Have you ever wondered what those mysterious little cylindrical lumps on many power cords, keyboard, laptop, monitor cables and other such devices are for, or why they even exist?
Yes, today we would be writing regarding this ‘Little Cylindrical Lumps’. I assume most people are aware of the fact that why is this used, and to those who don’t know, this would be really interesting for you.
These ‘Little Cylindrical Lumps Bumps” are intentionally placed. They are called as “ferrite chokes/beads”. Their only goal is to decrease electromagnetic interference and radio-frequency interference. In short, they are placed there to reduce unwanted signals or noises.
When two electromagnetic devices are connected via a cable, the cable acts as an antenna, just like every antenna, these cables can also receive and transmit unwanted signals from other gadgets, resulting in the generation of a noise and unwanted signals.
This is where the ferrite beads are important. A ferrite bead has the property of eliminating broadcast signals and making sure that our cables don’t send any signals other than the intended ones.
When these lumps are opened you will find a little cylinder-shaped solid made of ferrite, which is magnetic in nature.
Ferrite is made out of iron oxide (also known as iron rust) combined with some other metals; it’s dark, hard, and brittle. But its magnetic qualities are really what help our gadgets get along. These beads are one of the simplest and least expensive types of interference filters to install on pre existing electronic cabling.
So next time when you happened to see these ‘little cylindrical lumps’ you would not be wondering what are these and why these are used.
Abhi Shetty
you can reach him at abhi@merrybrains.com
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