What are Four PCB Facts You Might Not Know? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: SamHeSEOer
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 10:25:51 am
content: Quiz...Gramophones had printed circuit boardsThe first PCBs were funded by a music printing companyWhy Do they Tend to be Green?PCBs were vital to space travelWhat are your answers?Gramophones had printed circuit boardsPCB's were around in the early-to-mid 1900's and were used in some gramophones and tube radios. They might not have looked like the PCB's we see today, but no matter, they helped introduce new advancements into consumers, just as they do today.The first PCB's were funded by a music printing companyPaul Eisler, who is sometimes referred to as the Father of the Modern Printed Circuit Board, was an Austrian inventor who was working at a music printing company in the mid-1900’s. He shared his idea for a new invention — what would become the very first printed circuit board and the company decided to bankroll his idea. His invention led directly to the types of printed circuit boards we produce today.Why Do they Tend to be Green?The green material you see on the PCB layout is the solder mask. But these days, solder mask can be made in many different colors — so why have printed circuit boards continued to stay green? Some think it can be traced back to their use in the American military, where both rigid and flexible circuit boards have been common since development of the auto-assembly process in the mid-1950's.PCB’s were vital to space travelAs an integral part of NASA’s space program, printed circuit boards helped get the Apollo 11 astronauts safely to the moon and back. Circuit boards are lightweight and require only a small amount of electricity, so they were ideal for complex electronics in close quarters, such as a spacecraft.So, don’t assume these types of technologies are a new technology. They have had a long, and significant history.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 10:38:42 am
content: Gramophones are purely mechanic devices, so them having circuit boards is highly doubtful. As of the rest, who said that PCBs were not around for a quite some time?

author: golden_labels
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 02:02:39 pm
content: I am not sure, what’s the goal of this thread. In particular since there is no context and this is your first post on the forum (welcome, BTW).If that’s to show that many technologies are older than the general population thinks they are: indeed people are poor at placing things in time. That’s a well known phenomenon(1)and people tend to both greatly overestimate age (mostly ideological stuff) and equally underestimate it (mostly technological stuff). Usually caused by projecting own beliefs on past generations, or learning about existence of something through major exposure to media/advertisement/products. In virtually all cases the core issue is a subset of thesampling bias, though often coupled with other problems. But PCBs is not something I would consider a good example, as a considerable portion of the population still remembers first commercial devices using PCBs.If that’s to provide interesting facts, then please provide sources. And by sources I do not mean merely confirming that something looking like PCB existed or that Apollo 11 used PCBs. No, sources that confirm specific claims made. Otherwise it really makes no sense: if done in good faith, information is worth spreading for the sake of spreading only if it can be shown to be true. We already have way too many people dispersing trivia, misrepresented facts or outright lies as if they were valuable facts.To three of those look dubious:Gramophones predate PCBs by half a century. While the statement may be interpreted literally as containing existential quantifier and one could say that perhaps there existed some gramophone that contained something that might be classified as PCB, that would — even if true — count as trivia at best.Apollo 11 used both PCBs and other circuit building technologies. In both older and later flights PCBs were not crtical either. How was the use of PCB critical for Apollo 11?How does green soldermask relate to military? If it at least was the green used for camouflage and PCBs were used outside, there would be connection. But that’s a very different shade of green, PCBs were never in need of being hidden, PCBs that would be used early in military are often not having soldermask, and much of equipment inside military settings is bluyish or yellowish gray. That one very much resembles explanations invented to rationalize an existing condition.(2)(1)At least to people, who ever cared to at least scratch the surface of knowledge about how perception is biased. Which paradoxically means that is not so well known in the general population. But that can be said about anything.(2)“Why manholes are round” is a common example of that.

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 02:38:21 pm
content: Quote from: SamHeSEOer on August 22, 2022, 10:25:51 amCircuit boards, on their own, require no power whatsoever, and the amount of power required will be dictated by the circuit itself regardless of how it's constructed

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 02:44:57 pm
content: Quote from: golden_labels on August 22, 2022, 02:02:39 pmLooking at the user name of the OP, I have a hunch about the goal of this thread.But I am curious to see how this plays out. Just a plain, lame edit of the original post in a few days to add some spam link? Or do they have a more original approach?

author: gnif
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 05:01:39 pm
content: This does look like it's going to get a ninja edit to add spam, keeping an eye on it. If it does I will handle it.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 05:10:30 pm
content: Quote from: gnif on August 22, 2022, 05:01:39 pmIt came from here - no citation was provided.https://www.optimatech.net/knowledge-center/Four-pcb-facts-you-might-not-know.aspx

author: gnif
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 05:21:51 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on August 22, 2022, 05:10:30 pmUnderstood, once the edit happens I will contact the company that has been sold into this service and inform them of the dirty tactics in use. So far 3 out of 3 companies contacted have terminated their SEO contract using this tactic.

author: MrAl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 06:13:20 pm
content: Quote from: fordem on August 22, 2022, 02:38:21 pmHi,That's true for the most part but some PCB's are used for heating where the traces get warm when too much current runs thought them. Another use is a PCB antenna also with no parts mounted on it just a pattern that is calculated to be a good radiator at the target frequency(s).

author: MrAl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 06:18:19 pm
content: Hi,This topic is a little interesting.I remember long time ago some older equipment used brown phenolic PC boards. I hated those things they would crack easily and the traces usually came off easy too when soldered with a regular soldering iron so had to be careful soldering those boards. Nasty things. Havent seen one in over 20 years now.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 07:13:55 pm
content: banned, user name matches email, always means spam especially when it's random characters

author: golden_labels
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2022, 10:39:04 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on August 22, 2022, 02:44:57 pmOh, I noticed that too. But nothing suspicious observed yet, so I was following AGF. And, as in many other threads, the response is really targeted at other readers. In this case… you know, someone might believe those statements.Quote from: Simon on August 22, 2022, 07:13:55 pmMay we get a mention of that in the first post in the begining? So the reader was aware the author was not writing that in good faith and probably not caring about the quality of information provided?