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Questions tagged [electronics]

Electronics deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components and associated passive interconnection technologies. Use this when asking about electronic devices, electronic design and use (or misuse) of some devices.

Electronics deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies.

Commonly, electronic devices contain circuitry consisting primarily or exclusively of active semiconductors supplemented with passive elements; such a circuit is described as an electronic circuit.

Source: Wikipedia - Electronics

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Do consumer computers include components that can connect to the internet when the computer is apparently turned off?

I have seen many claims that devices such as laptop computers contain components that can "connect to the internet" even when the main device is powered off. The implication is that such devices could be backdoored by the NSA or others in order to…
Caesar
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Does Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) exist?

A recent article from Daily Mail cited the case of a woman claiming to be allergic to Wi-Fi, and that it could even kill her. This claim sounded ridiculous and absurd to me. Quoting parts of the exact text: Jackie Lindsey, 50, claims she has…
Victor Stafusa - BozoNaCadeia
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Does a SSD only store data for 3 months without power?

On this document published by Dell, in section 6, it states: I have unplugged my SSD drive and put it into storage. How long can I expect the drive to retain my data without needing to plug the drive back in? It depends on the how much …
Eric Johnson
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Can the health of an alkaline battery be determined by bouncing it?

I was just sent a YouTube video, which appears to demonstrate that one can determine the "health" of a battery (current voltage, useful lifetime remaining, etc.) by bouncing it on a level surface. A new[ish] battery will not bounce, and tend to…
Hendy
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Are criminals wandering around with contactless POS sale terminals helping themselves to small amounts from people's RFID credit/debit cards?

There is quite a lot of good coverage on Skeptics already of the security of RFID and contactless credit/debit cards, but it mainly focusses on card cloning and identity protection/privacy/tracking issues. However another issue which you see a…
timday
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Is it dangerous to vacuum-clean motherboards (and other electronics)?

I've been informed that using the standard household vacuum cleaner's blower attachment to clean motherboards (and the insides of laptops and desktops in general) is dangerous due to the possibility of damaging electronic components. This apparently…
user7920
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Do fitness trackers make you fatter?

The idea of using a fitness tracker is that you should pay more attention to the amount of exercise you get and, therefore, be more likely to get enough. This should support weight loss in people who are carrying too much weight. A recent study…
matt_black
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Are British plugs safer than all other plugs?

There is a very interesting Youtube Video British Plugs Are Better Than All Other Plugs, And Here's Why that indicates some engineering reasons why the British power plug is safer than for example the American style power plug. As you can see in the…
Brian M. Hunt
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Does turning the lamp in my classroom off and on use more energy than it being turned on for 30 minutes?

My physics teacher regularly said to our class: Turning these lights [pointing to the ceiling of the classroom] off and on uses more energy than leaving them on for 30 minutes. Is this true? I am not sure about the exact kind of lamp used in…
user505117
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Can you harvest energy from radio transmissions?

This video gives instructions on building a circuit to harvest energy from radio waves in the air using some pretty straightforward circuitry. The creator has another video showing such a circuit powering a wall clock. Is it possible to harvest…
Catherine Hoy
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Does baking your graphics card fix it?

There's a tonne of articles online about fixing you graphics card by baking it in the oven. Supposedly this 'reflows' the solder to fix flaky connections. It's even been reported on sites such as Lifehacker. Does it work? Is it safe?
fredley
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Does fully discharging a Lithium-based battery reduce its lifespan?

According to Battery University, the less you allow a Lithium-based battery to discharge before charging it again, the less wear it will undergo and therefore the longer lifespan it will have. (e.g. discharging to 40% before charging is better than…
jezjez
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Killed by 9V battery (via multimeter)

I found a Darwin award story claiming that someone was killed by pushing the leads of a Simpson 260 into his skin in ohmmeter mode. Furthermore, the story claims it is based on an unnamed US Navy Safety Publication. What makes me skeptical about…
Fizz
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Does reading off a self-luminous tablet impact the quality of sleep?

I've heard claimed many times that reading an iPad in bed makes for worse sleep quality than reading a book or a Kindle with a bedside lamp, Possible explanations I've heard are because of the brightness level, the blue-rich light or the angle of…
Sklivvz
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Do ultrasonic cat repellents work?

Amazon sells roughly 355 different cat repellent products but judging by the consumer ratings, most of them don't actually work -- and even those that do, could be correlation rather than causation. Do ultrasonic cat repellents work, or don't they? …
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
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