13 Surprising Facts About The Microchips You’re Using To Read This
![13 Surprising Facts About The Microchips You’re Using To Read This](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/5/792675_320x180.jpg)
Computers: the thing you're definitely using to read this article. Or, we guess, a smartphone, which is just a computer in a phone if you (takes huge bong rip) really think about it, dude. Or, third option: it's the apocalypse, the electrical grid has collapsed, but before things went haywire, you printed out this article and are reading it on paper whilst wandering the desert. Weird choice, but we appreciate the dedication.
Anyway, computers are powered by microchips. It's easy, in the 21st century, to joke about how computers in the mid-20th-century were the size of a garage. But “micro” does mean “small,” and it's taken a ridiculous amount of technological developments to get computers down to, say, the size of a laptop or smartphone. You know, the exact right size for you to be able to read this during your morning bathroom trip. And microchips are endlessly fascinating things.
There’s a metal used in microprocessors that melts so easily, it acts kind of like chrome mozzarella. Here’s the full story, plus 12 others:
![The co-inventor of transistors was kind of screwed by his invention. John Bardeen almost didn't make it to his 2nd Nobel Prize celebration because his electronic garage door didn't open (they sent a car to get him). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/5/792685.jpg)
Source: New York Times
![The most frequently manufactured item, ever, is the humble transistor. CAUTION:Deno NICKEL Rechargeable CADMIUM LYPMOROCCO THD200FI su N235 Specifically, it's a metal-oxide semiconductor transistor, which are what silicon computer chips are made out of. Over 13 sextillion have been made. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/1/792681.jpg)
Source: ComputerHistory.org
![We've managed to create transistors SO small, they almost don't work. CORE INTELED -9900K 3.68GHZ 19 @ SAELS L9031183 CROSSFIRT At the scale we're reaching (5-7 nanometers) for transistors that can be manufactured, quantum physics effects screw with their mechanism. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/8/792678.jpg)
Source: Popular Mechanics
![The first microprocessor wasn't invented by Intel, despite the popular myth. 205 It was created for the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet (the Central Air Data Computer)- it could change the sweep of its wings, among other things. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/4/792684.jpg)
Source: Wired
![Silicon used for making semiconductors has to be almost impossibly pure. For each 1 billion silicon atoms, there can BE at most 1 non-silicon atom. If that condition is met, it's considered electronic grade silicon. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/3/792683.jpg)
Source: Tom's Hardware
![In the late '70s, the microchip industry was crippled by one guy getting sick. JOU KK/08 010 The entire industry bought diamond-tipped saws from a single dude who was making them in his garage. His getting sick halted chip supplies globally. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/7/792687.jpg)
Source: The Register
![Manufacturing microchips requires rooms kept clean to ridiculous standards. Suits for clean rooms They're 10,000 times cleaner than a hospital operating room - because one speck of dust could ruin a microprocessor while it's being made. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/2/792682.jpg)
Source: Intel
![At least one Cold War-era microprocessor had a message for Soviet spies. certace A 1990s VAX computer It was VAX - when you care enough to steal the very best, engraved in Russian on the chip itself for any spies who stole the design. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/8/792688.jpg)
Source: Florida State University
![A metal commonly used in microchips can easily melt in your hands. The melting point of gallium is 85.6 degrees F, so it's just solid at room temperature- but if you hold it against your skin, it melts in a few minutes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/0/792680.jpg)
Source: How Stuff Works
![It takes a total of two weeks to make a single silicon-based microprocessor. 06600 QUAD CORE2 INTEL INTEL MALAY 066/85A SLACR 48GHZ/8M/1 2. L738B526 And the plant in which they're made costs $2 billion to build, so making a microchip is equally ridiculously time-consuming and expensive. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/9/792679.jpg)
Source: How Stuff Works
![The first transistor in a commercial product was actually in a hearing aid. 2N44 2N45 1950s transistors/ It was released in 1952, for $229.50, and it had two vacuum tubes plus a transistor -- and 2 years later, 97% of all hearing aids were transistor-only. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/7/792677.jpg)
Source: ComputerHistory.org
![Semiconductors are made with water SO clean, it would poison you. the It's called ultra-pure water (UPW), and it's bad for you because it would leech minerals from your body (which makes it great for cleaning). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/6/792686.jpg)
Source: Fast Company
![Even really short power outages at microchip plants can cause massive losses. - S10+ Galaxy For example, Samsung lost about 50 billion won (or $43.32 million) because the power went out for half an hour in one plant in 2018. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/6/792676.jpg)
Source: Reuters