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Processor Pins

A

ai42

Diamond Member
Ok this is pretty pointless and falls under the useless geek trivia so don't say I didn't warn you.

So I had a bunch of hard drive magnets laying around here, and I was bored watching TV playing with this stuff. I realized that every processor I've tested (P133, 166, 233, k6-2 500, 1Ghz Athlon, 1.1Ghz Duron) the pins are not pure gold. Because the magnets are attracted to the pins. And pure gold would not do that, but I guess it makes sense as pure gold would be too weak and would bend very easily. So what is on the inside? When you scrap off what I can only assume to be gold is a silvery metal, so what could it be?

Lead, Steal, Iron? Any ideas? I know Aluminum, silver, copper, and nickel do not attract to a magnet so that can be ruled out.
 
Don't know for sure, but maybe they're just plated with gold?
Which you hint at, doh; missed that.😱
Whatever it is though, it does seem to bend pretty easily.
 
I believe that there are only three pure elements that are magnetic. They are iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co). What makes a material magnetic is the atomic structure of the metal. Fe, Ni, and Co have a structure called body centered cubic, where 8 atoms form a cube with one atom sitting in the middle of the cube. Most other metals have structures called face centered cubic or hexagonal close packed. I believe that gold is face centered cubic. Steel is not magnetic because carbon atoms present distort the BCC structure.

My guess is that iron is at the center of the pins to give it some strength, but we still get the quality of a gold electrical conduction. When I saw the X-Men movie, I thought it was hilarious that Magneto was able to manipulate lead bullets. I don't think so. Anyway, that was a crash course on magnitism for you. Peace.
 
Are you sure about Nickel? Because why wouldn't your change be attracted to magnets? Heck even pennies aren't pure copper anymore.
 
Nickels ($0.05) are not made of pure nickel (Ni). From the US Mint webpage:

What are current circulating coins made from?

Quarters, dimes, and half dollars are cupro-nickel clad. Each coin has a copper core, and an outer layer, the ?clad,? made of 75 percent copper and 25 percent cupro-nickel alloy. Nickels are made from the same 75-25 alloy. The Golden Dollar is also clad coin. The alloy layers on each side of the copper core are manganese brass, a golden-colored material composed of 77% copper, 12% zinc, 7% manganese, and 4% nickel. The cent, once a copper coin, is now composed of copper-plated zinc. Copper-plated cents cost less to manufacture, and at 2.5 grams each, they weigh about 20% less than the older cent, which was 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc. For more information see the specification chart for circulating U.S. coins.
Click to expand...
The cupro-nickel alloy isn't magnetic. Peace.
 
Not only is nickel magnetic, it is magnetostrictive. It changes dimensions in a magnetic field. The delay-line memory in an old Packard Bell(not the Packard-Bell that made junky PC's)PB250 minicomputer was made from coiled nickel wire that had pulses running up and down it that dynamically stored data. Do a Google search on this if you want fascinating reading. At the heart of a high-powered Navy SONAR transducer is a phased array of very large nickel cores that when pulsed by a magnetic field chages dimensions and functions like a loudspeaker but transmits sound through water rather than air.
 
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