Re: Why Apple II turned yellow??

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

"Tempest" <tempest@atariprotos.com> wrote:

>It's the plastic.  Some batches of plastic turn yellow when they start
>to break down (usually because of UV exposure, but not always).  You
>see this alot with game systems (SNES mostly) and keyboards.
>
>The general rule of thumb is that if it hasn't turned yellow yet, then
>it probably won't.

    That is simply _not_ true. If you have any Apple equipment that is 
still the original factory-shipped color (white, beige or grey) it just has
not been exposed to ultra violet light or cigratte smoke for a long period 
of time. Unfortunately it's a chemical change in the surface layer of 
the plastic so its permanent.

    I had set up a mini Apple II museum in my old apartment--my IIGS,
an Apple IIe, Apple IIc and Apple IIc Plus. The former three were 
completely unblemished, but I exposed them to direct sunlight by
leaving my blinds opened everyday for a couple of years. They
all started yellowing--especially the sides exposed to sunlight.

    An interesting thing is the keyboard keys are all coated with 
something that protects them from UV discoloration (probably
to keep the lettering from rubbing out) except for the spacebar.
If you're not sure if your system is discolored or not, look and 
see if the spacebar is a different color than the other keys.
There's also different degrees of yellowing, from light, to 
moderate to extreme (I've seen platinum GS's and Mac's
that have literally turned brown).

Mitchell Spector