Magic smoke

According to Magic Smoke Theory, there is a little bit of Magic Smoke in every integrated circuit, which makes the chip work. This Magic Smoke is put in by wizards at the factory, however sometimes it can come out in such catastrophic circumstances as extremely high voltages being fed to the part. A variant on the Magic Smoke theory is the idea that the Magic Smoke also travels through wires, and in the event that wires get too hot, they too will leak some Magic Smoke, making the circuit no longer work.