Question Did I fry my router by breathing on it?

[ethan.crabtree45648]

I thought my router might have been giving off a burning smell (unrelated and it ended up being something else) but now im worried. When you breathe you are letting out humid, warm air right? Since i sniffed right up next to my router could i have damaged it via condensation? I was smelling right into a vent on outside of it and exhaled a little during it. Was that a dumb choice and did i fry something? How can i tell?

 

[ThatVietGuy]

If electronics were that sensitive, nothing would survive.

You are over-thinking it.

 

[ethan.crabtree45648]

If electronics were that sensitive, nothing would survive.

You are over-thinking it.

Wouldnt condensation from my breath cause a short though? How can electronics survive water? I thought trace ammounts can cause a short.

 

[ThatVietGuy]

Your breath does NOT contain nearly enough water vapor to do any damage to anything.

 

[ThatVietGuy]

Think about it this way, if your breath was so toxic to electronic devices, just talking into a cellphone for 5 minutes will cause the phone to malfunction. However, have you seen that happen?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Wouldnt condensation from my breath cause a short though? How can electronics survive water? I thought trace ammounts can cause a short.

No. Unless you're literally drooling on the device, your breath contains water vapor. A sticking point with this is pure water itself is actually not that conductive. It's all the stuff dissolved in water that makes it conductive. Condensation you see (the fogging up on a part) for the most part is pure water, ergo, it's not a good electrical conductor. Sure it could pick up contaminates on the surface of whatever it's on, but by the time that happens, it already evaporated back into the air.

Besides, as mentioned, people breath on their phones all the time, even before they were given water and dust proofing construction. If your breath could destroy electronics, I'm surprised any cell phone lasted more than one sentence.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

If electronics were that sensitive, nothing would survive.

You are over-thinking it.

Absolutely right.