amiga cooling

[Ral-Clan]

AMC258 wrote:
Short?  Do you not understand water is an insulator?  The only problem in using water is electrolosys.

Could someone provide a source for this information?  I've always thought that water was a conductor, hence don't use electronics around the bathtub, wet floors, etc.

[EDIT] Ah, I think I understand.  Pure water is not a conductor, it's the dissolved metals and minerals in water that make it a conductor.  That's why you guys are talking about using distilled water as an insulator.  Have I got it now?

[Daedalus]

Yeah, that's it. Water itself doesn't carry any loose electrons as H₂O is a stable compound, therefore it doesn't conduct electricity. The problem with water is that it's an excellent solvent of minerals, so very quickly in contact with PCBs etc., it will dissolve some minerals from dirt, surface coatings etc. which will provide loose ions and electrons, and then it'll start conducting. Even a beaker of pure water left open to the air will quickly become impure as it absorbs molecules from the air.

[orange]

@Daedalus
IIRC I read on slashdot, thats what happened after 15 minutes or so to a computer submerged in pure water (was running fine and then it broke). They also mentioned it being somewhat corrosive.