What Happens When Batteries Leak?

A battery is a combination of different electrochemical cells, and the battery then uses these cells to change chemical energy into electrical energy. The battery can be traced back to the nineteenth century, with the invention of the first Voltaic pile by Alessandro Volta. Yet, what happens when batteries don’t function as they should?

No matter what type of battery you have, the majority of all batteries will leak over time. However, certain circumstances might exacerbate how quickly a battery will leak.

Batteries leak because they are filled with a specific chemical paste. The liquid part of this chemical paste is mainly composed of a base known as Potassium Hydroxide.

Why Do Batteries Leak?

When batteries are heated or get too hot, the paste inside the battery expands. When this paste expands, the chemicals which are in the battery are forced out of the seals of the battery.

They are forced out of the seals usually at both the top of the battery, and the bottom of the battery. Thus, a battery is more likely to leak if it is left out in the sun, or left in a room that is too hot.

Mixing Battery Types

You may also accelerate the process of your batteries leaking if you mix the battery types. There are primarily two types of batteries, standard batteries and alkaline batteries.

• An alkaline battery is a type of battery that depends on zinc and manganese dioxide to run. Alkaline batteries have a higher energy density and a longer shelf life than a standard battery.
• A standard battery usually uses a combination of zinc and carbon in its composition. As compared with a standard battery, an alkaline battery uses potassium hydroxide as an electrolyte. Standard batteries frequently use ammonium chloride or zinc chloride.

Since alkaline batteries are more powerful than standard batteries, if you mix the battery types the standard battery has to work harder to keep up with the alkaline battery. This means that the standard battery has to heat up more in operation.

Additional heat causes a battery to leak, and thus the standard batteries will be more likely to leak quicker when they are used in combination with alkaline batteries. Further, the standard batteries drag down the alkaline batteries. This causes the alkaline batteries to die quicker than they usually die.

How to Clean Up a Leaking Battery

If you do have a leaking battery, you should know how to clean it up. When you clean up a leaking battery, you should make sure that the room you are in is an extremely well ventilated area because the leaking chemicals from the battery have dangerous fumes, and you want to be careful not to inhale them.

Before you clean the battery, put on rubber gloves and something that protects your eyes such as safety goggles.

If you have an alkaline battery leak, you need to use vinegar or lemon juice to clean up the leak. Use a toothbrush or a cotton swab, and dip the brush or the swab into the vinegar or the juice. Then move the vinegar or the lemon juice around the leakage until all the alkaline has been removed.

If your battery has leaked acid, you need to use baking soda to clean it up. Using a toothbrush or a swab, move the baking soda around the leakage until it is completely cleaned up.

You should not use any water in either of these mixtures because these leaks can be dangerous, and you need to stick to the specific solutions to appropriately clean them up. Although water may seem harmless to add to a mixture, even the introduction of water to a solution or to the baking soda, can have consequences.