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This Guy Bit a Smartphone Battery and It Blew Up in His Face

Apparently, they can erupt into massive fireballs.

It should go without saying, but apparently it needs to be said: Do not bite into smartphone batteries. Phones are made with toxic chemicals and are usually teeming with bacteria. But since the risk of ingesting dangerous shit doesn't turn people off these days, a guy in China just discovered another fantastic reason to avoid biting into batteries—they tend to explode.

Footage of the unnamed man has gone viral in China after cameras caught the guy chomping down on a smartphone battery in a Chinese electronics store, causing it to erupt into a massive fireball, the Verge reports.

The accident reportedly happened on January 19, while the guy was shopping for a replacement battery for his iPhone, and footage from the store's surveillance camera was uploaded a day later on China's Vine-like video site, Miaopai. In the ten-second clip, an employee hands the man a battery, which he then puts in his mouth to take a bite. Seconds later, the battery explodes just inches from his face as nearby shoppers recoil in shock.

It's not clear what possible motive the man had for biting into the thing—Taiwan News pointed out that people sometimes bite down on gold to check its purity, but that pirate method isn't exactly transferrable to electronics.

To be fair, smartphone batteries have been known to explode on their own in pants pockets and cars and under pillows, so it's not clear if the bite directly caused the explosion, but the video sure makes a compelling argument that it had something to do with it.

Give the footage a watch above and try to keep your phone away from your mouth from now on, alright?