How does cosmic radiation affect computers?
Let me tell you a surprising story.
We live in a universe where something strange happens every second. Every tiny moment, something crazy is going on — far out in space or maybe right here on Earth. And sometimes, that craziness reaches us… in ways we don’t expect.
Maybe it hits your computer.
Maybe it hits an airplane.
Or maybe… it even changes your vote.
You might be thinking, “What does my vote have to do with the universe?”
Let’s hear a real story that might shock you.
The Year: 2003 | The Place: Belgium
Belgium was holding elections. Everything was going fine.
People were voting. Machines were working. No problems.
But when the final results came out… something strange happened.
Every candidate got 4096 extra votes.
Yes, you heard that right — 4096!
This wasn’t a typo. It wasn’t human error.
It was a perfect mathematical glitch.
So what caused it?
To find out, we need to look inside an electronic machine — whether it’s a voting machine, a computer, or even a plane’s autopilot system.
Inside these machines, there is something called RAM (Random Access Memory).
RAM has tiny parts called IC chips. Inside these chips are millions of transistors.
A transistor has one job — either allow electric current to pass (1) or block it (0).
This is called the binary system — ON or OFF.
Computers understand numbers in this binary format.
For example, the number 8 in binary is:
00001000
In old systems, one number was stored using 16 binary digits — called 16 bits.
So when someone votes, the machine saves that vote as a number using these bits.
Now let’s go back to that Belgium election.
When the machine counted votes, it added 4096 extra votes by mistake.
Why 4096? Because 4096 = 2¹².
This means the 12th bit flipped.
Originally, the vote data looked like this:
0000000000000000
But something happened, and it turned into:
0001000000000000
The system thought, “Oh, another vote!”
But that vote never existed.
So how did that bit flip happen?
The answer is shocking — the universe interfered.
Yes — Cosmic Radiation.
Space is full of high-energy particles called cosmic rays.
When these particles travel to Earth, they sometimes hit tiny electronic parts inside machines.
When that happens, a single bit can change — from 0 to 1, or 1 to 0.
In Belgium, one cosmic ray hit the machine and flipped the 12th bit.
And just like that — 4096 fake votes appeared.
This isn’t the only time a bit flip has caused trouble.
Once, on an airplane, a bit flipped in the onboard computer.
The system showed the wrong height.
The plane suddenly went into a dive. People were injured.
The pilot had to make an emergency landing.
Reason? One cosmic ray. One tiny bit flip.
💻 Maybe your computer has ever crashed for no reason?
Blue screen? Unsaved file?
That might have been a cosmic bit flip too.
That’s why NASA and aircraft companies use special protection.
They add extra checks and shielding to stop cosmic rays from causing big problems.
They don’t want one small error to lead to a crash.
So friends, one tiny bit — just a 0 or a 1 —
It can change your vote.
It can shake a plane.
It can destroy your data.
All because of the universe.
The moral of the story?
Sometimes the machine is not wrong…
Sometimes, the universe is.
Now you tell me — Can you still trust your vote? 😮