Victor,  

Please visit the NASA Tin Whiskers video site to get your fill of both tin and zinc whiskers:

http://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/video/index.html

Besides that, there is a huge index of references available from NASA, also.  

My summary of answers is that whiskers do break and re-deposit at other locations.  But they are not not terribly fragile - they are metals. I belive tin whiskers have been "harvested" as long single metallic crystals to study their conductivity and voltage breakdown peoperties. The weekly Wednesday Whiskers Telecon, run by Bill Rollins of Raytheon, Tucson, has had speakers over the years who had published on single whisker properties. 

Denny Fritz



-----Original Message-----
From: Victor Hernandez <[log in to unmask]>
To: TechNet <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Feb 17, 2012 10:07 am
Subject: [TN] Tin/Zinc whiskers


Fellow TechNetters:
Q:   How fragile are whisker?
:   How much vibration required to dislodge from base material.
:   How much air turbulence to dislodge from base material.
:   When broken do they shatter into tiny pieces or just two parts.
:   Can whiskers inside a rack cause issues.
Victor,

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