The Quick AA Battery Test Video on YouTube-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded email with a link to a video on YouTube about a quick way to test AA batteries. The video demonstrates that if a fully charged battery is dropped about 1 inch from a surface it will land with a thud and not fall over. If a not fully charged or dead AA battery is dropped in the same manner it will bounce and land on its side.
The Truth:
A member of the TruthOrFiction.Com team tried this at home using two equal Duracell AA alkaline batteries, one charged and one that had just died in a wireless computer mouse. The test worked.
According to technology advisor David Papp, the test was 100 percent accurate after he simulated it with a number of charged and discharged batteries. Papp shed light on the phenomenon in his blog, “The scientific explanation for this has to do with hydrogen gas that is released as the alkaline batteries are used due to the chemical reaction inside. This creates pressure inside the battery with the trapped gas. It is this gas that causes the battery to bounce and fall over if it is a ‘dead’ battery.”