Is there an electronical engineer in the crowd?

[BudVitoff]

In 1956 I had two weeks of Army training in electronics. When it was over, I was satisfied that a vacuum tube would die when its filament burned out. Although I had no formal training after that, I did conclude that semi-conductors and transistors were probably the same thing, but it took a few years before I figured out that the mysterious "n" and "p" probably stood for "negative" and "positive". Then came printed circuit boards and the start of miniaturization, ending up today with smartphones that are much smarter than I am.

So why am I writing this post? I want someone to tell me — in simple language, please — why electronic devices wear out. I mean, I can understand that mechanical devices can suffer from friction, rust, stress, fractures, corrosion, leaks, and God-knows-what-all, but a circuit? With miniaturization, those electrons really don’t have to travel very far to get to work, so why is my seven-year-old iMac starting to refuse to do some simple tasks that it's been doing so dependably for so long?

Any constructive information would be sincerely appreciated.

 

[whoosh]

I hope this helps : Electronic/Electrical Reliability Topic: Electronic/Electrical Reliability

Not my work but covers the subject well

 

[BudVitoff]

Ask a simple question ...

Actually, I did start looking at your reference, and it gives me a brand new respect for the industry. I didn't realize how easy I had it as a programmer -- assuming that everything would just keep working.

Now, what's in the brown bowl?