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Projectile Wound to Head from Modified Electronic Cigarette Explosion
Author(s) -
Beining Tyler,
Thogmartin Jon R.,
Kurz Wayne
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.14315
Subject(s) - thermal runaway , electronic cigarette , lithium (medication) , projectile , head (geology) , forensic engineering , battery (electricity) , materials science , medicine , engineering , physics , metallurgy , pathology , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , geomorphology , geology
One of the dangers of a rapidly growing technology industry is the risk involved in being intimately close to lithium‐ion batteries. When exposed to improper conditions, lithium‐ion batteries in a variety of devices have been reported to ignite and, in some cases, explode. With the rise of electronic cigarette use and modifications, the lithium‐ion batteries in these devices are subject to a higher risk of malfunction. This is a retrograde analysis of a 38‐year‐old man who experienced fatal penetrating head trauma while using a modified electronic cigarette device. The findings suggest that the trauma from the explosion was caused by the thermal runaway of the lithium‐ion battery in the modified e‐cigarette.