Chemistry is weird
from FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone to science_memes@mander.xyz on 11 Jun 12:59
https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/27337598

#science_memes

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entwine413@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 13:31 next collapse

That’s one thing that annoys me about lithium batteries. Every time there’s an EV fire, people pop out of the woodwork to shit on the FD for using water to put it out.

Just because the name has lithium in it doesn’t mean it’s elemental lithium.

corvi@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 13:56 next collapse

It’s a situation of just enough knowledge, I think. It’s true that water won’t put out an EV battery fire, but it will cool it down and prevent the fire from spreading.

Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de on 11 Jun 14:25 next collapse

I guess it depends on what burns. Water is conductive, so you might not want to use it to put out an electrical fire because of the risk of electrocution.

entwine413@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 19:52 collapse

A lithium battery fire is a chemical fire, not an electrical one. There’s pretty much a zero percent chance of getting electrocuted putting one out with water.

entwine413@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 19:53 collapse

Well, it will put out the fire, but it does it by cooling the battery down so the reaction stops (like you said)

CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 16:36 next collapse

What does EV and FD stand for?

ghostlychonk@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 16:37 collapse

Electric vehicle and fire department.

Geodad@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 17:00 collapse

On one side of the battery, it is elemental Lithium.

It exchanges electrons across a membrane with another substantial.

Using water on it is bad because the reaction between Lithium and water evolves Hydrogen gas, which ignites in the fire.

entwine413@lemm.ee on 11 Jun 19:47 collapse

You’re wrong.

Lithium batteries contain little to no elemental lithium. They normally contain lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate, or lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide as the anode, and a lithium salt as the electrolyte.

Water is about the only way to put one out because it’s an exothermic reaction (water is to cool it down so it stops), and two out of the three are self-oxidizing so you can’t just smother it.

The biggest danger of a lithium battery getting wet is that it shorts, which can lead to a fire because it goes into thermal runaway. But this can happen if you have one in your pocket with spare change (most of the vape fires in the 2010s were this)

shroomato@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 20:01 collapse

A tiny “ackshually” is that there also exist non-rechargeable lithium batteries that have actual elemental lithium in them, which might be adding to the confusion.

entwine413@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 04:13 collapse

Even those aren’t elemental lithium. They use Lithium-iron disulfide, Lithium-thionyl chloride, Lithium-manganese dioxide, and Lithium-sulfur dioxide.

shroomato@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 10:43 collapse

In every one you mention elemental lithium is the anode and whatever second part in the name is the cathode.
youtube.com/shorts/yGDkiUAwxRs

entwine413@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 15:34 collapse

You’re wrong

shroomato@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 16:29 collapse

Lithium metal batteries are nonrechargeable primary batteries that have metallic lithium as an anode.

You’re trolling or what?

entwine413@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 17:34 collapse

Metallic lithium != elemental lithium. If you scrolled down to the chemistry section, they list both the anode and cathode. Nothing in the list has elemental lithium.

shroomato@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 21:13 collapse

Elemental lithium means that it’s pure lithium, i.e. not being in a compound with any other element. Metallic lithium means that lithium is a metal in its pure form. You’re awfully confident for how little you seem to know about basic chemistry.

entwine413@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 22:02 collapse

Still didn’t scroll down to chemistry, did you?

shroomato@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 23:09 collapse

I did. Every one except lithium iron phosphate at the bottom has elemental lithium as anode. What is your point and why do you like to argue so much?

logicbomb@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 14:03 next collapse

Salt is scarier than the elements sodium or chlorine because, according to Wikipedia, “Salt is essential for life in general.” Without salt, there wouldn’t be humans creating things like chlorine gas. Life is scary.

Kyrgizion@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 14:36 next collapse

Even just H and O on their own can be quite scary. Throw them together and BAM, ubiquitous lifegiving liquid.

AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works on 11 Jun 22:07 next collapse

Idk, I quite like O on its own. Pretty addictive stuff

SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Jun 23:14 next collapse

I know you wrote H and O, and not H2 and O2, but I’m going to assume the gas forms because those two substances pretty much cannot exist in their pure forms

And for those, O2 is necessary for our life, and H2 is non-toxic, it’s just very flammable. So I don’t know if the comparison fully works

Of course, you’re right if you mean pure H and pure O, but, again, they will immediately combine to form a new substance

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 12 Jun 11:14 collapse

H3… We drink heavy water in this house!

ColdWater@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 12:05 collapse

You guy drink H2O?, in my household we drink D2O.

dankm@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 13:13 collapse

That sounds expensive.

Reddfugee42@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 14:46 next collapse

This is how the Karens and Mommy Blogs sound when they complain about “Mercury in vaccines” but it’s just one mercury atom in a molecule that no longer behaves like elemental mercury

Saleh@feddit.org on 11 Jun 18:37 next collapse

It is the other way round though isn’t it?

Sodium Chloride is just chilling as a rock or in suspension and then humans put a lot of energy into it, so it is forced to separate. Imagine you and your spouse being torn apart with a lot of violence.

Of course you get traumatized and act out until you get reunited and have some time to become chill again.

chortle_tortle@mander.xyz on 12 Jun 18:17 collapse

Finally someone that respects that marriage is about the bond between an alkali and a halogen, and should not be separated.

ulterno@programming.dev on 12 Jun 19:22 collapse

Ionic bonded compounds such as NaCl, when in water, interact with other ions around them.
Even other Na^+^ and Cl^-^ ions…

chortle_tortle@mander.xyz on 12 Jun 20:45 collapse

Which is why I don’t drink water. It’s satanic.

jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Jun 20:20 next collapse

I was going to make a sodium joke, but Na.

tigerjerusalem@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 21:07 collapse

I could Barium hold my laughter at this.

Hupf@feddit.org on 12 Jun 13:15 next collapse

True—salt is the worst.

eatsumbum@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 16:51 collapse

Fun fact; cats can drink straight seawater. Mad good kidneys or something, so the soup is going to get far too salty for a human before it gets too salty for a cat.