What are Wi-Fi routers made of?
Wi-Fi routers take printed circuit board, microchip, memory chip, solder, ABS plastic and copper directly. Trace them back and you pass 51 made things on the way to 24 raw materials.
How Wi-Fi routers are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 24 raw materials
- Air through copper
- Copper ore through copper
- Water through copper
- Silica sand through printed circuit board, fiberglass
- Limestone through printed circuit board, fiberglass
- Quartz through memory chip, silicon wafer
- Tin ore through solder, tin
- Crude oil through microchip, aluminum
- Coal through microchip, aluminum
- Gold ore through microchip, gold
- Lead ore through solder, silver
- Silver ore through solder, silver
- Zinc ore through solder, silver
- Natural gas through ABS plastic, ethylene
- Iron ore through ABS plastic, pigment
- Sulfur through ABS plastic, pigment
- Rock salt through printed circuit board, epoxy, chlorine
- Trona through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Bauxite through microchip, aluminum, alumina
- Titanium ore through ABS plastic, pigment, titanium dioxide
- Corn through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide
- Timber through memory chip, silicon wafer, polysilicon, metallurgical silicon
- Sugarcane through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
- Sugar beet through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 45 things
Metals 8
Chemicals and fuels 27
Oxygen gasNitrogen gasNaphthaPropyleneAmmoniaBenzeneEthyleneStyrenePigmentSulfuric acidSoda ashPhenolAcetoneChlorineCaustic sodaArgonPetroleum cokeQuicklimeHydrogenTolueneTitanium dioxideCarbon blackCarbon dioxideFormaldehydeHydrochloric acidMethanolCharcoal
Plastics and fibers 3
Electronics 5
Food 2
What it is packed in
On the line, but left out of everything above, because it holds the finished thing rather than goes into it.