Friday, December 21, 2007

Can Plasma TVs Freeze?

Well, as stated with LCD screens, anything can freeze, it simply is a matter of getting it cold enough. The question here should be, is it possible to freeze a plasma TV through 'normal' weather conditions? I would say, through the scientific evidence available, no. My reasoning? Here it is:
To start, plasma TV's work like any other TV. Based on the information fed to the television it lights up thousands of pixels on the screen using a high-energy beam of electrons. In most systems there are three pixel colors; red, blue, and green. These colors combine themselves in different amounts to form the entire color spectrum. A plasma TV functions by illuminating thousands of tiny colored florescent lights to form the image using the same colors as your basic cathode ray tube TV would use; red, blue, and green.
Plasma is the essential ingredient in florescent light. It's a gas formed from free-flowing ions and electrons. By adding electricity you create a chain reaction that eventually leads to the production of light.
The 'plasma' in a plasma TV is actually xenon and neon gas which is contained in hundreds of thousands of individual cells positioned between two plates of glass. The rest of the system is made up of electrical components and wires that feed the needed information and electricity to this area but those are not essential to answer our question. We already know electronics can be affected by the cold, but at what temperatures do xenon and neon gases freeze?

Xenon's freezing/melting point is : 161.45 K which is equal to -111.7°C and -169.1°F
Neon's freezing/melting point is: 24.703 K which is equal to -248.447°C and -415.205°F

Due to the fact that Xenon's freezing point is so low, I highly doubt anyone would be able to even think of accompanying a plasma TV anywhere near where it would be cold enough to freeze the gas inside. Taking into consideration that the lowest ever recorded temperature on earth was -129°F (In Antarctica) I believe it is safe to assume that you won't encounter any weather condition that is able to actually freeze a plasma TV. Having said this don't assume that just because it can't freeze it will do well in cold weather. As with most electronics you should let it get to room temperature before running it after it has been exposed to the cold.

Sources

Kenneth Barbalace. Periodic Table of Elements - Xenon – Xe. EnvironmentalChemistry.com. 1995 - 2007. Accessed on-line: 12/21/2007
http://EnvironmentalChemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Xe.html

Kenneth Barbalace. Periodic Table of Elements - Neon – Ne. EnvironmentalChemistry.com. 1995 - 2007. Accessed on-line: 12/21/2007
http://EnvironmentalChemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Ne.html


Harris, Tom. "How Plasma Displays Work" Snopes.com 12, 21, 2007 http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/plasma-display.htm

"Lowest Recorded Temperatures" Infoplease 2007 Person Education Inc. 12, 21, 2007 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001377.html

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post.

I'm moving tomorrow in -35 Celcius! I will let you know:)

Anonymous said...

Thanks as well. Have one installed in a sports clubhouse that closes down for the winter, and was worried about leaving it there and damage that may occur from sub freezing weather.

Anonymous said...

thanks allot for the info i have a cabin un the mountains and was worried about the cold weather