What is short circuit? What are the negatives of short circuit an Apple iPhone 5 battery?

What is short circuit? What are the negatives of short circuit an Apple iPhone 5 battery?

A short circuit is an electrical path
that has too little resistance or impedance to do any useful work
and often results in damage to something.

A battery can be shorted in one of two ways ---
externally or internally.

An external short is one that connects the terminals from the outside (such as a person attaching a plain wire to them).

An internal short is one that occurs inside the battery,
and is not under the control of any outside agent.

However, an external short can cause an internal short.

In any case, any short in or on a battery can be dangerous,
as it sometimes results in the battery exploding.

An external short can get very hot and cause a fire.

In summary: Electricity should never wear shorts.