Exploding Electric Bicycles

[Weatherman2020]

Why not?
What’s pathetic is I see mostly younger people using e bikes.
Remember this the next time you get some rain on your next ride:

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO RECHARGE A LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACK THAT HAS BEEN PARTIALLY OR TOTALLY SUBMERGED IN WATER.

ATTEMPTING TO CHARGE A COMPROMISED LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACK CAN RESULT IN A VERY DANGEROUS FIRE THAT GENERATES SIGNIFICANT HEAT, TOXIC GASSES AND IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO CONTROL.

Please consult with your insurance company to see whether the eBike was covered by your homeowner’s policy.

Exploding Electric Bicycles

Steve recently wrote: One of the first things I teach students on the first day of energy policy classes I have taught is how energy density works, and how a battery is a device to store energy at high densities. But at a certain point, when you increase the energy density enough, we don’t call...

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[Crick]

In my high school chemistry class, the teacher did a demonstration that I imagine wouldn't be allowed these days. He had some pure sodium metal - a chunk about the size of the end of your finger. It burns in contact with water and has a lot of similarities with lithium. For his demo he dropped a tiny piece into a beaker of water where it burned merrily. He then made the unwise move of leaving the classroom with the sodium sitting on his table in a small bottle filled with some sort of oil. A not very bright classmate named Mark L ran up there and got the sodium out with a pair of tweezers and then dropped it into the sink which had a couple inches of water in it. He stood there over the sink watching as the sodium skittered back and forth across the water until with a good "POP", the piece exploded. This put several thankfully very small fragments INTO Mark's face where they burned merrily away due to the moisture in his blood I suppose. He screamed REALLY loudly (I hate to be sexist but, like a little girl). The teacher came charging back in, assayed the situation, sent the student nearest the door to the office to call for an ambulance, simultaneously throwing Mark down on the floor. He poured that oil onto his wounds and began trying to dig the remaining fragments out of his face with the tweezers. Mark's screaming went on for some time. All in all a pretty dramatic classroom experience.