March 20, 2017 (Monday)
Got batteries? What kind? 12 Volt (Car battery)?. 1.5 Volt (Flashlight)? “A,” “AA,” “AAA?” Nine Volt (rectangular)? Or perhaps something else. They all get their description in “volts” from a fellow named Alessandro Volta, who invented the electric battery in 1799.
There’s probably a battery in your wrist watch. There’s likely one in your thermostat that controls your home temperature. Of course there’s one called a “Lithium battery” that powers your smart phone.
Just the other day a lady, listening to her own personal headphones while in flight on an airliner, suddenly felt heat when the battery acted up, so she grabbed it and threw it to the floor but not until it had burned her face and neck and caught fire. A faulty battery caused the accident.
The culprit in most battery explosions is the Lithium battery. Not all are faulty, but some are.
The Lithium battery is not likely to dumped as a source of power, but obviously more work needs to be done to insure that the one you use is safe. One should “keep his ear to the ground” and stay abreast of alerts and recalls for faulty products.
There’s no going back from our technological revolution, which grows in size daily, but we should make sure we stay in touch with the latest information regarding safety.