iPhone Auto-Combusts On Australian Airplane 277
First time accepted submitter thegreymonkey writes "Last Friday, an iPhone caught fire on flight ZL319 operating from Lismore to Sydney. This incident is under investigation from Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). This accident might be related to the iPhone battery again." Whether it "caught fire" may be a matter of semantics; as reported in the above linked story and by Network World (hat tip to reader alphadogg), though, the iPhone "started glowing red and emitting dense smoke."
Re:First post (Score:1, Informative)
In the past four days you've posted more than 50 times, and have been modded up fewer than 10. Perhaps it's time you realize you're not as funny or interesting as you think you are and you don't need to share with us every goddamn thought that comes into your head.
Re:Car DVD PLayer (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like hardware with inadequate fusing.
Any power adapter should be able to survive a complete short on the output if it is designed properly.
Re:The airlines were right... (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, let's put them all in luggage in the back of the plane where if one catches fire it will probably set most of the cargo on fire and take down the plane. If it starts to go up in someone's pocket they'll notice it a hell of a lot faster and it can be isolated and dealt with in a safe and timely manner.
Re:From XKCD to life?? (Score:5, Informative)
Water is the correct response to a lithium ion powered consumer device fire, as shown in this FAA-video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6KA_Si-m8
The purpose of the water is to cool down the batteries to prevent thermal run-away.
Re:wow (Score:4, Informative)
Well the problem was exactly that they couldn't get it any cooler. They tried to blow on it and turn it off, but it was still red-hot.
Re:From XKCD to life?? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, the standard "Do not use water with electrical fires" is based on the danger of electrocution. 'Throwing' water on something would work fine as there is no stream connecting you to the electrified component.
Absolutely amazing this statement has been modded insightful. Apparently mods have no further understanding of electrical fires than the poster.
Not putting water on an electrical fire has little to do with electrocution, although that is a valid concern for the responders dealing with the situation. Water is fine to put out the subsequent fire - say if the circuit board, plastic housing, or something else is on fire. However, if the electrical components that created the fire are still energized, dumping a conductive liquid on it is a stupid act. You will have a much larger problem before you have dumped enough water to create a viable electrocution hazard.
Re:From XKCD to life?? (Score:2, Informative)
actually, I worked at a battery company for a while. Yes, at first, the water reacts with the anode, and will cause more heat and reactions to happen. However, they found that a sufficient quantity of water (if you have a way to direct a large amount of water at it, don't just toss a single bucket at it) is actually a good way to put out a battery fire, the water does suck the heat out from it, and eventually you've reacted away all the stuff in the battery.