A small fire ignited in the robotics room last Wednesday night with evidence pointing towards a charging battery as the cause. Two types of batteries were in the robotics supply room closet when the fire broke out: standard batteries and lithium ion batteries.

Lithium ion batteries are notorious for sparking fires and on some occasions exploding. In 2006, a recall of nearly six million Sony lithium ion battery packs was issued after several batteries caused fires or imploded. Subsequent investigations showed that the dangerous anomalies resulted from different metallic components of the battery accidentally touching and causing a short circuit.

Although lithium ion batteries are now less likely to cause fires, they can still be triggered by charging at extremely low temperatures, shaking prior to use and storing at extremely high temperatures.

Dolan Dworak (12) designed a company in his sophomore year for DECA that produced special containers for lithium ion batteries that mitigated the damage done in the case of an explosion. This idea carried him and his team to become finalists at ICDC, the International Career Development Conference. Dolan emphasizes his inspiration for the company was the potential harm faulty batteries could cause.

“In the year that we launched the company alone, there have been countless home fires, batteries even took down three full size cargo planes, and obviously the faulty Samsung phones were in circulation so the batteries are potentially deadly,” Dolan said.

After long periods of usage, batteries are also known to leak acid, which is especially dangers to the skin and eye. Breathing in the leaked chemicals has also been proven to cause brain and kidney damage.

In order to prevent future battery hazards, batteries must be properly stored in cool and dry places where they have no chance of overheating. Batteries and their respective equipment should also be stored separately as to not drain the batteries and reduce harmful acid or chemical leaks due to prolonged stress. However, the overwhelming majority of battery mishaps happen do to extremely rare defects in the battery that the average consumer would not be able recognize nor prevent.

Alejandro Osorio, an upper school technician, highlighted the danger of leaked chemicals after using batteries for too long.

“If removable double A and triple A batteries are left inside devices where they are actively producing a current for too long, that is when they are by far the worst as they can corrode over time due to the acid inside of them,” Osorio said. “Depending on the type of battery, chemicals such as calcium and other debris will leak out from inside the battery, and people should never touch these chemicals since they can still harm you.”