🚀 go-pugleaf

Sharing the wisdom of the ages with those of us reading
alt.folklore.urban, James...@nortel.com (James Linn) wrote:


>I had a similar situation, with someone who left a magnetic screwdriver
>next to a package of SIMMS overnight. All the SIMMS died. This when 1MB
>SIMMs were hundreds a piece.

I find it hard to believe that there is a causal correllation between
the proximity of a magnetic screwdriver and the "death" of a package
of SIMMs.  SIMMs, like almost all computer chips, are made from
silicon.  They use transistor "switches" to store "ones" and "zeros"
as accumulations of electrical charge.  They do not use magnetism,
and, to the best of my knowledge, are not affected by most magnetic
fields.

It is, I suppose, possible that large *variations* in a magnetic field
could induce some voltage in the SIMMs (such as in the printed circuit
wiring on that little circuit board).  However, I would like to point
out two things which make that extremely unlikely to be the case with
regards to being stored next to the screwdriver:

Magnetic screwdrivers are relatively weak magnets.  The weaker the
magnet, the less induced voltage.

Magnetic screwdrivers do not have *changing* magnetic fields.  A wire
just *sitting* in the same place in a magnetic field will *not* show
any induced voltage.

Even frantically waving the end of the screwdriver back and forth over
the top of the SIMM within a hairs-breadth of the surface is unlikely
to induce any measurable voltage in the SIMM wiring.

I suspect that static electricity from the body of the person who last
handled the SIMMs is a far more likely culprit.

>James Linn
>My opinions are MINE,MINE,MINE!!!

 - Rick "Miss Scarlet, in the parlor, with a Van de Graf generator" Dickinson


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