop to learn about how their battery works and how to identify a potentially dangerous situation.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  > Or it should be illegal to sell products that can catch fire/explode. You own a vehicle?
  - laythea 10y ago
    "during normal use"...
- imaginenore 10y ago
  Half the products in your house can potentially explode, even the food. Flour is known to blow up whole factories. Powdered sugar too.
jedikv 10y ago
We have been...just right now the prevailing 'wisdom' is based upon a time when NiCad batteries were popular. Battery tech has changed faster than the time it takes for that info to be updated within the public consciousness

josefresco 10y ago

How would one educated on battery chemistry do anything different? The author states "however with the newer unibody laptops there is no way you can see this swelling happening." You can't see it swelling so there's no actionable item here.

JustSomeNobody 10y ago
In this case he happened to handle it pretty well. Educating people that this CAN happen will allow them to handle it when it does happen. Most people probably would not handle it this well. Actually, the touch pad tends to pop up when the batteries start swelling. It may not have in this case, but it's common enough that people get _some_ warning.

k-mcgrady 10y ago

>> People really need to be educated on battery chemistry when they buy battery operated products. Or it should be illegal to sell products that can catch fire/explode. I admit to knowing nothing about battery tech but if there were suddenly massive penalties for exploding batteries I don't think it would be long until we had a workable solution. It should not be up to a consumer buying a phone/laptop to learn about how their battery works and how to identify a potentially dangerous situation.

JustSomeNobody 10y ago
> Or it should be illegal to sell products that can catch fire/explode. You own a vehicle?
- laythea 10y ago
  "during normal use"...
imaginenore 10y ago
Half the products in your house can potentially explode, even the food. Flour is known to blow up whole factories. Powdered sugar too.

jedikv 10y ago

We have been...just right now the prevailing 'wisdom' is based upon a time when NiCad batteries were popular. Battery tech has changed faster than the time it takes for that info to be updated within the public consciousness