Exploding Laptops

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Wouldn't you just love to blow up your laptop in the hands of its thief after it's been stolen? Well, that might be possible soon since scientists have discovered a new way to make silicon explode.

[ .. ] Michael Sailor and his colleagues at the University of California in San Diego have found a way to blow up silicon chips using an electrical signal.

They say their method could be used to fry circuitry in devices that fall into the wrong hands. For instance, the American spy plane impounded by China last year could have used it to destroy its secret electronics systems.

Sailor's team hit upon this new way of exploding silicon when they applied the oxidising chemical gadolinium nitrate to a porous silicon wafer. As colleague Fred Mikulec used a diamond scribe to split the wafer it blew up in his face, giving Mikulec the shock of his life. Luckily, only a minute quantity of silicon was involved so it was a small bang. "It's a bit like a cap in a cap gun going off," says Sailor.

Of course, I can think of a few pilots who would find this situation to be very very distressing.

Cited story.

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