magic smoke
A substance trapped inside {integrated circuit} packages that enables them to function (also called "blue smoke" this is similar to the archaic "phlogiston" hypothesis about combustion). Its existence is demonstrated by what happens when a chip burns up - the magic smoke gets let out, so it doesn' t work any more. See Electing a Pope, smoke test. Usenetter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while hacking on a dedicated Zilog Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing EPROMs and plugging them in the system, then seeing what happened. One time, I plugged one in backward. I only discovered that *after* I realised that Intel didn' t put power-on lights under the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs - the die was glowing white-hot. Amazingly, the EPROM worked fine after I erased it, filled it full of zeros, then erased it again. For all I know, it' s still in service. Of course, this is because the magic smoke didn' t get let out." Compare the original phrasing of Murphy' s Law. [Jargon File] (1995-01-25) In addition suitable contents:
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