Dell and Apple Computer announced massive recalls of laptop computer batteries in the summertime of 2006, followed by Toshiba and Lenovo. Under the right circumstances, these batteries could overheat, potentially causing burns, an explosion or a fire.
To understand why that happened, it is helpful to know a little bit about how batteries work.
Batteries have a negatively charged terminal and a positively charged terminal. In a battery, energy from electrochemical reactions causes electrons (negatively charged particles) to collect at the laptop battery dell negatively charged pole. Charged particles are drawn to opposite charge, so in the event you connect a battery to a circuit, the electrons will flow from the negative pole, through the circuit and to the battery positively charged pole. In other words, the battery generates a moving charge, or electricity.
The exact reaction that generates the electrons varies, depending on the type of battery. In a lithium-ion battery, you will find pressurized containers that house a coil of metal and a flammable, lithium-containing liquid. The manufacturing method creates tiny pieces of metal that float in the liquid. Manufacturers can not prevent these metal fragments, but nice manufacturing techniques limit their size and number.
The cells of a lithium-ion battery also contain separators that keep the anodes and cathodes, or positive and negative poles, from touching each other.
