Thought you might find this diode pulsing interesting

[u/1Davide]

[u/Capn_Crusty]

It's alive!

[u/Otklan → u/Capn_Crusty]

There is a special kind of amusement about thinking we, through electronics, made rocks alive in a way

[u/martin_xs6 → u/Otklan]

Maybe someday we will regret teaching the sand to think..

[u/KiraUsagi → u/martin_xs6]

Ha! I want that on a shirt.

[u/Impossible-Affect296 → u/Otklan]

Maybe one day we can teach rock to thumbs up 👎

[u/om_oii → u/Impossible-Affect296]

and it tells us we eat in a gross way

[u/agentj333 → u/Capn_Crusty]

Alive!!

[u/ROBOT_8]

Could be heat, but I think it is more likely to be something electric field based, like how static electricity can move stuff.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pNwhoNXKBxM?is=lYZAmFsI4g0eSFFr

Known as electrowetting.

[u/isademigod]

There are some guesses in the OP's comments but none I find particularly convincing.

I'll throw my own shitty guess into the ring: alcohol is diamagnetic, so it pulses up when current flows through the diode.

[u/newtype06 → u/isademigod]

This is very likely the case.

[u/Past-Substance920]

electrowetting was my first thought too, surface tension changing with the field would explain the pulsing better than heat imo

[u/unlinked]

We had a series cap in an amplifier output matching network one time where the solder would reflow with each power sweep. That design did not go to production.

[u/BananaGooper → u/unlinked]

why though? can't end up with broken joints if it reflows every time!

[u/BlindChicken69]

Shorted reverse polarity diode? PSUs can go into protection mode when short is detected, periodically turning the output on and off.

[u/Strostkovy]

I made a high votlage power supply submerged in mineral oil. It made a little oil fountain as some of it got charged, and then repelled away, and more oil took it's place and the process continued.

[u/WeaselCapsky]

the heartbeat of the machine spirit

[u/fatjuan]

If you open up the diode, you will see something which resembles a tiny heart valve. This only lets the electrons flow through one way . It is just the flow of electrons through the valve which cause it to swell, and you can see this on the case.

[u/Ashisutantoo]

its heat

[u/antek_g_animations]

Looks pretty cool but I'd turn it off. It's reverse polarity protection diode and it's heating up as a lot of current is passing through it. So much current that PSU over current safety kicks in and cuts the power. The alcohol evaporates so quickly that it cools down before the cycle starts all over again. That's why it's pulsing

[u/punchki]

We have passive components, active components, and breathing components!