# Could you have an electric or electronic circuit board with a component filled with H2O?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 4, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632 "2014-05-04T13:03:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/1 "2014-05-04T13:03:04Z")
See subject. I dreamed it last night. It was this vacuum tube-looking thing next to the NVidia video processor.
(Or any other liquid, to expand the dream.)
Thanks,
Leo
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/2 "2014-05-04T13:27:46Z")
Mineral Oil.
You can submerge an entire computer (except the hard drives I think) inside an aquarium filled with mineral oil.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/3 "2014-05-04T13:29:50Z")
There are [liquid cooling systems](https://www.google.com/search?q=liquid+cooling+pc&num=20&newwindow=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=7z9mU_jSDIyryAT6i4LYAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=741).
Although it’s not what you asked, you can submerge the components in mineral oil to really cool them [and it works just fine](http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php).
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### Author:  [@Conspicuous\_Conspiracist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conspicuous_Conspiracist)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/4 "2014-05-04T13:30:11Z")
Short answer is yes.
I have an electronic inclinometer (level) which the safety warning label essentially says “do not subject to freezing temperatures as the sensor is water-filled.” Although it is against my nature, I haven’t taken it apart to see how it works.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/5 "2014-05-04T14:08:09Z")
As part of the circuit?
[Self hijack: in general analog components are old hat. a Question: how long have analog components been used? Save for hijack or new OP…]
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/6 "2014-05-04T14:12:07Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> (Or any other liquid, to expand the dream.)
[Mercury](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_switch).
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/7 "2014-05-04T14:13:33Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> As part of the circuit?
>
> [Self hijack: in general analog components are old hat. a Question: how long have analog components been used? Save for hijack or new OP…]
All components are analog…
So, what you are asking is, “what was the first electronic circuit?”
Do you consider motors to be "electronic?’
How about electrostatic generators?
Or, spark-gap radio receivers/transmitters?
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/8 "2014-05-04T14:15:46Z")
Aaah! Please read my edited post before I timed out:
But as part of the circuit?
[Self hijack: in general analog components are old hat. a Question: how long have analog components been used? Save for hijack or new OP…]
I just thought of all the MEMS gas sensors on a chip (“artificial noses”). “It"s just plumbing,” as my idiot managing editor at an electronics magazine said when initially vetoing a masterful professional article.)
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/9 "2014-05-04T14:21:29Z")
[Electrolytic capacitors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitors).
> [@](#):
>
> An electrolytic capacitor is a capacitor that uses an electrolyte (an ionic conducting liquid) as one of its plates to achieve a larger capacitance per unit volume than other types.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/10 "2014-05-04T14:21:42Z")
I remembered I also worked with Koch and his [awesome analog VLSI lab](http://www.klab.caltech.edu/~koch/analogvlsi.shtml) at CalTech (in an article by him on artificial vision).
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/11 "2014-05-04T14:24:58Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#):
>
> [Electrolytic capacitors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitors).
A winner. No, thankq!
([A la Groucho.).](http://youtu.be/cKWUKwWxAqs)
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/12 "2014-05-04T14:28:10Z")
electronics is often defined as having an active component, e.g. tube, transistor or IC. electrical components, e.g. resistors, capacitors, inductors are in both electrical and electronic circuits.
there are fierce fights over galena.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/13 "2014-05-04T14:31:19Z")
Analog is a stupid name. Even digital circuits are both analog and analogue. They use either voltage levels or current flow as analogues of logic values. “Analog” is not the antonym of digital. Sadly common use has made it so.
As to the OP. The [Cray-2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-2) must rate as one of the best examples of the idea.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/14 "2014-05-04T14:36:40Z")
Well, I don’t need no stinking chemistry like Pollak in 1886. Stuff like that comes to me in visions. Plus I still like the image of a mini skyscraper vacuum-tube next to all the chips. Steam-punk EE?
I don’t know the word “galena.” Are you talking arguments like about Atlantis (nd chicken/egg or galena surfaces, which I looked up? Classic place for comic error on my part…
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/15 "2014-05-04T14:44:03Z")
galena is a mineral, lead sulfide, which can have semiconductor properties.
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/16 "2014-05-04T16:29:20Z")
For consumer products, your best chance what **zoid** mentions. Nothing else in common (or uncommon) use AFAIK contains any liquids at all. The smallest [oil-filled transformer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformer_oil) I could find was still the size of a trash can.
> [@ZenBeam](#):
>
> [Electrolytic capacitors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitors).
If you take apart an electrolytic capacitor (which I coincidentally did last month for reasons) you’re going to find (basically) a tightly wound strip of slightly damp paper. I wouldn’t classify it as a liquid.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/17 "2014-05-04T16:38:46Z")
> [@Nanoda](#):
>
> For consumer products, your best chance what **zoid** mentions. Nothing else in common (or uncommon) use AFAIK contains any liquids at all.
except mercury.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/18 "2014-05-04T17:01:21Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#):
>
> except mercury.
Just _try_ and find a consumer electronics product with a component containing mercury!
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/19 "2014-05-04T17:05:00Z")
Motherboards with integrated cooling have been around for about 6 years now. Current is not sent directly through liquid but liquid is sometimes sent through the CPU.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-have-an-electric-or-electronic-circuit-board-with-a-component-filled-with-h2o/687632/20 "2014-05-04T17:55:06Z")
> [@Nanoda](#):
>
> If you take apart an electrolytic capacitor (which I coincidentally did last month for reasons) you’re going to find (basically) a tightly wound strip of slightly damp paper. I wouldn’t classify it as a liquid.
I realize it’s not a liquid-filled bulb like the OP dreams of, but the important characteristic of the electrolyte is that as a liquid, it can get into much closer contact with the metal on the other side of the oxide layer than you could get with a solid. See [this picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elko-Prinzipschnittbild-english.png) at the link. The capacitance between the purple damp paper and the metal foil will be much smaller than the capacitance between the green liquid portion and the metal foil. There’s both a larger surface area and a smaller gap.
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