DP MYTHBUSTERS : Blowing in NES Cartridges

[Ed Oscuro]

The diagram isn't to any type of real scale, it's just made to illustrate a THEORETICAL PRINCIPAL.

Dude, don't stress!

I don't think you have a right to complain if people are going to take the topic as a jumping-off point to have a serious discussion about this issue. You do your thing, but a worthwhile discussion involves more than one viewpoint and line of reasoning.

And if Ed's theory is correct and the only reason to blow on cartridges is to dissolves the corrosion left on the pins from the last time you blew in it, then why did we start blowing on cartridges in the first place?

I don't think that's the case, but it's one of the ideas that's been put forward. I think what's going on is that the moisture gets around dirt on the pins and makes a firmer contact (aided perhaps by the impurities in saliva - it's not pure water, after all).

I'm really glad that this has evoked intelligent discussion on the topic ... but, as most intelligent discussions go on the internet, things are starting to become a contest as to who can trump whom's knowledge of this that and the other thing.

I think that's a mistaken view. I'm certainly not interested in looking smarter (if I was, I probably wouldn't be here saying that I'm contradicting myself, etc.), just in figuring out what's happening.

I'll be the first to admit that I've gotten off my crusade from earlier. If you want to do an experiment to see what happens in one situation, that's okay...but people may draw conclusions from your result that are not strictly accurate. As you say, you're only testing one thing, but a number of factors are present in this situation.