Been asked to "DESTROY" a hard disk drive... best method? ;o)
- Thread starter sniper007
- Start date
Associate
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- 18 Oct 2002
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Very high temperature is the only way to completely wipe a hard drive. Thermite would be sufficient. Some of you seem to have some crazy ideas!
Soldato
Potassium is nowhere near the most reactive I'm afraid.... there are far more unstable elements. These unstable ones are the most reactive but also to least known as they are so reactive, you will find none which isn't a compoud and such instability leads to nuclear degradation of the atom - thus very short half lives. In the end, most probably end up as lead or similar.megatron said:
What makes an element reactive is the number of electrons it has missing in its outter band. These bands surround the protons and neutrons which form the center of the atom. The first band around the protons and neutrons is filled with 2 electrons, and it takes an increasing number of neutrons to fill a band. This numbering of electrons is what determines the position of the element in the peroidic table.
As I said IIRC potassium is the most reactive element in the periodic table quite what this has to do with radioactivity I dont know.
As I said IIRC potassium is the most reactive element in the periodic table quite what this has to do with radioactivity I dont know.
Soldato
I got an A in A level Chemistry in 2003 - trust memegatron said:
. In fact, what you describe sounds very much like the lie you get told up to GSCE level. It's a whole new ball game after that. The shells are not simple circles, they are in quantum shells known as s, p, d, and f, in that order. These orbitals run very much differently to each other. What you say is roughly how it works but the whole thing is so much more complicated than that.Also, you will notice that Francium is at the base of Group 1 - i.e. the most reactive. This is because there are loads of shells in between the very far out furthest electron (simplistically). These electrons in between the outer electron and the nucleus mean that there is something known as 'electron shielding'. This should run in line with the GSCE Chemistry teaching - but even that doesn't give the whole picture.
You ask about radioactivity - well the most reactive elements are the ones which are very unstable. This instability basically means that it will react with virtually anything - IIRC, even the noble gases would be affected by these elements - they would form some strange bond, kind of like a delocalised bond -though don't quote me on that point, I'm not entirely sure about that one. Often, these super reactive elements are so ridicuously unstable, they decay, and radiate alpha, beta or gamma waves (think of the uranium and plutonium isotopes). This decay of the nucleus means that the atom breaks down into a smaller, more simple element, most radioactive materials ending up as some dense metal like lead.
Periodic table
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Associate
Excellent. Any thread about "destroying data on a hard disk" that drops into chemistry discussions at an atomic level is clearly educational. 
This is the kind of detail I sign up to this forum for.....
This is the kind of detail I sign up to this forum for..... 
smids said:I got an A in A level Chemistry in 2003 - trust me
Also, you will notice that Francium is at the base of Group 1 - i.e. the most reactive. This is because there are loads of shells in between the very far out furthest electron (simplistically). These electrons in between the outer electron and the nucleus mean that there is something known as 'electron shielding'. This should run in line with the GSCE Chemistry teaching - but even that doesn't give the whole picture.
You ask about radioactivity - well the most reactive elements are the ones which are very unstable. This instability basically means that it will react with virtually anything - IIRC, even the noble gases would be affected by these elements - they would form some strange bond, kind of like a delocalised bond -though don't quote me on that point, I'm not entirely sure about that one. Often, these super reactive elements are so ridicuously unstable, they decay, and radiate alpha, beta or gamma waves (think of the uranium and plutonium isotopes). This decay of the nucleus means that the atom breaks down into a smaller, more simple element, most radioactive materials ending up as some dense metal like lead.
Periodic table
Out of interest which syllabus did you study?
I did OCR salters but cant find anyone else that did.
Soldato
I can honestly say I know of no-one who did OCR Salters - such a niche syllabus. I did OCR Physics, EdExcel Maths, French and Chem - TBH, OCR are probably the toughest board - well they were at GSCE anyway - having said that, the physics was really easy, much easier than some other boards.
Anyway, back on topic - I had this great idea. You could shoot the platters with a nail gun - this would cause so many tiny fractures all the way through the platter, pretty much rendering it a very difficult save unless you a fan of jigsaws with no template - also, you could then sand it.
Anyway, back on topic - I had this great idea. You could shoot the platters with a nail gun - this would cause so many tiny fractures all the way through the platter, pretty much rendering it a very difficult save unless you a fan of jigsaws with no template - also, you could then sand it.
Associate
You could give it to my physics teacher, I'm sure he'd have fun with it! 
Soldato
I can't believe no-one thought of Cillit Bang before 
Just send it to me, i seem to do a good enough job of making the data on my own hard drives unreadable.
Trust me, I can corrupt any hard drive with a windows installation on it with just a cheeky wink at 40 paces, i'm reknown for it, lol.
Trust me, I can corrupt any hard drive with a windows installation on it with just a cheeky wink at 40 paces, i'm reknown for it, lol.
Associate
It's all that static electricity you are generating. Do you wear a lot of Nylon? Even your OCUK Signature has been corrupted by static...Bundles said:
