What would happen to someone who ate a charged battery?

In Adults:
It takes a special kind of stupid to eat a battery
as long as the casing remained intact and nothing leaked out I doubt it would matter much..

Depends on the battery, I think. Passing a hearing aid battery might not matter. Passing a ‘D’ cell… That’s assuming it didn’t get stuck and cause a bowel blockage.

Either way, I find this question shocking.

Catastrophic gastrostrointestinal injury due to battery acid ingestion

Obviously, you are not the first to ponder this question…

You’d be surprised how many times I’ve been asked to fish batteries out of people (also cutlery, toothbrushes and dental equipment). As long as the battery doesnt leak you’re probably gonna be fine but if it’s big enough it could block the system which can be unpleasant.

I asked because Tracy Jordan said “I have a hole in my heart, and I’m not talking about the one I got from eating batteries.”.

A nine volt would discharge because the two ends would touch the flesh inside. Not fatal, but why??

The same reason a 9v battery doesn’t kill you when you stick it on your tongue. Generally you need more than 100 volts to be fatal and it really helps if it goes across the heart.

Anatomically it would be unlikely to pass through the digestive system with any issues. Though if there were any, dependent upon the specifics (such as the battery involved), it could cause serious internal damage.

Psychologically, the whole incident would be extremely traumatic and lead to a life of rejected job applications due to “aggressive chronic hypointellect”.

You could always use them as a backup! : D

If it were to give me energy, I would try that one too!!!!!!

Did “a friend” pop a battery up their bum? A trip to the emergency would probably be a good idea.

I still say, stick one cable in their ear and the other in their butt and use them to recharge your car battery! : D

Stomach acids might destroy the casing and allow the battery acids to leak out. This is different acids than your stomach is used to and may have metals in it that are dangerous. Please seek medical attention.

Swallowing Button Batteries Causing More Severe Injuries, Deaths In American Children (Medical News Today, May 2010). Here’s a quote:

“When button batteries…get stuck in the throat they can cause severe tissue damage within just 2 hours of ingestion. Further damage can also ensue, such as paralysis of the vocal cords, narrowing or stricture of the esophagus or food pipe, a hole connecting the windpipe to the food pipe (tracheoesophageal fistula), or severe internal bleeding as a result of a hole into a major blood vessel.

“In most cases, the button battery passes through the body and comes out in the stool, but sometimes it gets stuck, and these are the cases that cause problems. For instance, a battery stuck in the esophagus or food pipe causes tissue damage because of the alkaline hydroxide that results from the electrical current set up around the battery. This burns the tissue.”

They also note that the worst outcomes were from large-diameter (> 20 mm) lithium cells.

I’ve heard of intestinal perforations in kids eating batteries. It sounds like a depleted battery might not be as dangerous if it gets stuck in the digestive system, though a “dead battery” of any type might have enough “juice” left to injure mucosa.

@gasman The electrical discharge damage was sort of the information I was looking for. Thanks. Now I can prioritise should I ever encounter this situation. I am prepared for everything I’ve ever imagined again.

What is so fascinating about a nine volt is it’s such a small battery, and you can put it into a stun gun and produce over 100,000 volts. Enough to knock a man down. Trippy.

@truecomedian You can do that to any balance equation, a nine volt battery can only produce 100,000 volts for a very short time under very specific circumstances.

Stun guns last awhile, a battery will last you for at least ten mice. See I use one to shock the shit out of mice so when I feed them to my snake, they don’t bite him and cause an injury. It’s totally cruel, but the snakes got to eat, can’t have his scales getting bite marks. Just hold them by the tail and a few good zaps and they drop their wallets, and their car keys.

@truecomedian I like you less with every post you make. Then again I’m the bastard not keeping that to himself.

I think there would probably be a bowel blockage if you swallowed anything larger than a watch battery followed by some very embarrassing x-rays in the emergency room. I suspect a psych detention would also be likely. Your friends would get a charge out of that :)

@Zyx
Don’t hate, there just words.