unleaded

[Fast Pistoleros]

I read someplace unleaded solder will grow tin whiskers and cause failures ..crazy sheet mane

[R.G.]

Unleaded solder is nearly pure tin, with a little copper. The less-worse varieties include a little silver. Components with no lead on on their leads are plated with pure tin. Tin tends to grow metal-crystal whiskers and can cause shorts. There's a fair amount of electro-chemo-metallurgy expended to hold this tendency in check.

Ever notice that when someone wants to convince you that something is bad and that the proposed alternative they are pushing you to use instead without thinking about the situation, they use the suffix "-free"? It's so prevalent that my BS detector starts pinging when I see the term [anything]-free.