this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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Oh, it will help, but only for a very short amount of time. Those metals will get pretty hot, the expanding steam will make the water splash out of the bucket and the rest of it will evaporate quickly. The fire will only stop, if the battery reaches a temperature of about 70°C (158°F). For that you need a lot of cooling material.
Yesterday in the news was a fire of a Tesla car battery, needing 36.000 gallons of water to extinguish it. They had to use two hose (the big ones) for over one hour to have it under control.
So if you put a small battery in a pool, then you are safe, I absolutely agree. I only criticize the wrong assumption that a bucket of salt water is the „only safe way“ to handle a battery.
Sorry but that is nonsense. There is not even nearly enough energy in a laptop battery to empty a bucket of water. There is not even enough heat to warm the water a significant amount, which is why it can not even get to the point of a runaway reaction to begin with. The internal short just dissipates the energy slowly, without any spectacular event. Regardless of salt content, but salt would indeed help discharge the battery even without a fault.
And of course there are other ways to handle a battery (regardless of it's health) safely.
Look, I‘m no scientist. I just see the effects in real life. Obviously the amount of material affects the energy effectively released. One job of our fire department is to spread awareness and in those messages, you are better on the safe side and be extra cautious. If you are a scientist or know exactly what you are doing, feel free to handle it the way you want to. Based on the message of OP I knew they were inexperienced. That‘s why I would never recommend solutions which are not super clear and super safe. Water and battery can work - but it can also clearly fail if done wrong.
At the scale of a laptop battery, just putting it somewhere without flammables around is sufficient. A bucket of water will absolutely stop anything from happening due to the strong cooling effect. This is not a car battery where water can not actually reach the individual cells. However, I also understand your concerns.
But if I should think of a way for a random person to deal with a dangerous battery in an enclosed space, a bucket of water would be very high on the list. Even if it is already burning.