It's obviously still highly combustible and dangerous with water (which is why it's still dangerous with air). But it doesn't seem to be enough for open air to make it combust.
It's not like a car or electronic device isn't going to be exposed to, you know, electric current, water, or heat. /s
Sort of, my understanding of lithium batteries is that they are using ionic lithium, which is similar to lithium metal but far more reactive, but this also depends on the exact chemical substrate that the battery happens to use.
As a slight aside, lithium battery fires are an extreme issue to put out, because they are simultaneously a metal, chemical, and electrical fire. Thus if it catches fire, its usually self-sustaining until the fuel runs out, regardless of what you do to it. Oh and the smoke that fire produces is often rather toxic, varying depending on the substrate used.
This is quite unlike a gasoline fire, which is usually just a chemical fire, and thus can be smothered.
Ionic lithium would make sense given it's purpose is as a battery. You'd want your material ionized if at all possible.
I think gasoline fires can also be left to burn. I'm not sure if Lithium fires make any dangerous gasses. Lithium fires probably don't need oxygen to continue to melt any surrounding material, kind of like a coal fire.
That doesn't seem to be the case, it looks like it has to have some kind of ignition or heat (or water): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDbhoh1-J8
It's obviously still highly combustible and dangerous with water (which is why it's still dangerous with air). But it doesn't seem to be enough for open air to make it combust.
It's not like a car or electronic device isn't going to be exposed to, you know, electric current, water, or heat. /s
Sort of, my understanding of lithium batteries is that they are using ionic lithium, which is similar to lithium metal but far more reactive, but this also depends on the exact chemical substrate that the battery happens to use.
As a slight aside, lithium battery fires are an extreme issue to put out, because they are simultaneously a metal, chemical, and electrical fire. Thus if it catches fire, its usually self-sustaining until the fuel runs out, regardless of what you do to it. Oh and the smoke that fire produces is often rather toxic, varying depending on the substrate used.
This is quite unlike a gasoline fire, which is usually just a chemical fire, and thus can be smothered.
Ionic lithium would make sense given it's purpose is as a battery. You'd want your material ionized if at all possible.
I think gasoline fires can also be left to burn. I'm not sure if Lithium fires make any dangerous gasses. Lithium fires probably don't need oxygen to continue to melt any surrounding material, kind of like a coal fire.