Video Shows Why You Should Take Care Not to Damage Your Phone's Battery

You probably have a lithium-ion battery sitting not far from you right now, nestled inside your cellphone or perhaps in your laptop. But a new safety test video demonstrates just how scary these batteries can be, should something go wrong.

The footage from the Japanese National Institute for Technology and Evaluation used a battery, like that found in smartphones, and hit it with a hammer. The next thing you know, the battery popped upward and shot off the table with a trail of smoke. A closer and slowed view of the test showed the battery sparking.

Image source: IDG News Service via PC World

Watch the video:

PC World explained that the abuse to the battery damaged its internal structure, which led it to short circuit. The lesson here is if you suspect your battery has been damaged in some way, you should replace it.

While issues with batteries like this are rare, every once in a while they make headlines. Last year, Boeing's new Dreamliner was grounded due to battery fires and the batteries in some electric cars have been cause for concern as well.

In this Jan. 24, 2014 photo, National Transportation Safety Board's Joseph Kolly, holds a fire-damaged battery casing from the Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caught fire at Logan International Airport in Boston, at the NTSB laboratory in Washington. The FAA failed to properly test the Boeing 787’s lithium-ion batteries and relied too much on Boeing for technical expertise, a new report from the National Transportation Safety Board says Thursday, May 22, 2014. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Tesla, which is manufacturing electric cars, recently announced that it would be building a 'gigafactory' in Nevada to make cheaper batteries so it can later mass market a new line of more affordable vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it will be the largest lithium battery factory in the world, producing more batteries annually than all the existing plants in the world did in 2013.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.