22 replies to this topic

[fallen101]

I was reading some news articles this morning this one caught my eye. Allegedly caught on video, his iphone explodes! take a look for yourself.


http://news.cnet.com.../?tag=cnetRiver

Click here to view the article

[Shaker]

Fake, such a thick smoke! it fits a burned tyre rather than a phone ^^

[eep357]

I say fake too. Video is a bit to shaky for a permanently mounted CCT camera, and I've never seen something mostly made of glass and aluminum create that much smoke, it would burn your leg before ever getting to the point of smoke and fire anyway.

[Deltac0]

I'm from Finland (the original article is Finnish) and I think the video is true. That guy was just going to his workplace.
The video is shaky because the journalist (or whatever) recorded it from a screen with only hands, the camera wasn't mounted.
I don't know why he didn't just take the tape or something.

[eep357]

I prefer my hot pockets to be ham and cheese anyway

[fallen101]

eep357 xDDD

[syntax21]

it seems its a camera recording the screen of a cctv screen, so that part seems legit. Not sure about the phone exploding though.

[DoiX]

I forgot my iphone 4 in the car for 5 hours (temperature being over 60ºC inside - note to self, park in the goddamn shade) when i returned, it was still functioning, not even the "too hot" warning although i couldn't hold it in my hands.
I'm inclined to say the video is true, i've seen phones "set on fire", the smoke is similar to what we can observe in the video and it's caused by the battery chemicals interacting with the rest of the phone. I suppose the iphone is more susceptible to this because the battery is not detachable (one may even call it flimsy) compared to other brands.

[TH3L4UGH1NGM4N]

The iPhone battery is detachable to some extent as there is only a screw (or 2 for the 4S) that holds the battery connector on.  If you have a spare iPhone 4 /4S battery lying around, you can poke a sharp object and see smoke indeed spring out of it as I've tried this twice while bored.  Smoke was short but a good deal came out after I poked it a few times.

[mlstudio]

Bad Fake

[tomazzzi]

bbbbbuuuuuullllshhhhiiiittttt

[oSxFr33k]

Actually it is believable.  Have you ever seen what happens to a Lithium batter when you try to solder it to wires or back to metal which if anyone who would do this would be insane.

It will explode violently.  If anything shorted the battery it could cause a cascade event and eventually explode.  No fuse in the world would ever stop it!!

[oSxFr33k]

Heat basically is what I mean by this not just a plain short.  Heat like from a soldering iron.  So if it got too hot inside I guess there is a very very very small chance it could cause some cascade event.

[oSxFr33k]

Not saying the battery in the iphone is this type but have a look at this.  

[TheNavigator]

Well, it's true. A friend had a short circuit with some batteries and it was the same result. I'm just wondering, what would cause a short circuit in an iPhone?

I don't think it's fake, but maybe it's made up.

oSxFr33k, on 12 July 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

Not saying the battery in the iphone is this type but have a look at this.  

That's much. You need a really high current to make something like this. REALLY HIGH...

[eep357]

I'll concede that a short between the layers in a lithium ion cell can lead to instant flamage. Usually this only happens if there has been physical damage to the battery like bending a cell or a puncture in the cell's flimsy wrapping, so if he bought one of those fix your own screen kits before this than that's on him (defective spludger maybe ). Apple batteries aren't immune to problems though. I've had 2 macbook battery packs swell up because half the cells in them (made by Sanyo btw) had puffed up like pillows. They did not short, but are very susceptible to doing so in this state, but iphone would split in half before they could swell that much.

[TheNavigator]

eep357, on 13 July 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

I'll concede that a short between the layers in a lithium ion cell can lead to instant flamage. Usually this only happens if there has been physical damage to the battery like bending a cell or a puncture in the cell's flimsy wrapping, so if he bought one of those fix your own screen kits before this than that's on him (defective spludger maybe ). Apple batteries aren't immune to problems though. I've had 2 macbook battery packs swell up because half the cells in them (made by Sanyo btw) had puffed up like pillows. They did not short, but are very susceptible to doing so in this state, but iphone would split in half before they could swell that much.

For the split in half thing, I don't believe so. IMO, iPhone's battery isn't that powerful to generate that much heat, but it can generate that much smoke.

[eep357]

I can assure you, when they swell up, they can split an iPhone in half no problem.

[PunkNugget]

After viewing the vid of the "exploding" iPhone, it seems too obvious to me; the slow stroll, like he was waiting for something to happen. It just looks too planned and thought out and how he was perfectly positioned in the center of the cameras range for that situation to happen, again seems planned...

The other thing that is obvious to me is the "security camera" movement. It looks like someone was holding a camcorder and trying hard not to move. Real security cameras are stationary and don't move at all as they're screwed in and/or mounted to a solid part of the building. Anyway, that's my take on it... "Trust but verify" is the mindset that I have when it comes to stuff like this...

PS - I will say though that rechargeable batteries DO have that kind of power that (although very rare) they can explode and do some major damage. Here's a perfect example of "cannon-like" disaster here with an 18650 batt (common rechargeable batt for many kinds of LED flashlights):

http://www.candlepow...3000mA-exploded

Look at what it did to this man's hands and arm and what it did to the coffee maker. Exploding batts are no joke (as eep357 mentioned and showed a pic of). Imagine if that 18650 rechargeable batt was pointed near that man's face or neck. I couldn't imagine that.

Later... :-)

[Shaker]

we're talking about the video guys, not about wether rechargable batteries can explode and cause such a damage or not, even if it's true that they can explode that way. the video above (of the iphone) is ABSOLUTLY tricky. now the question is.. for what purpose the video makers attacked the iphone? hatred?  jealousy?