US man wires 400 car batteries together in one of YouTube's most extreme science experiments
Published on Sep 04, 2026 at 8:08 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Sep 04, 2026 at 8:12 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Fenton
An American man decided to wire 400 car batteries together in one of YouTube’s most extreme science experiments.
YouTuber styropyro is a young American who calls himself a ‘science maniac’ – and it is easy to see why.
With a lot of old car batteries now redundant, the YouTuber decided to gather as many as possible to create a lightning strike.
The ultimate aim was to show off what happens when certain metals are pushed under extreme pressure.
Why wire up 400 car batteries for a science experiment?
The 400 car batteries were capable of over 160,000 amps.
The YouTuber needed to create a massive switch capable of handing the incredibly high voltage.
Car batteries were chosen because they can withstand the power better than many others.
“When it comes to making huge currents, most people think of using capacitors,” said the YouTuber.
“But interestingly, car batteries don’t fall that far behind in terms of max currents. The benefit with car batteries is that they can dump those currents for far longer than a brief pulse,” he added.
What styropyro really wanted was to make some huge explosions.
The kind of explosions that an action film would be proud of.
We got a glimpse of the power of these batteries, as styropyro showed us how they can warp a pipe.
The experiments were incredibly extreme
The pipe test actually took a few attempts.
In a few of the tests, the power destroyed the pipe rather than bend it, so some trial and error was required.
YouTuber styropyro also tested other materials, including tungsten, titanium, and bismuth.
All of these created spectacular explosions.
But it was the end of the video where things really got interesting.
This is when the YouTuber decided to use Ferrofluid to create a massive explosion, just to show off the power of the batteries.
You can probably guess what happened next.
The car batteries made an incredible explosion
The explosion was seismic, and you can’t deny just how spectacular it was.
“I think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever filmed in my life,” said styropyro.
“In the span of a tenth of a second, nearly the entirety of the dish of ferrofluid was slammed up against the pipe while the total circuit power rose to over 10 million watts,” he added.
In the end, all of the car batteries were still intact.
This meant that Styropyro could reuse them for other experiments, repurpose them, or even put them back in a car.
We aren’t sure that they will actually end up back in a car, however.
What we do know is that 400 of them are crazy powerful when combined together.
World’s most reactive materials
1669: White phosphorus — A highly volatile element that spontaneously ignites upon contact with air at room temperature
1800: Mercury fulminate — An extremely sensitive primary explosive triggered by the slightest friction or shock
1812: Nitrogen triiodide — A contact explosive so unstable that a resting feather can cause it to detonate
1860: Caesium — The most reactive stable metal, which explodes violently when exposed to water
1886: Fluorine — A profoundly aggressive nonmetal that strips electrons from almost any other substance
1930: Chlorine trifluoride — A hypergolic chemical known to set fire to asbestos, sand, and concrete
1933: Dioxygen difluoride — A terrifying compound nicknamed FOOF that reacts explosively with nearly anything even at cryogenic temperatures
1966: Fluoroantimonic acid — The strongest known superacid capable of dissolving glass and reacting violently with water
1995: Antihydrogen — An antimatter substance that instantly annihilates into pure energy upon touching normal matter
2011: Azidoazide azide — A highly sensitive nitrogen-rich molecule that explodes with virtually zero provocation
Henry joined the Supercar Blondie team in February 2025, and since then has covered a wide array of topics ranging from EVs, American barn finds, and the odd Cold War jet. He’s combined his passion for cars with his keen interest in motorsport and his side hustle as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman at a heritage steam railway.
