And now for something comeplete different, from Michail Svarichevsky in the Russian Federation. Michail was curious about operating electronics at cryogenic temperatures, and how far he could push the AVR microcontroller. Doing so was not as simple as just throwing the board in a bucket of liquid nitrogen and cranking up the clock speed - the value of various electronic components will change due to the reduced temperature, for example cheaper capacitors will drop their value to almost zero. By replacing those with parts that can tolerate the reduced temperature, and by using an external clock and power supply - the Arduino not only survived but could also be clocked to a speed of almost 66 MHz. Sit back and watch the following video where Michail explains the process in more detail:
That's a whole bunch of awesome and kudos to Michail for sharing his efforts with us. For more detailed visit his well-documented project page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're new to Arduino and want to join the fun, the first step is a solid board for your projects - our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs:
And if you have some liquid nitrogen and overclock your Eleven - please tell us about it!
