I recently read an article about something shocking that I'd never heard of before -- neddlelike metal crystals called whiskers. These whiskers can grow on metal surfaces and have caused electrical shorts that have knocked out guided missiles and communication satellites, shutdown a nuclear power plant, and caused pacemakers and computers to fail.
Whiskers have been studied for over 60 years, but for competitive and liability reasons companies have not publicized them.
Whiskers grow out of so-called whisker grains that form in metal films. Pure tin has gained the most notoriety for developing whiskers, but they can also grow from other metals, including cadmium, silver, and zinc. They are hard to see, even with a microscope. NASA's Goddard has a whisker website -- nepp.nasa.gov/whisker.
So the next time you think the gremlins have gotten into one of your electrical devices, you may want to think "whiskers" instead.
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