Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back Into The Fridge

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A series of mysterious fires has reignited in Canneto di Caronia, Sicily, baffling experts and prompting evacuations. Initially attributed to electrostatic interference, the phenomenon has escalated, affecting various appliances and even car locking systems. While some speculate about a prankster or mass hysteria, others suggest electromagnetic phenomena could be at play. The mayor confirmed that investigations are ongoing, with no clear leads on the cause. The situation remains unresolved, leaving the village in a state of uncertainty and fear.
  • #31
zoobyshoe said:
At some point I'm hoping this will be cleared up with a good investigative article that has photos and expert analysis of the burned appliances showing one way or another that the fires were either electrical or that the damage was caused by proximity to something else that was burning (wad of cloth soaked in gas, for example). (I don't know how a cell phone could burst into flames. Can their batteries leak something that would react with something else in them?)
This news were published in Brazilian newspaper http://www.estadao.com.br/tecnologia/telecom/noticias/2006/mar/23/254.htm. It is a serious publication, so I suppose they have checked it.
SÃO PAULO - Depois da estudante Carina Zancheta, de 14 anos, que teve queimaduras de segundo grau na perna. Quando seu celular Motorola C200 explodiu, agora foi a vez da jornalista carioca Jacqueline Leão sofrer com um aparelho da mesma marca.

Ela relatou que no último sábado (18) seu aparelho explodiu enquanto estava sendo recarregado. Ela afirmou que deixou seu celular, também um Motorola C200, recarregando no quarto quando ouviu o barulho de uma explosão e constatou que a bateria do aparelho havia sido arremessada longe, atingindo uma bolsa de náilon, que foi danificada com o calor da peça.

Em um comunicado, a Motorola disse que só irá se pronunciar após a divulgação de laudos técnicos sobre os acidentes.
Translating:
SÃO PAULO - After the 14 years old student Carina Zancheta, who had second degree burnings in her leg when her Motorola C200 cell phone exploded, now was the turn of the Carioca journalist Jacqueline Leão to suffer with a device of the same brand.
She reported that last Saturday (18) her device exploded during recharge. She says that she left her cell phne, also a Motorola C200, recharging in her room when she heard the sound of the explosion e verified that the battery was thrown at a distance, hitting a nylon purse, that was damaged by the heat.
Motorola said that will restrain any comments until a technical report is available.

Edited to inform: I was not able to link correctly to the site. If someone is interested, please cut and paste the address in your browser.
 
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  • #32
Yeah, I can't get to the site you're quoting. Something seems to be wrong with the address.

Anyway, what's reported seems like a malfunction of a particular model of a particular brand, which means it shouldn't be too difficult for them to test others and determine the problem. It says the second was recharging when it exploded. I wonder if the first was as well.
 
  • #33
zoobyshoe said:
Yeah, I can't get to the site you're quoting. Something seems to be wrong with the address.

Anyway, what's reported seems like a malfunction of a particular model of a particular brand, which means it shouldn't be too difficult for them to test others and determine the problem. It says the second was recharging when it exploded. I wonder if the first was as well.
The first one was in the pocket of the girl's jeans. She was burned by the explosion.
 
  • #34
SGT said:
The first one was in the pocket of the girl's jeans. She was burned by the explosion.
The only time I've had a battery explode on me was when it was backward in a bank of six. This was a AA alkaline. It worked for a few moments, though the voltage was obviously low (running a little motor), then it burst. No flame or anything: the casing just split suddenly. I suppose if the batteries are several cells in series one could have been put in backward during manufacture. It could work for a while at reduced voltage, then fail.
 
  • #35
Cell phone batteries have had a problem - sometimes spontaneously bursting into flames. There have been several posts to this effect taken from news articles. I imagine that the batteries are internally shorting out which eventually produces enough heat to ignite the plastic.