Why do electronics hate water?

D

darth vader is dead

New member
Water is conductive and if it falls on a motherboard for example it can bridge circuits causing a short circuit and as a result a burned motherboard.If water fell on a shut off motherboard,electricity would not be passing through it so no short circuit could be caused if it just evaporated.So,in conclusion,water can be harmful because it can conduct electricity when you don't want it to.
 
Water wont always hurt electronics.

If you were to pour pure water onto a circuit board, and then leave it to dry out before plugging it in then it should work fine (although I wouldn't recommend testing this with expensive electronics!)

The biggest problem with water is what it does to electric items when they are switched on. When switched on if water touches the circuitry it causes a short circuit, because water is conductive. It then sends power to random areas of the circuit board, blowing circuits and sending voltages that could be quite high and seriously damage some of the minor components.

There is also problems with water which has impurities such as sugar (i.e. coke, coffee and tea!). Drinks that contain sugar, when the water dries up will remain and stick to all the vital electronics, again causing short circuits and killing most electronic items.

If you do spill just normal water into anything electronic your best hope to save it is to turn it off and just leave it to dry out.

I have one of those PicoZ helicopters that flew into the dogs water bowl and tested this theory. It worked perfecty after drying out, but I was lucky I managed to turn it off before any of the electric shorted out any of the components.
 
What makes electronics malfunction when they come in contact with water? I've seen mother boards before, and they don't look like water would hurt them, it is metal and plastic after all.
 
Water is conductive and if it falls on a motherboard for example it can bridge circuits causing a short circuit and as a result a burned motherboard.If water fell on a shut off motherboard,electricity would not be passing through it so no short circuit could be caused if it just evaporated.So,in conclusion,water can be harmful because it can conduct electricity when you don't want it to.
 
Water is conductive and if it falls on a motherboard for example it can bridge circuits causing a short circuit and as a result a burned motherboard.If water fell on a shut off motherboard,electricity would not be passing through it so no short circuit could be caused if it just evaporated.So,in conclusion,water can be harmful because it can conduct electricity when you don't want it to.
 
Water wont always hurt electronics.

If you were to pour pure water onto a circuit board, and then leave it to dry out before plugging it in then it should work fine (although I wouldn't recommend testing this with expensive electronics!)

The biggest problem with water is what it does to electric items when they are switched on. When switched on if water touches the circuitry it causes a short circuit, because water is conductive. It then sends power to random areas of the circuit board, blowing circuits and sending voltages that could be quite high and seriously damage some of the minor components.

There is also problems with water which has impurities such as sugar (i.e. coke, coffee and tea!). Drinks that contain sugar, when the water dries up will remain and stick to all the vital electronics, again causing short circuits and killing most electronic items.

If you do spill just normal water into anything electronic your best hope to save it is to turn it off and just leave it to dry out.

I have one of those PicoZ helicopters that flew into the dogs water bowl and tested this theory. It worked perfecty after drying out, but I was lucky I managed to turn it off before any of the electric shorted out any of the components.
 
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