As an alkaline battery is discharged, the anode undergoes oxidation from Zn to ZnO.

The battery most likely begins to bounce because of displacement of water by solid ZnO bridges between particles of zinc in the gel. These bridges provide less impeding and attenuating paths for pressure waves, in turn making the battery bouncier.

Bhadra, S.; Hertzberg, B. J.; Hsieh, A. G.; Croft, M.; Gallaway, J. W.; Van Tassell, B. J.; Chamoun, M.; Erdonmez, C.; Zhong, Z.; Sholkapper, T.; Steingart, D. A. The relationship between coefficient of restitution and state of charge of zinc alkaline primary LR6 batteries. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2015, 3, 9395–9400.

  • @UllallullooOPMA
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    411 months ago

    That’s a good caveat. I’ve never taken out a half-discharged battery though. I’ll just end up with a few batteries on my desk where I can’t remember if they came from the box or the device.