Tin in solder or some other meals can form spiky crystals when under stress. These whiskers can form short circuits if not properly insulated or not alloyed with other metals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy)

22 points

Someone’s been on !unix_surrealism@lemmy.sdf.org

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9 points

Neat. Makes sense that crystalline stuff can do that, but i never really considered it too

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6 points

Yeah, you don’t often hear about people trimming their motherboards like hedges

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6 points

Just routine maintenance. Shame engineering schools don’t teach proper solder joint trimming these days

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27 points

What happens if I eat one? Do I gain computational powers?

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42 points

You gain the power to blue screen.

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12 points

It’s basically computer methamphetamine.

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11 points

You enter the crank matrix.

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1 point

Just make sure it’s not an early Pentium…

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105 points

Fun fact: Leaded solder is still required in aircraft because it doesn’t grow whiskers like this, while pure tin solder does.

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26 points

And the thermal properties in general are better (or better known) too for leaded I think.

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34 points

It’s a real shame about the brain damage, lead really is an amazing metal

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8 points

Asbestos are awesome too.

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9 points

Also it doesn’t suffer from tin plague so much

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24 points
*

Tin is a prima donna metal. Grows conductive whiskers if you use it as a conductor, gets brittle if it gets cold and just makes things softer when alloyed. It’s like it only wants to be looked at.

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58 points

Tin whiskers have also been identified as the cause of some satellites going down too, so spacecraft definitely still using leaded solder.

https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/failures/index.htm

Also recommend looking at the homepage of that site. Lots of cool pictures and research papers on metal whiskering.

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9 points

Also spacecraft. Its even worse in a vacuum.

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15 points

can form spiky crystals when under stress.

That’s why I keep my computer nice and relaxed in a calm setting.

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5 points

So, 0.01 hz processing?

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