Is there a way to tell if a product uses tantalum capacitors?

Question

I read an article today about how many electronic devices (particularly small form factor devices such as cell phones, laptops, notebooks, video game consoles, etc.) contain capacitors made with Congolese ore mined by children and involved in the conflicts there.

Is there a way to tell if a product contains tantalum capacitors short of taking them apart and examining their internal electronics? I'd like to know that I'm not enjoying video games at the expense of childrens' lives. It would be easier to keep my head in the sand but, alas, that darn conscience keeps eating at me...

Answer 1

yes they are usally yellow, red, maybe blue, mostly yellow.

http://www.cpcares.com/media/Radial_Tant...

if it looks like that, it is tantalum, you can find one almost in every electronic device that exists.

If worried about the children, then stop buying any electronic device :)

Answer 2

Basically, you need to look up the data sheet for each part.

I read the article too, and not sure why one specific company was hit upon here.  Most electronic devices use some tantalum capacitors.

You can probably find a reason to be upset about any product's manufacture if you dig deep enough.  

Bottom line is if you want to protest the use of this material and how its obtained and used, you will need to first do the following:

Get rid of you IPOd, your Television, your automobile, your calculator, your cell phone, your home phone and just about any other device used today.  While you're at it, you will also have to get rid of the PC or laptop that you read that article and this on too, along with all the servers and network infrastructure hardware that Yahoo and the rest of the internet uses....Basically for most of us today, that means give up tour way of life, income and future.

So until you are ready to give that all up, don't get too mad at Sony!  We are ALL complicit in this thing, but also all complicit in providing an economy and work for people who would otherwise have no income and no way to earn any living at all...

Answer 3

No way to tell. In fact, even if you take it apart, it's difficult to distinguish a tantalum cap from an aluminum one, for example. You would have to record each part number and look it up on the internet.

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