4 ms·
> I wonder if home systems are equally vulnerable, or if there is something about data center system design or facilities that make them more susceptible? I wa
by blattimwind 9y ago
> I wonder if home systems are equally vulnerable, or if there is something about data center system design or facilities that make them more susceptible?
I was told once that today's concrete has a much higher background radiation than brick and mortar from before the 50s. There is also more steel in data centres.
However, I'm not at all sure if background radiation of building materials is even in the right order of magnitude to matter here. Probably not.
- pkaye 9y agoI think you need high energy radiation like cosmic rays from space to create problems. So those at higher elevation are at more risk. Heavy material like concrete may block this radiation.
- ajarmst 9y agoAlpha particle emissions are common causes of single-bit errors, especially from ceramic enclosure materials in integrated circuits. Mitigating soft errors from circuit packaging is an active area of research in materials science. Parity bits and CRC error checking are needed precisely to reduce the impact of these errors down to manageable levels.
- pkaye 9y ago"Alpha particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper, beta particles by aluminum, and gamma radiation by a block of lead." This is what I read online. A typical hardware components is enclosed in a aluminum case so really gamma radiation is of concern right?
- krallja 9y agoGP is saying the radiation is emitted by the component package itself, i.e. the random decay of particles in the ceramic surrounding an IC can cause errors.
- ajarmst 9y agoLantz, "Soft errors induced by Alpha Particles", 1996. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/510798/?reload=true http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/510798/?reload=true
- dboreham 9y agoIt comes from within.
- emmelaich 9y agoConcrete and brick are significant sources of radiation. Especially when new. I don't know if the sort of radiation they give out is of much risk to computers however.
- mikeash 9y agoA bit of a tangent, but somewhat related to your bit about concrete: steel salvaged from ships built before 1945 is less radioactive than modern steel and is useful for devices that are extremely sensitive to radiation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel The reason the modern stuff is more radioactive is the massive number of atmospheric nuclear weapons tests conducted starting in 1945. I imagine the concrete has the same issue.