fat electrons
<electronics, humour> Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the cause
of computer glitches. Your typical electricity company draws its line current
out of the big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of the
dynamo. When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line to clean
them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the *bottom* of the coil. Now, this
is a problem, because when they do that they get not ordinary or "thin"
electrons, but the fat sloppy electrons that are heavier and so settle to the
bottom of the generator. These flow down ordinary wires just fine, but when they
have to turn a sharp corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt to
get stuck. This is what causes computer glitches.
[Obviously, fat electrons must gain mass by bogon absorption - ESR]
Compare bogon, magic smoke.
[Jargon File]
(1996-12-08)
Nearby terms:
fatal exception « fat binary « fat client « fat electrons
» fault » fault-based testing » fault tolerance
