Here is why your smartphones may explode?

 

 

After Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 7 became a mole in its long line of successful products due to overheating and explosions, smartphones from different manufacturers have been reported to have caught fire and explosion in the recent past. The most recent case being, Reliance LYF bursting into flames and almost causing serious injury to its owner who posted a photo on a popular social media that has attracted much attention. A LYF spokesman has responded to this matter and has commented that an investigation is underway. 

 

 

What was considered as a rare possibility once upon a time has become a regular phenomenon and with Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 debacle the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been forced to ban this phone on flight due to safety concern. Samsung, on the other hand, had to recall its devices after multiple reports of the battery explosion were reported from all over the world. 

 

 

As a matter of fact, Samsung was not the first manufacturer of a device that explodes. Earlier also there were multiple reports of phone explosion and battery defects that have grabbed the headlines of newspapers. 

 

 

But, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle is considered to be one of the costliest product safety failures and has a become a legend among online memes and trolls. 

 

 

Now the question that everybody wants an answer of is what is making the phones explode??

 

 

Scientifically speaking, the power source of a phone is lithium ion battery packs, and the liquid that swims around most of the lithium ion batteries is highly flammable. Now, inside the battery, there is a thin plastic sheet that separates the positive and negative sides and a puncture on that sheet can create a path that is the least resistance to electricity flow. This leads to heating of the inflammable liquid electrolyte on that puncture area and if it gets heated up quickly than an explosion is caused. 

 

 

In other words, any phone that used the lithium ion battery pack is at the risk of explosion and no manufacturer can guarantee the consumers against it as long as they use this battery. 

 

 

If you are wondering why the phone manufacturers are still using this dangerous battery pack is because, lithium ion battery pack is much smaller in size, light in weight, and more efficient in terms of its performance as compared to its alternatives. 

 

 

Coming to Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the phone that becomes synonym with explosion. Initial investigation shows that, while manufacturing Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the company by mistake must have squeezed its battery a bit harder than it should have. In simple words, Samsung put extra pressure on the sheet inside the lithium ion battery causing a puncture, leading to contact of positive and negative power that eventually caught fire due to sudden heat up.

 

 

What you can do? There is practically nothing that the users can do to prevent the debacle. At present, government and international bodies are looking to regulate the usage of lithium ion batteries so prevent further damages, and until then users have to be extra cautious with their smartphones.