Too often safety is not considered until potentially dangerous failures occur. All capacitors can and do fail. If the failure mode of a capacitor includes catastrophic events, designers must consider additional physical protection. In Panasonic’s example, they have created conditions where polymer and tantalum capacitors have failed. Both capacitor types will fail in a short circuit mode. After failing, the polymer capacitor’s temperature begins to rise and stabilize. On the other hand, the tantalum capacitor temperature quickly increases to the point where it ignites. Ignition is caused by the oxygen used in tantalum solid electrolyte.