Batteries are used for many reasons, and they may be stored in many ways and next to a variety of things.
Do magnets affect a battery?
What other things affect batteries?
This is a great help to those who use a lot of batteries of different types for one household or work.
Today, we use everything from acid-based batteries to lithium batteries to accommodate our work and lifestyle.
They can be expensive, so knowing what is affecting them at any given time is cost-effective.
Do Magnets Affect Batteries?
No, a magnet will not affect a common household battery.
Only in the case of a science lab and high-powered magnets will electronic devices be affected.
There may be a case where an iron coating on those little round batteries you buy in a bubble pack for watches, hearing aids, and other various devices may cause the batteries to gather around the magnet and short each other out.
We are talking about acid-based batteries right now which are the Energizer-type batteries you buy for your flashlights and remote controls.
A very strong magnet, one not typically found in the house or office may, in theory, could cause a short in a non-ferromagnetic battery which includes lithium-ion, lithium polymer, and coin cells.
This is only a theory and too far to reach to change the answer to even a maybe, so we’ll stick with the popular science and the answer is still no effect.
Do Magnets Affect Lithium Batteries?
Magnets will not affect lithium batteries.
There is no magnetic charge in lithium due to it being composed of alkali metal.
If you place a lithium battery next to an alkaline battery, adding a magnetic charge will simply do nothing to the battery.
Li-Ion batteries are composed of Propylene Carbonate.
This is for the common person and the common store-bought batteries.
In science labs that use Earth magnets and other forms of magnetic tools, they will insist upon leaving all electronic devices outside of the laboratory.
These are mostly Neodymium Silver magnets that are susceptible, but they won’t be found outside of lab testing, so there is nothing for the average person, even the geekiest electronics guru, to worry about.
Why Do Scientists Test Batteries?
There’s a whole division of science devoted to testing batteries.
Why?
The world runs on battery power.
Our TVs, our computers when the power goes out, our remote controls—those examples are just scratching the surface.
We rely a lot more on batteries than we will ever notice in our lifetimes.
However, some scientists perform a very important job so that we can keep our technology running.
Have you ever had a CT scan or an MRI?
If it weren’t for magnetic imaging, we wouldn’t have much of the advanced medical technology we have today, and millions of lives wouldn’t have been saved.
Here’s a fun battery experiment that goes on behind the scenes which is the reason batteries run faster, better, and more efficiently.
In the lab, scientists take Li-ion batteries and align carbon graphite flakes in the electrodes.
This allows the charge to flow in a straight, unhindered pathway through the battery.
How Should I Store My Batteries?
Battery storage, especially for acid-based batteries is an important thing to know.
If stored improperly, they could rot and leak acid everywhere causing health hazards, thus ruining the device they are placed in and other batteries.
They are also dangerous to touch at that point.
There is a common thread of people who store their household batteries in the fridge.
This is not recommended as each refrigerator is different, and the settings will differ from house to house.
Never store batteries in extreme temperatures, whether hot or freezing.
If you put your egg cartons at the top of the fridge, some of the eggs will end up frozen.
This shows that some fridges will be too cold to house a battery safely and don’t need to be in the freezer itself to freeze.
Once you’ve experimented, it’s too late.
Battery acid on your food after they explode—and yes, they can do that—is not safe.
Don’t store your batteries near something hot or that has the potential to ignite.
Batteries that are stored improperly are a fire hazard.
This is important because people will commonly store batteries in the garage and places where hazardous materials are also stored.
This can cause the batteries to melt and explode and leak acid onto hazardous materials.
If you absolutely must store acid-based batteries in a place like the garage for convenience or some other reason, make sure they are placed away from the following hazards.
- Paint and paint thinner
- Mineral spirits
- Alcohol of any kind, that’s for drinking or for wounds like Witch Hazel or Isopropyl.
- Any supplies that have been soaked in any of the chemicals even after cleaning or washing them, like paintbrushes or rags.
- Perfumes
- Other electronic devices
- Gasoline or propane. This includes the rags, containers, and the vehicles or machinery that they’re used with. This could include but is not limited to a lawnmower or lawn or work machinery that uses these chemicals, including gas grills.
You don’t have to have more than one pack of small alkaline batteries that have gone bad and leaked into or onto the above items to cause a fire or worse.
The same goes for storing in the most common place, the kitchen.
- Near the stove or any appliance that heats up or has an electrical cord that could also heat up.
- Near anything under pressure like a spray can or pump, like spray oil such as Pam.
- Cooking oil bottles, which by the way, shouldn’t be stored anywhere near any of the aforementioned items for the same reason—they are flammable.
- Gas, coal, or wood-burning stoves. That temperature would be enough to explode a battery quite quickly.
- The back ends of large appliances. Does it emanate any heat? Then keep the batteries away or out of the drawer nearest to them.
- Chemicals, like bleach, ammonia, and glass cleaners, drain cleaners, and any chemical. Chemicals give off their own heat if spilled, and fumes can catch quickly. A leaking battery will add to the issue quickly.
The best rule of thumb is to store your batteries in a cool, dry place away from caustic fumes, heat, extreme cold, and hazardous materials.
Here are other effective and lesser-known ways to store a battery.
- One-use batteries should be kept in the same package they came in and disposed of according to the recommendations for that company and the law. Yes, some batteries must comply with environmental laws, just like the disposal of car batteries and oil. You can’t just put it in the trash.
- If you have a large pack of the same type of battery and you’ve opened the package, be sure to keep whatever remaining batteries you have with all the positive ends facing the same way. In other words, don’t encourage a charge by touching a positive with a negative end.
- Do you have a drawer you throw your loose change into, or how about other metal objects? Don’t encourage a charge by placing them in with these same metals.
- Though magnets can’t drain a battery, another battery touching it can. Therefore, keep other batteries of varying charges away from each other. Don’t just throw them in a bag or a drawer where they can touch each other.
- Do you have nine-volt batteries? They typically come with plastic caps. Leave the plastic caps secured until you’re ready to use them.
- Whether at home or in transit with a lot of batteries, make sure you keep them in a container that can’t be crushed. A crushed battery is not only useless, but it’s also dangerous.
An alkaline battery will leak eventually anyway, even without those conditions.
Therefore, proper storage is a must.
The battery will only do this normally when it’s too old.
Most people will keep batteries.
How Do I Recycle My Used Batteries?
Battery recycling is a must.
When a battery is not in use or has lost its charge, the corrosive acid remains.
Even a trace amount of this acid is bad.
When you think of all the humans and companies that use batteries of all types daily, it’s a lot.
Lithium batteries are the worst culprit.
Here’s the lifecycle of an unrecycled lithium battery.
If a lithium battery is left in the ground soil at a landfill, they have been known to cause landfill fires.
This makes the air extremely toxic.
Then, once the corrosive stuff goes into the water supply, it gets into the drinking water table.
After that, what’s left still doesn’t disappear.
It gets evaporated into the air, and when it rains, there you go.
Have a great acid rain bath.
No, you won’t feel it, but it will contaminate everything in the microdroplets.
How Do I Pack And Store My Magnets?
There are proper and improper ways to pack and store magnets to maintain their effectiveness.
Sometimes the shelf life of one magnet differs from another just as their power does.
Storing them in a way that won’t disrupt that is important.
Here are some simple steps to follow.
- For regular household magnets that are not Neodymium, you must put them north poles together facing the same direction.
- If they are Neodymium, then you need to have something called a “keeper bar” or some other form of magnetic shield. The purpose is to absorb the magnetism.
- Be aware of what you are packing them near. Are there computers? Cell Phones? A TV or any electronic or computerized device? The magnets should not disrupt batteries, but all of these devices are vulnerable and may be damaged beyond repair.
- Contain them in a large container. The container must be large enough to wrap more packing material around the magnets. Start with bubble wrap and then a layer of paper and then some dense foam would do. This will prevent a large amount of magnetism leaking from the magnets onto any devices packed close by.
- Store your Neodymium in an ultra-dry atmosphere without changing temperatures and no heat or freezing. They will die from being degraded by moisture and humidity.
Conclusion
Batteries and magnets will mix just fine except maybe in the case of Neodymium.
These are not going to be found in many households or workplaces, but they might be found in a science lab or with people who work specifically with these things.
If both batteries and magnets are stored separately, but properly, they will both yield a long life and continue giving you service safely.
NEXT: Polar Bear Vs. Hippo (Differences, Habits, Size)