Re: Bismuth Info.
Bob Aldrich ( baldric@earthlink.net )
Mon, 26 Jan 1998 00:49:31 -0800
Bob Paddock wrote:
>
> >That's interesting, I didn't know bisumth had such strength....Bourgoin
> >says the bismuth filaments grew accidentally in circuits and between
> >capacitor plates, causing them to short out.
>
> A fairly well know phenomena of Dendrite (sp?) Growth shows
> up in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards.
>
> If the board is slightly contaminated (doesn't take much, oil
> from fingers for example) you can watch these things grow
> under a microscope. Shaped liked stair steeped lightning
> bolts, look like small crystals, and while I was watching
> them I'd swear they where 'alive' as they wiggled around
> shorting out traces.
Reminds me of something I read about Faraday, I believe, said he grew
crystals in an acid solution, but when they were fully formed they
seemed to come to life and move around like bugs.
Another inventor of the time (Edison?) duplicated the experiment and got
the same thing.
Bob Aldrich