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Jun. 3rd, 2003 12:46 pmSometimes I think I need to turn in my computer-geek card. Actually, I'm not sure I even have a computer-geek card. I've never actually tried looking for it. Sometimes I feel the card was surreptitiously slipped into the back pocket of a pair of jeans I never wear anymore. The details of microchips, operating systems, web servers, etc. bore me. Often, I'd rather be out roaming the mountain forests than sitting in front of my computer (unless I'm playing Warcraft III).
But every now and then I encounter something that reminds me why I love technology. From an article discussing the problem of cooling electronic components:
"By the end of the decade, it is estimated that a square centimeter of microprocessors (a bit smaller than a postage stamp) will produce an amount of heat equivalent to the spaceshuttle's rocket exhaust-roughly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Ouch! And as Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief technology officer, said at an Intel developers conference last spring, 'People are not going to carry rocket nozzles on their laptops.' Nor do they want to listen to the large, powerful fans that would be needed to cool these chips--fans that would generate 85 decibels, almost loud enough to damage the ear drum."
That's fantastic!
The article then discusses an experimental method of cooling where a noncorrosive liquid is sprayed directly onto the hot electronic components. The liquid immediately evaporates, carrying away heat in the process.
So, this got me thinking...while the technology will certainly recirculate the evaporated liquid, consider the implications of not doing that! A build of gas inside the computer. The world could be full of belching, flatulent machines. Laptops could double as whoopie cushions.
See, technology doesn't need to be boring...
But every now and then I encounter something that reminds me why I love technology. From an article discussing the problem of cooling electronic components:
"By the end of the decade, it is estimated that a square centimeter of microprocessors (a bit smaller than a postage stamp) will produce an amount of heat equivalent to the spaceshuttle's rocket exhaust-roughly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Ouch! And as Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief technology officer, said at an Intel developers conference last spring, 'People are not going to carry rocket nozzles on their laptops.' Nor do they want to listen to the large, powerful fans that would be needed to cool these chips--fans that would generate 85 decibels, almost loud enough to damage the ear drum."
That's fantastic!
The article then discusses an experimental method of cooling where a noncorrosive liquid is sprayed directly onto the hot electronic components. The liquid immediately evaporates, carrying away heat in the process.
So, this got me thinking...while the technology will certainly recirculate the evaporated liquid, consider the implications of not doing that! A build of gas inside the computer. The world could be full of belching, flatulent machines. Laptops could double as whoopie cushions.
See, technology doesn't need to be boring...
