Do cold temperatures cause batteries to die faster?

Question

I went camping this weekend and accidentally left my fully-charged cellphone out in the cold, overnight. When I woke up in the morning and turned it on, it only lasted for five minutes....

Did the cold have something to do with the short battery life? It usually lasts me several days on a full charge...

Answer 1

The electric current generated by a battery is produced when a connection is made between its positive and negative terminals. When the terminals are connected, a chemical reaction is initiated that generates electrons to supply the current of the battery. Lowering the temperature causes chemical reactions to proceed more slowly, so if a battery is used at a low temperature then less current is produced than at a higher temperature. As the batteries run down they quickly reach the point where they cannot deliver enough current to keep up with the demand. If the battery is warmed up again it will operate normally