You may have heard about the RoHS directive, otherwise known as the Reduction of Hazardous Substances. It's something the European Union passed in order to require electronics manufacturers to produce more environmentally Friendly. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

One problem that electronics develop over time is something called tin whiskers. They are electrically conductive, crystalline structures of tin that grow from tin surfaces. They can grow several millimeters long, up to 10mm in some cases.

Tin is used in soldier, which is used on circuit boards to connect various components together. These problems aren't new, being reported as early as the 1940s. As circuit boards and have gotten smaller and more tightly packed, it doesn't take much of a whisker to cause potentially fatal problems with electronics.

Back to RoHS: one of the things RoHS bans is lead. Lead is certainly a hazardous substance. Turns out, incorporating lead into the tin soldier is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of tin whiskers forming on electronics. Unfortunately, there isn't a practical alternative to using lead. The end result: RoHS-compliant electronics may fail quicker than their non-RoHS compliant brethren.

NASA has an FAQ on Tin Whiskers, if you're looking for more information.

Via Gizmodo