can bulged batteries from tablet/gsm really explode ?

i am worry about trashing them in basic Trash on the street.

thanks in advance

 

The danger of LiIon and LiPo cells is not explosion, it’s fire. Contrary to widely held belief, burning lithium cells are not lithium fires. There is very little lithium metal in a lithium cell. Instead, it is the flammable electrolyte that poses a danger.

Lithium cells can go into thermal runaway if they are shortcircuited internally due to damage of manufacturing defects. Because they contain so much energy, they can get very hot. This ignites the electrolyte and in the case of LiPo cells, bursts the cell from over pressure, shooting out flaming electrolyte at very high temperatures.

A discharged LiPo cell is no danger. If you are concerned you can discharge the cell through a reasonably high resistance, say 1KΩ, and it will “disarm” the cell.

All that said, lithium chemistry batteries should not be disposed of in the normal waste stream because of toxic chemicals.

[EDIT: The d had fallen down in the word held making it help, I stood it back up]