Exploding laptop cinema

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- The airline industry is building costly infrastructure to enable in-flight Wi-Fi. There's just one problem: What if the FAA bans laptop batteries in carry-on luggage? We're one laptop fire away from a total ban. Here's how bad exploding laptops are, courtesy of YouTube.

Laptop battery packs are typically plastic and metal containers that contain somewhere between six and nine individual lithium-ion cells, which look a little like AA batteries. If any of these gets too hot -- around 350 degrees -- it can leak flammable liquid, then explode, causing a chain reaction, called "thermal runaway," with each cell heating up and exploding in turn. The temperature increases and quickly melts a hole in the laptop. As additional cells explode, flaming, toxic liquid is thrown several feet in any direction, especially up or down.

The FAA won't let you listen to an iPod Shuffle during takeoff. Do you think they won't ban laptop batteries?

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