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26-02-2016, 12:49 PM
4 Places Never to Keep Your Cell Phone
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably worried about dropping and breaking your cell phone, leaving yourself incommunicado. But you may not have thought much about the battery. Cell phone batteries are pretty durable, but if something goes wrong, they can malfunction and overheat — with surprising consequences.
Though your cell phone probably won’t explode, it might get damaged. “Batteries pack a lot of power into a small area,” says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at UL. “If something does go wrong, causing a short circuit, the battery can pass a current internally that can heat the internal chemistry of the battery,” he says. What’s more, says Drengenberg, heat causes expansion, and that can cause breakage internally.
“That’s why a lot of batteries have a mechanism to notice heat pressure and allow it to escape, like a teapot that whistles.” Your cell phone battery isn't going to whistle, but having this feature enables the phone to cool down more effectively.
To help keep the battery from overheating, never keep your cell phone in these places:
1. Your back pocket. Sitting on your phone could cause the phone to flex slightly, which could cause problems for both the phone and the battery. “Don’t do anything that would crush the phone,” says Drengenberg. That includes placing the phone at the bottom of a bag of heavy books. The pressure could cause the battery to expand and potentially burst, says Scott Wolfson, communications director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
2. Your glove compartment. It may be fine to do this in cool weather, but it’s a definite no-no in warmer weather. Likewise, it’s fine and even smart to throw your phone in the trunk if that keeps you from texting and driving, but don’t do it in the summer. (If you live somewhere cold, don't leave your phone in the glove compartment or trunk too long in the worst of winter; extreme cold — temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit — is bad for cell phones, too, because the parts inside can contract.)
3. Your beach towel. The sun can “fry” your cell phone just as it fries your skin. Keep it in your beach bag in the shade and focus instead on your book or the ocean.
4. Next to the stove. You may like your cell phone to be within reach at all times, but make an exception when you’re cooking. Keep it away from the hot stove
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably worried about dropping and breaking your cell phone, leaving yourself incommunicado. But you may not have thought much about the battery. Cell phone batteries are pretty durable, but if something goes wrong, they can malfunction and overheat — with surprising consequences.
Though your cell phone probably won’t explode, it might get damaged. “Batteries pack a lot of power into a small area,” says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at UL. “If something does go wrong, causing a short circuit, the battery can pass a current internally that can heat the internal chemistry of the battery,” he says. What’s more, says Drengenberg, heat causes expansion, and that can cause breakage internally.
“That’s why a lot of batteries have a mechanism to notice heat pressure and allow it to escape, like a teapot that whistles.” Your cell phone battery isn't going to whistle, but having this feature enables the phone to cool down more effectively.
To help keep the battery from overheating, never keep your cell phone in these places:
1. Your back pocket. Sitting on your phone could cause the phone to flex slightly, which could cause problems for both the phone and the battery. “Don’t do anything that would crush the phone,” says Drengenberg. That includes placing the phone at the bottom of a bag of heavy books. The pressure could cause the battery to expand and potentially burst, says Scott Wolfson, communications director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
2. Your glove compartment. It may be fine to do this in cool weather, but it’s a definite no-no in warmer weather. Likewise, it’s fine and even smart to throw your phone in the trunk if that keeps you from texting and driving, but don’t do it in the summer. (If you live somewhere cold, don't leave your phone in the glove compartment or trunk too long in the worst of winter; extreme cold — temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit — is bad for cell phones, too, because the parts inside can contract.)
3. Your beach towel. The sun can “fry” your cell phone just as it fries your skin. Keep it in your beach bag in the shade and focus instead on your book or the ocean.
4. Next to the stove. You may like your cell phone to be within reach at all times, but make an exception when you’re cooking. Keep it away from the hot stove
