"Why Do" Wednesday - Why Do Batteries Leak/Corrode?

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So we have all been there... TV remote no longer works, we open it up and BAM!  Batteries are all kinds of corroded and nasty.  Well, why does that happen?  The answer is the batteries have gas. Maybe too much Mexican food the night before eh?  But seriously, they do get gassy...  So why?


First off, what are batteries made of?  (sorry, some chemistry is about to happen...)  Typical batteries are made up of Magnesium Dioxide, and a moist paste of  Zinc mixed with potassium hydroxide. Then has a carbon rod and metal end caps to finish it off.

Source: Wikipedia

So batteries can leak for a couple reasons.  

  1. Outside forces such as heat or physical damage causing it to leak
  2. As the battery runs dead some things happen chemically... 

I am not going to focus on #1 since that is pretty self explanatory, so will focus on #2 and what happens to cause that battery to leak in your precious TV remote.

Batteries can run dead in a device due to heavy use, small standby leakage power, or just sitting on a shelf.  Oh yes, a battery can run dead just sitting by itself from small internal current leakage.  At any rate when the battery runs dead some stuff happens.  As batteries discharge the chemistry changes from the reactions.  This creates Hydrogen gas.  So yes, the batteries get gassy.  This then creates pressure on the case and viola, it leaks.  

So what is that white fluffy stuff?  It is potassium carbonate and is formed from other reactions when the battery chemicals leak out and react with oxygen in the air.  It's kind of like rust...

So if you want to prevent batteries from doing this, don't let them get too hot, break or let them run dead in your remotes. 




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