this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Don't car batteries contain strong acid? Before jumping into the bathtub I'd want to make sure that the battery isn't leaking.
It says EV battery (because politics), rather than a traditional 12v car battery. The latter is usually lead acid, while the former is usually lithium-ion (LiFePO4 or Li-NMC)
That's a good point, and lithium batteries get sparky when the lithium gets exposed. In the boat example I'm not going to worry too much about lead acid batteries, if they leak it should dilute quickly. Honestly unless punctured, I'm not going to worry about the lithium batteries really either. You typically find out about punctures in those rather quickly. Like before the water is the issue.
Is lithium+water similarly explosive as sodium+water?
Yes but no. Chemically pure lithium reacts vere energetically with water. The stuff in batteries reacts too, but it's more like an unextinguishable toxic hellflare than an explosion. Pretty sure the batteries just keep burning under the water until the lithium is all gone.
Thanks for the explanation
I don't think they'll burn under water. The main reason battery fires are hard to extinguish is because at high temperatures, metal oxides in them decompose and release oxygen gas. So you can't extinguish the fire, but you can try to cool it down.
This deck on the NASA website illustrates that very little oxygen is released from a single cell
Per this video:
Submersing it in the ocean would probably cool it very quickly and put it out.