Hi,
a330pilotcanada:
Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work. We know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of an electrical circuit, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.
For example, if one places a copper bar across the terminals of a battery, prodigious quantities of smoke are liberated and the battery shortly ceases to function.
In Takamatsu your theory was fully confirmed. It was not necessary to place the copper bar. The designers made it: The cell # 3 shorted to ground and the result was:
1) Smoke in large quantities.
2) Battery voltage went to zero, after some time fluctuating.
A corollary of your theory can be:
The smoke (in any design) must be contained.
An example: If not smoke in TAK, 787 would be flying today. (there was no fire, there,
AFAIK)
