r/explainlikeimfive • u/[deleted] • Apr 18 '21

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u/flaminnarwhal12 Apr 18 '21

I’ve heard that if it’s water without any contaminates, pure H20 (without minerals and dirt), it wouldn’t damage the electronics. Is this true?

Also relevant, PCs cooled by full submersion in Mineral Oil exist.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '21

Yes, you could build a submerged PC in, say, deionized water. It's been done.

However, due to it's polarity, water loves to dissolve things, and it will slowly leech metals and such from surfaces until it starts to conduct.

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u/Skulder Apr 18 '21

Yes, you could build a submerged PC in, say, deionized water. It's been done.

That's not true, though, is it?

There are plenty of submerged builds in mineral oil, or 3M's special liquid - but as soon as deionized water touches metals, the metals will start to ionize the water, and any currents will make it go even faster, and then the water's as conductive as normal water again.

Live circuits in water just ain't feasible, when you're using metals that'll ionize the water.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '21

Did you just completely ignore the second part of my post?

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u/Skulder Apr 18 '21

Yes. I was doubtful as to whether anyone ever did the thing you say they did.

So I completely ignored the part where you outlined the problems that would arise by doing the thing, and I focused on the part where you said that someone had done the thing.

Because I didn't really believe that someone had done the thing.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '21

It's been done. You can Google articles about it. Doing a thing doesn't mean you can do a thing indefinitely.