“Please buckle your seat belts and prepare for takeoff, but I’m sorry- you’re going to have to dispose of your Samsung Galaxy Note7 before this aircraft takes flight due to the recent reports of the device exploding.”
This is what many travelers have been hearing as they approach their seats on an airplane before their flight. Some people are even prevented from getting onto the plane due to their choice in phone.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), they are taking this precaution to prevent in-flight fires and to keep the most amount of personnel safe, even though this new ban is an inconvenience for people with the Samsung Galaxy Note7.
So what is actually going on scientifically with the Samsung Galaxy Note7? The DOT has reports from Samsung customers saying they experienced what they called an ‘evolution of heat’ and an explosive battery. Due to the specific type of battery the Samsung Galaxy S7 has been using, a Lithium Ion Battery, the battery’s cell has a tendency to fail while charging which is what leads to the explosive incidents and burnt phones, according to Science Alert. Since people with Samsung Galaxy S7s are constantly using them for phone calls, texts, and notes, the battery ends are being over used, causing the electrolytes to boil, rupturing the battery cell casing and burn the phones exterior, which could lead to a fire if the boiling is bad enough.
Due to this intensive electrical malfunction on such a commonly used device, there have been recalls twice on the product, and now a public ban on the S7 on airplanes. Many unhappy customers are also returning their phones due to their incapability to function after being engulfed in an electrical flame.
This is a problem for people who fly on airplanes because the ban on the Galaxy S7 considers the phone to be hazardous under the Federal Hazardous Material Regul
ations which doesn’t allow people to travel with lithium battery cells or electronic devices that may be known to start fires. These Lithium Ion batteries are not a foreign concept to the technological world, says the Chicago Tribune. In fact, they are in most of your laptops, phones, and other commonly used rechargeable items, it is just the overheating of the Galaxy S7 that makes the battery too dangerous to keep on airplanes for too long.
Danielle,
This is a great topic because cell phones are now an integral part of our daily life for most people and, without them, it would be fairly hard to function. Your title was catchy and the story you provided about the inability to fly if you are in possession of a Galaxy S7 phone is humorous. While I do find it amusing, I am glad the precaution takes place for the safety of all passengers. I find it perplexing that a product like this was not put through extensive testing before being released to consumers for use. Although, I did not clearly identify a hypothesis, I do like the way that you are conveying the facts. This blog was well-organized, informative and easy to read. To make this blog post more advanced, you could have performed further research into studies or recent occurrences of exploding phones. This blog post reminded me of the recent craze about Hoverboards. These get around easy machines were recalled due to overheating and reports of battery explosions and them catching on fire. If you want to read more about that product and the recall, check this out: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/06/hoverboards-mass-recall-danger-explosion-fire-hazards.
Danielle,
This topic is very popular in the news this recent weeks. It’s almost impossible to not read an article or even a joke about the Note 7’s fatal flaw. As of recently, Samsung is actually doing a full recall on the phones for anyone that purchased a Note 7. The line of phones itself was discontinued because of the massive PR disaster that it created. Overall, I think if one were a Note 7 owner, the best thing would be to follow through with Samsung and either get a replacement phone or a refund entirely.
Here’s the information from Samsung about the recall: Samsung
Danielle- this was a very educational post. As someone who used to own a cell phone, learning about all the Samsung explosions has been very interesting to me. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be on a flight and all of a sudden have your phone explode. I really liked your explanation for why the phones explode. It makes total sense that the batteries on those phones are really put to the test. The Samsung Note’s pride themselves on being able to be used for many things at once. However, have any studies been done to specify whether that is actually the cause or not? I don’t know much about technology, but could the explosions be due to the increased pressure in the airplanes cabin? Could there be other confounding variable? If your article were to included studies done on this matter, I think a lot of those questions would get answered. However, I still think this was a great job. Well done!