fluidwire

Wire gauge numbers run backwards: 12 AWG is thicker than 24 AWG. The American Wire Gauge scale (Brown and Sharpe, 1857) numbers a wire by how many times it was drawn through a smaller die. More draws, thinner wire, higher number -- it counts manufacturing steps, not size. Six gauges up doubles the diameter; three doubles the area. Area sets resistance, hence voltage drop and heat -- which is why a 26-28 AWG jumper browns out an ESP32 mid transmit. #IoT #Electronics #TechHistory #Engineering

A nanosecond is 11.8 inches long. Grace Hopper handed out pieces of wire cut to 11.8 inches (about 30 cm) to explain satellite delay -- the farthest an electrical signal travels in one billionth of a second. She kept a bundle of them in her handbag. It is still the clearest explanation of why PCB trace length matching and high-speed bus timing exist. When a board fails timing, the problem is often geometry, not firmware. fluidwire.com #IoT #Electronics #TechHistory #Engineering

The first computer virus wasn't an attack -- it was a 1971 experiment. Creeper hopped between ARPANET computers flashing 'I'M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.' There was no damage; it was a proof of concept. The response, Reaper, became the first antivirus by chasing Creeper across the network. That same idea -- patch and remove bad code remotely -- is now essential to securing IoT and embedded devices. fluidwire.com #IoT #CyberSecurity #TechHistory #Engineering