[X4U] Do computers "microwave" themselves?

[David Ledger]

>On Jun 13, 2008, at 11:22 AM, zapcat wrote:
>  I was having a discussion about why computers "get old," and the
>  other person's contention was that computer circuitry "microwaves
>  itself," thereby causing degradation of the components.
>
>  Now, whether the guy is referring to literal microwaves or just EMF
>  I don't know, but is there some validity to his comment?

"microwaves itself" isn't really a concept that has any meaning. 
'Microwaving' is used to refer to the heating of wet and/or fatty 
substances. It has no effect on conducting or semiconducting 
materials unless the voltages generated are sufficient to destroy 
semiconductor junctions - in which case destruction would be 
immediate rather than slow. What does slowly kill semiconductors is 
working above absolute zero, when atoms slowly migrate around those 
junctions, reducing their effectiveness.

David


-- 
David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
HP-UX specialist of hpUG technical user group (www.hpug.org.uk)
david.ledger at ivdcs.co.uk
www.ivdcs.co.uk