ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the steps taken in the laboratory examination of potential ignition sources. The experiment with the computer was less of an examination of the physical evidence and more of an examination of a proposed ignition scenario. In many cases, there will be more than one item of evidence or potential ignition source to be examined. If an electronic assembly accumulates enough operational time to make it into the useful life phase of the reliability bathtub curve, then only normally occurring component failures, theoretically, will cause product unreliability or failure. As an electronic assembly ages, it moves from the useful life phase of the reliability bathtub curve to the wear-out phase. The consequences of a software error in a consumer electronics device such as a cell phone can also have severe, even life-threatening consequences. The millions of lines of code in a microprocessor instruct the many subsystems of the associated on-board hardware electronics.
