What is the name of the thin magnetic strip on the back of a credit card that stores account information?
Magstripe
The answer was Magstripe. Here's the why, the decoys, and the source trail.
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The dark strip on the back of a credit card is called a magstripe (short for magnetic stripe). It stores account data in tiny iron-based magnetic particles, and was invented by IBM engineer Forrest Parry in the early 1960s after his wife suggested using a clothes iron to attach the tape to plastic cards.
This answer is checked against Wikipedia — Magnetic stripe card.
A good trivia question makes the wrong answers feel close. Here is the clean read on the set.
- Magstripe - correct answer.
- Chip band - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
- Data ribbon - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
- Trace line - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
Magstripe is the one to remember. The dark strip on the back of a credit card is called a magstripe (short for magnetic stripe). The magstripe can hold only about 200 bytes of data — less information than a single text message — which is one reason the industry has shifted to EMV chips that can store far more securely.
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Sources: Wikipedia — Magnetic stripe card