:magic smoke: n.

       A  substance trapped inside IC packages that enables them to function
       (also  called  blue  smoke; this is similar to the archaic phlogiston
       hypothesis  about  combustion). Its existence is demonstrated by what
       happens  when  a chip burns up -- the magic smoke gets let out, so it
       doesn't work any more. See {smoke test}, {let the smoke out}.

       Usenetter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while hacking
       on  a  dedicated Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing EPROMs and
       plugging  them  in the system, then seeing what happened. One time, I
       plugged  one  in  backwards.  I only discovered that after I realized
       that Intel didn't put power-on lights under the quartz windows on the
       tops of their EPROMs -- the die was glowing white-hot. Amazingly, the
       EPROM  worked  fine  after I erased it, filled it full of zeros, then
       erased  it  again.  For all I know, it's still in service. Of course,
       this  is  because  the  magic  smoke didn't get let out." Compare the
       original phrasing of {Murphy's Law}.


    curl -fsSL https://jargon-file.org/archive/jargon-4.4.7.dos.txt | LC_ALL=C sed -n '/^:magic smoke/, /^:/{/^:mail storm/d;p;}'