this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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Chemistry is weird (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 week ago (17 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

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.

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