POPSUGAR

Can't Remember If Certain Batteries Are Dead? Try This Simple (and Really Cool) Trick

Dec 26 2019 - 6:45am

Have you ever gone to turn the channel while watching TV [1] and your remote suddenly stopped working? Or you notice the hands on the clock on the wall definitely haven't moved in over an hour? After you desperately search for spare batteries and find a handful of loose ones in a random drawer, you probably have no idea if they are fresh or were used before. But instead of wasting time trying to remember, there's a supersimple trick to figuring out if your batteries are out of charge [2] or not.

All you have to do is hold the battery a few inches above a hard surface, such as a hardwood floor or a kitchen table. If you release the battery and it falls straight down, hitting the surface with a "thump" sound, then that means the battery is charged. A charged battery may also "stand up" on its own when dropped. On the other hand, if you drop the battery and it bounces and falls over, that means the battery is dead and will not be able to provide any power to your devices.

Why does this happen? Well, according to the above video, when the alkaline inside a battery becomes depleted, it creates a gas, which causes its inability to stand up on its own.


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.com/tech/How-Do-You-Figure-Out-Battery-Dead-46154476