help me with a visual, please

Honalo · Oct 24, 2009

I can't picture it. This is for my fantasy novel, set in the future.
What do you think a flat screen, plasma TV would look like after 400 some odd years in a landfill?

Metal severely rusted. OK, I can picture that. But what do you think the screen would look like? I think it would remain in tact for the most part but I'm not a tekkie to that degree, as in, I don't know what goes in to the creation of a TV screen and can't picture it how it would decompose, dissolve, whatever, in a landfill.

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Honalo · Oct 24, 2009

Ok, let me narrow that down a bit:
Do you think people would still recognize it as a TV set, after 400 years in a landfill?

Canotila · Oct 24, 2009

I wouldn't think a plasma tv would rust. The housing is usually made of either strong plastic, or high grade aluminum which doesn't rust. The screen is made of two thin pieces of glass.

Would it have been exposed to the elements all that time? Or buried? If exposed, the plastics are probably decaying and brittle. Probably would have dirt on it. Depending on the climate it could be covered in algae or dust, or whatever. Unless the glass was broken, it would probably look about the same except for dirt.

Matera the Mad · Oct 24, 2009

Clear plastic might be cloudy, yellowed. Aluminum will get dull and pitted under the right conditions. Glass will probably have a semi-translucent coating with possible irridescence. I've dug up glass buried for a much shorter time that showed the effects of time, water, and soil chemicals.

I like diggin' up old sh*t

Honalo · Oct 25, 2009

Thanks guys - I was having a tough time with this one.

stephenf · Oct 25, 2009

In England televisions are not dumped in landfill.
Anyway, it has been discovered ,By digging up old sites ,that even biodegradable things can survive intact for years.There is not much soil in landfill and every thing is squashed tight, keeping out oxygen.Things like food can be still recognised even after thirty years.
I think It could be possible to have a recognisable ,if not a bit crushed ,television.after four hundred years

help me with a visual, please

Honalo

Honalo

Canotila

Sever your leg please.

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Honalo

stephenf