Electronics — what they are made of
9 electronics objects, broken down.
| Object | Made of |
|---|---|
| Alkaline battery | Zinc powder and manganese dioxide either side of a potassium hydroxide paste, in a steel can. |
| Smartphone screen | Chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass over a touch layer and an OLED or LCD panel, with an oil-shedding coating on top. |
| Solar panel | Doped silicon wafers with silver contacts, sealed between low-iron glass and a plastic backsheet in an aluminium frame. |
| LED bulb | Blue LED chips under a yellow phosphor, plus a driver circuit and a heat sink — and it is the driver that dies. |
| Touchscreen | A grid of transparent electrodes measuring the tiny capacitance your finger adds — which is why gloves fail. |
| Computer keyboard | ABS or PBT keycaps over either a silicone rubber dome on printed film, or individual mechanical switches. |
| Headphones | A neodymium magnet, a coil of copper wire and a thin plastic diaphragm — a loudspeaker shrunk to fit an ear. |
| Loudspeaker | A paper or plastic cone hung on a rubber surround, driven by a coil in a magnet gap. |
| Computer mouse | An ABS shell around a tiny camera taking thousands of pictures a second, plus two clicky microswitches and PTFE feet. |
- Alkaline battery Zinc powder and manganese dioxide either side of a potassium hydroxide paste, in a steel can.
- Smartphone screen Chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass over a touch layer and an OLED or LCD panel, with an oil-shedding coating on top.
- Solar panel Doped silicon wafers with silver contacts, sealed between low-iron glass and a plastic backsheet in an aluminium frame.
- LED bulb Blue LED chips under a yellow phosphor, plus a driver circuit and a heat sink — and it is the driver that dies.
- Touchscreen A grid of transparent electrodes measuring the tiny capacitance your finger adds — which is why gloves fail.
- Computer keyboard ABS or PBT keycaps over either a silicone rubber dome on printed film, or individual mechanical switches.
- Headphones A neodymium magnet, a coil of copper wire and a thin plastic diaphragm — a loudspeaker shrunk to fit an ear.
- Loudspeaker A paper or plastic cone hung on a rubber surround, driven by a coil in a magnet gap.
- Computer mouse An ABS shell around a tiny camera taking thousands of pictures a second, plus two clicky microswitches and PTFE feet.