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| Electronic Component Tattle-Tail Stickers 
There are chemicals that change color with temperature (mood rings) and can be designed to coat paper stickers so that when a certain temperature threshold is reached, the sticker will change from green to red (for example) and not change back. We also know that most electronic components will increase in normal temperature when a failure occurs. With a sticker designed for and affixed to all components at point of manufacture, a failure would become VISUALLY apparent. Many TVs, monitors, stereos, etc. are tossed simply because an intermittant problem won't happen when the tech has it in the shop. Many are discarded because the problem is so difficult to troubleshoot that the estimate is too high to be worth repairing. Many COULD be repaired by the home do-it-yourselfer with a soldering iron if he/she could visually see the component to replace.This invention would make these things possible.I thought of this idea when I found out that my $2000.00 21" monitor that died just out of warranty doesn't have a schematic available from any source in the world -- not even the manufacturer. In searching, I found that to be a common industry problem these days.So,... anybody know any chemist out there that would like to tackle this one?Reward: The NAME of the slave labor 7 year old that put that bad capacitor in my Chinese made monitor. ;-)5/5/03 Update: My monitor problem was a 10M ohm wire-wound resistor that burnt open (like a blown fuse) without leaving a mark on the body of the resistor. This means that instead of stickers, some components capable of 'spot' failures should be completely coated with a translucent color changing chemical coating. That would have made this problem visually detectable. 
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