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They've ruined missiles, silenced communications
satellites and forced nuclear power plants to shut down. Pacemakers,
consumer gadgets and even a critical part of a space shuttle have fallen
victim.
The culprits? Tiny splinters — whiskers, they're called — that sprout
without warning from tin solder and finish deep inside electronics. By
some estimates, the resulting short-circuits have levelled as much as $10
billion in damage since they were first noticed in the 1940s.
Now some electronics makers worry the destruction will be more
widespread, and the dollar amounts more draining, as the European Union
and governments around the world enact laws to eliminate the best-known defence — lead — from electronic devices.
source
satellites and forced nuclear power plants to shut down. Pacemakers,
consumer gadgets and even a critical part of a space shuttle have fallen
victim.
The culprits? Tiny splinters — whiskers, they're called — that sprout
without warning from tin solder and finish deep inside electronics. By
some estimates, the resulting short-circuits have levelled as much as $10
billion in damage since they were first noticed in the 1940s.
Now some electronics makers worry the destruction will be more
widespread, and the dollar amounts more draining, as the European Union
and governments around the world enact laws to eliminate the best-known defence — lead — from electronic devices.
source
