Tin whisker. Scanning electron micrograph of a tin whisker, a spontaneous outgrowth of tin solder used in electronic components. Tin whiskers are crystalline filaments a few thousands of a millimetre thick, and can grow up to ten millimetres in length. The phenomenon was first identified within terrestrial electronics, but these whiskers are known to grow rapidly out of pure tin in the weightlessness, vacuum and extreme temperatures of space. They are electrically conductive and so can cause catastrophic short circuits, such as that which destroyed the US Galaxy IV telecommunications satellite in 1998. | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / ESA |
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