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Get some LEDs and connect them in reverse to a 9V battery. Oh, open the window and put on protective glases.
Diodes don't enjoy being too strongly reverse-biased.
I just connected one in reverse to the terminals of the 9V Energizer and it blew up, meanwhile scaring the dickens out of me. Made my room smell pretty nasty, too (burning plastice, I suppose).
I understand what happened: the breakdown voltage of the diode was exceeded, so it broke down and allowed current to pass in reverse. But why'd it blow up?
f only life let you press CTRL-Z.
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Maybe the current inside the diode got so intense that it threw a spark which overheated the plastic case... Or something
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That wouldn't make sense. According to that, then, if I shorted a battery with a regular low-resistance wire, and surrounded it with plastic, it'll burn. But that doesn't happen.
Nah, it's got something to do with the semiconductor itself.
f only life let you press CTRL-Z.
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[wild guess] too much electricirty flowing through it for it to control, the electricity built up and when it escaped it did so with such force it blew up the whole thing
like i said that is just a guess and most likely wrong
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I expressed it badly.
As far as I know, a diode is just two wires connected to two different semiconductors stuck together inside a plastic case. It acts the way it does 'cause of the different properties of the two kinds of semiconductors (type N and type P). If you connect it in the wrong way, you are feeding with electrons a semiconductor that has them in excess... Extra movement causes heating. A lot of heating may cause nasty stuff when applied to the different materials. The case would melt or the extra charge may cause a spark.
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Quote:[wild guess] too much electricirty flowing through it for it to control, the electricity built up and when it escaped it did so with such force it blew up the whole thing
like i said that is just a guess and most likely wrong
The electricity "escapes", "built up"...where and how?
Nath: Right. I was thinking on those lines, but more that the excess heat caused an ignition with a chemical/material in the semiconductor itself, and that exploded.
f only life let you press CTRL-Z.
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Quote:TheDarkJay Wrote:[wild guess] too much electricirty flowing through it for it to control, the electricity built up and when it escaped it did so with such force it blew up the whole thing
like i said that is just a guess and most likely wrong
The electricity "escapes", "built up"...where and how?
Nath: Right. I was thinking on those lines, but more that the excess heat caused an ignition with a chemical/material in the semiconductor itself, and that exploded.
like i said, i was only guessing, i am only 13 you know.
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Nath is pretty much dead on accurate.
Chances are the semiconducter blew...it's hard to tell unless you know the material.
Zack...I am pretty surprised that you were...errr stupid enough to try this in the first place. Things like this can horribly mess up.
Lol try it with a microfarad capacitor next time
No, really, don't.
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strange.... that never happened to me before. I've accidentally put an LED directly on a 9V backwards. Nothing. It burns out when I put it correctly (no resistor)
Maybe I just use better LEDs then you *rolls eyes*
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Heh, I never heard of that b4... I do know 2 many volts can fry 'em, :wink:
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