Wouldn't in theory still be working under the surface? Even for a while? Oil is not a conductor and we know that water doesn't actually do the damage but the short circuits produced.
2006-10-19 14:47:25 · 8 answers · asked by Nostromo 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
In theory ... sure. But, I won't let you try it with mine. ;-)
Oil, as you said, is a non-conductor ... as is water. BUT ... the trick is PURE WATER and PURE OIL. Good luck finding it ... and good luck keeping it pure. Once it touches anything ... *pfft* your computer is fried.
Pure water has a resistance of about 18 Megaohms, but that resistance drops rapidly as gasses in the air dissolve in the water. Now, add a little dust or dirt and you have a conductive solution.
The real problem with this idea is that semiconductor chips are poisoned by a very small amount of contaminants.
For all practical purposes, you will have the same problem with oil.
2006-10-19 15:06:11 · answer #1 · answered by Robert S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With a good, clean, non-conductive oil, the electronic components would do just fine. Air inductors and capacitors would see some change in value, so older communications equipment would be affected. The cooling fans would have trouble moving the oil, but then it's a much better conductor of heat, so you probably wouldn't even need fans. High power transformers are filled with oil, mainly for the cooling. Yes, mechanical devices like CD and magnetic disk drives would fail.
2006-10-20 02:12:51 · answer #2 · answered by Frank N 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Certain parts of it would work just fine, but other parts might not. There are oils which are specially designed to be inert and non-conductive to DC voltages, but they do have a different dielectric constant than air. This can change the effective impedance to AC signals (in a loose sense, they are "conductive"). Since your laptop relies on lots and lots of high-frequency synchronized AC voltages, some of them might get a bit mixed up, and the computer might stop working.
I wouldn't count on your hard disk drive working too well either :)
2006-10-19 23:04:05 · answer #3 · answered by or_try_this 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oil is not a conductor but dirt will stick to it. Pure water is an insulator.
2006-10-19 22:26:42 · answer #4 · answered by Max 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in theory yes, but being immersed in anything would probably clog up the machine. It wouldn't be stopped by short circuit damage though.
2006-10-19 21:51:45 · answer #5 · answered by solitusfactum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
technically if you submerged it in pure water it wouldnt short circuit either, since pure water doesnt conduct electricity, at least probably not in the amount that would cause it to short circuit
2006-10-19 21:58:40 · answer #6 · answered by saga_child 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes
2006-10-19 21:49:25 · answer #7 · answered by lickitysplit 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're full of wacky questions tonight, Nostromo!
I dunno about the laptop working.... You wanna try it?
2006-10-19 21:49:40 · answer #8 · answered by marsminute 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋