Re: (ET) battery gases

[Mike Finck <mikefinck rocketmail com>]

Good stuff, thanks for the insights and tips. 
Mike

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 19, 2023, at 1:26 PM, Ken Olum <kdo cosmos phy tufts edu> wrote:
> 
> My understanding is that the ignition danger is connected with hydrogen
> that might have been produced by electrolysis when the battery was
> charged.  I doubt you have a problem if you're sitting in an open space,
> where the hydrogen would rapidly dissipate.  To be sure you could take
> the caps off the cells to let any explosive mixture in there dissipate
> also.  Then put them back on again before grinding.
> 
> Also very be careful about dealing with batteries with wires attached.
> I got in trouble with this once when the free end of the wire touched
> the other battery terminal.  Fortunately I got away with only a small
> amount of melted lead.  Also, as usual, you want to make sure there's no
> danger of short-circuits caused by tools.  So carefully insulate the
> terminal that you're not working on.
> 
>                                        Ken