Question about dust on CRT screens

BettyBoop

Senior member
Mar 27, 2000
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I'm not much of a hardware person, so forgive me if this sounds stupid.

I understand why CRT screens attract dust (static electricity, yes?)

But why do different screens sometimes attract dust in different patterns? I have one TV that always develops a centered circle of dust, and another that displays a rather attractive starburst-type pattern (at least it might be attractive if it weren't made out of dust.)

Why the different patterns?
 

BettyBoop

Senior member
Mar 27, 2000
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<< They don't, your house is possesed.... >>


Ah. I might have expected an answer like that from someone named after a fallen angel. ;)

So I need to hire a "static electorcist?"
 

chickenhead

Banned
Jan 21, 2002
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The electron gun that produces the image on the screen is irregular in the units that you have, therefore attracting dust at variable densities across the screen.

A perfectly uniform electron gun would form uniform static electricity across a flatscreen, therefore leading to a uniform coating of dust.

Manufacturing defects, deterioration and misalignment of the electron gun over time, or a curved screen as opposed to a flatscreen are all possible factors leading to a nonuniform dispersal of static electricity, therefore a nonuniform coating of dust.
 

BettyBoop

Senior member
Mar 27, 2000
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That was a pretty impressive answer, coming from a chickenhead. :p

But the patterns on these two televisions, while different, are quite symmetrical. A radial starburst on one TV, a perfect circle on the other. Would the electron gun's irregularities be symmetrical?