Computers
Computers seem incredibly smart. They can beat humans at chess, fly spaceships, and render realistic video games. But at their core, computers are just billions of tiny electrical switches turning ON and OFF incredibly fast. Let us decode the mystery of machines!
The World's Fastest Rule Follower!
Not at all! Computers do not understand English, Spanish, or any human language. They only understand electricity. They translate every single letter you type into a secret code of electrical pulses.
Speed and volume! A modern computer contains billions of microscopic switches, and they can turn on and off billions of times every single second. They are just following very simple instructions incredibly fast!
Put Your Instincts to the Test
Think about the devices you use every single day. Pick an answer for each scenario, then see if your instincts were right.
The keyboard and screen! Hardware is any physical part of the computer you can touch or hit with a hammer. Software refers to the invisible digital programs that tell the hardware what to do.
It translates everything into 1s and 0s! This is called Binary Code. A 1 represents an electrical switch turned ON, and a 0 represents a switch turned OFF.
It travels through physical cables! The internet is not magic. It is a massive physical web of underground and underwater fibre optic cables sending data across the globe at the speed of light.
Understanding the Science
To understand how you are reading this screen right now, we have to shrink down and look at the hardware, the software, and the hidden language of machines.
Key Concepts
Hardware
Tap to learn moreThe physical, touchable parts of a computer system. If you can drop it, break it, or plug a cable into it, it is hardware. This includes your monitor, keyboard, and internal microchips.
Software
Tap to learn moreThe invisible, digital instructions and programs that tell the hardware exactly what to do. Video games, web browsers, and operating systems are all examples of software.
Binary Code
Tap to learn moreThe base mathematical language of all computers. Every image, video, and word is translated into millions of 1s (ON) and 0s (OFF) to represent electrical pulses.
CPU (Processor)
Tap to learn moreThe Central Processing Unit is the absolute brain of the computer. It is a highly advanced microchip that processes billions of mathematical calculations and binary instructions every single second.
RAM (Memory)
Tap to learn moreRandom Access Memory is the computer's extremely fast short term memory. It holds the data you are using right now so the CPU can access it instantly, but it is wiped completely clean when the power turns off.
Hard Drive
Tap to learn moreThe computer's long term storage. It permanently saves your files, photos, and installed software safely, ensuring they are still there even after the computer is unplugged from the wall.
Pixel
Tap to learn moreThe smallest building block of a digital image. Your screen is made of millions of tiny squares called pixels that light up in different colours to form the videos and pictures you see.
Network
Tap to learn moreA group of two or more computers securely connected together via physical cables or invisible radio waves (Wi-Fi) so they can rapidly share data, messages, and resources.
Interactive: The Data Stream Modeler
Type a word or phrase below (16 characters maximum but remember, a space still counts as a character!) and press Encode to translate it into binary software. Then, press Transmit to send the data across the physical network hardware as a rapid stream of electrical pulses. Watch the receiving computer catch the stream and decode it back to text!
Apply Your Knowledge
Let us see if you can correctly identify the essential scientific terminology associated with computing architecture.
Match the Concepts
Click a scientific term to select it, then click the matching description to place it.
Real-World Challenge
Imagine you are trying to send a high-definition photograph of your dog to your friend on the other side of the world. Using the scientific terms "Pixels", "Binary Code", and "Network", explain the journey that picture takes from your glass screen to theirs.
The 30-Year Digital Evolution
This episode originally aired in 1995. Since then, computer science has exploded at a rate faster than any other technology in human history. Here is how the world has changed since the 90s!
1995: Bill Nye used plastic "floppy disks" that held a microscopic 1.44 Megabytes of data (not even enough space for one high-quality MP3 song!).
Today: We have MicroSD cards the size of your fingernail that hold Terabytes of data (millions of times more space), and we instantly save massive video files to the invisible internet "Cloud" using giant server farms.
1995: Connecting to the "Information Superhighway" meant using a screeching dial-up modem over a landline telephone cable. It could take 5 full minutes just to load a single grainy photograph.
Today: Millions of miles of global fibre optic cables and 5G wireless towers beam high-definition 4K streaming video to our portable devices in a fraction of a single second.
1995: Computers were massive, heavy, beige boxes that permanently lived on a desk and had to be plugged into a wall to work.
Today: The smartphone sitting in your pocket is literally millions of times faster and more mathematically powerful than the computers that guided the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon!
1995: Computers were strictly calculators. They only did exactly what a human programmer typed line-by-line in the code.
Today: We have advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. Computers can now recognize human voices, translate languages in real time, generate original artwork from scratch, and even write their own software code!
1995: The heavy CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors shown in the episode used literal electron guns inside a vacuum tube to shoot pictures onto a curved glass screen.
Today: We use razor-thin OLED screens and capacitive touchscreens, allowing us to interact directly with the digital software using our bare hands.
Test Your Understanding
Answer these 10 questions and get instant feedback. How many can you get right?
Results
Your score:
Reflection
Look at the device you are using right now. Can you identify the physical Hardware (screen, casing) versus the digital Software (the web browser showing you this text)? Imagine what computers will look like 30 years from today!
Episode Discussion
Share your thoughts on this Bill Nye episode