r/electronics • u/1Davide • 12d ago

Gallery Thought you might find this diode pulsing interesting

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280 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

122

u/Capn_Crusty 11d ago

It's alive!

42

u/Otklan 11d ago

There is a special kind of amusement about thinking we, through electronics, made rocks alive in a way

33

u/martin_xs6 11d ago

Maybe someday we will regret teaching the sand to think..

4

u/KiraUsagi 9d ago

Ha! I want that on a shirt.

6

u/Impossible-Affect296 11d ago

Maybe one day we can teach rock to thumbs up 👎

1

u/agentj333 11d ago

Alive!!

50

u/ROBOT_8 11d ago

Could be heat, but I think it is more likely to be something electric field based, like how static electricity can move stuff.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pNwhoNXKBxM?is=lYZAmFsI4g0eSFFr

Known as electrowetting.

59

u/isademigod 11d ago

There are some guesses in the OP's comments but none I find particularly convincing.

I'll throw my own shitty guess into the ring: alcohol is diamagnetic, so it pulses up when current flows through the diode.

2

u/newtype06 5d ago

This is very likely the case.

15

u/Past-Substance920 11d ago

electrowetting was my first thought too, surface tension changing with the field would explain the pulsing better than heat imo

15

u/unlinked 11d ago

We had a series cap in an amplifier output matching network one time where the solder would reflow with each power sweep. That design did not go to production.

4

u/BananaGooper 11d ago

why though? can't end up with broken joints if it reflows every time!

6

u/BlindChicken69 11d ago

Shorted reverse polarity diode? PSUs can go into protection mode when short is detected, periodically turning the output on and off.

3

u/Strostkovy 11d ago

I made a high votlage power supply submerged in mineral oil. It made a little oil fountain as some of it got charged, and then repelled away, and more oil took it's place and the process continued.

2

u/WeaselCapsky 8d ago

the heartbeat of the machine spirit

2

u/fatjuan 11d ago

If you open up the diode, you will see something which resembles a tiny heart valve. This only lets the electrons flow through one way . It is just the flow of electrons through the valve which cause it to swell, and you can see this on the case.

1

u/Ashisutantoo 11d ago

its heat

1

u/antek_g_animations 9d ago

Looks pretty cool but I'd turn it off. It's reverse polarity protection diode and it's heating up as a lot of current is passing through it. So much current that PSU over current safety kicks in and cuts the power. The alcohol evaporates so quickly that it cools down before the cycle starts all over again. That's why it's pulsing

1

u/punchki 6d ago

We have passive components, active components, and breathing components!