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EMILY HUESMAN.

My Impending Doom

This semester I am taking the following courses:

• CSC103 How Computers Work
• CSC102 How The Internet Works
• REL105 World Religions
• ANT130 Cultural Anthropology
• IDP102 Thinking Through Race
• DAN119 Contact Improvisation
• FYS165 Childhood in Lit. Of Africa

Interests

                                           Yoga, chorus, art, body modifications, 
                                           politics, reading, self-expression, 
                                           knowledge, cultures, crosswords, fashion

Books

                                           1 Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
                                           2 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley  
                                           3 The Awakening by Kate Chopin
                                           4 The Stranger by Albert Camus
                                           5 Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus
                                           6 A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick
                                           7 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Music

                                           Santogold, Sage Francis, Tegan and Sara, 
                                           Bat for Lashes, Amy Winehouse, Animal 
                                           Collective, Cloud Cult, Feist, Xiu Xiu, 
                                           Architecture in Helsinki

TV Shows

                                           The Office, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, 
                                           So You Think You Can Dance, Taboo, Futurama

Movies

                                           A Beautiful Mind, Across the Universe, American 
                                           Beauty, Big Fish, The Brave Little Toaster, The 
                                           Crow, Dead Poets Society, Edward Scissorhands, 
                                           The Fifth Element, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 
                                           Lars and the Real Girl, Little Miss Sunshine, Moulin 
                                           Rouge, Pineapple Express, The Rocky Horror Picture 
                                           Show, Se7en, Sybil, Waking Life, Wanted

Pictures

Open It Up Lab!

Inside The Machine

The Guts (Before taking apart the machine)

Hard Drive

Hard Drive

Hard Drive

Underneath the Hard Drive

Motherboard

Motherboard

Motherboard

Lithium Ion

Pentium Processor

Pentium Processor

Pentium Processor (back)

Memory Card

Memory Card (back)

Floppy Drive

CD/DVD Drive

CD/DVD Drive

Fan

Fan

Cords

How It Works

The processor works by the use of AND, OR, and NOT gates, which allow bits to flow from the main memory to the register and vice versa. It reads these bits as instructions to perform a program. The processor contains transistors, or switches, which determine when to allow the bits to flow or when to stop them. The processor controls the speed of the computer, which is calculated in Megahertz. The faster the processor processors information, the faster the computer speed will be. Pentium by Intel is the most popular brand of CPU available.

The memory works by storing bits (single digit binary numbers) in a certain location, usually the site of a byte (an 8-digit strand of bits). The bits represent data and programs on the computer. The operating system must be mindful of the memory that is currently in use for the programs so that is does not use this memory for another program. Memory cards come in different sizes, such as megabytes and gigabytes. Most memory cards today have 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB.

The CD/DVD drive contains lasers that read pits and bits. This is called an optical drive. Optical drives can contain more information than floppy drives. The pits are microscopic holes within the disk. The bits are placed on the disk and read by the laser. The laser will either read the bits or be scattered through the pits and will thus read the information provided.

The hard drive stores data on the computer that cannot be erased. The data is stored on a rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. The hard-disk can format tracks. The read-write head rotates back and forth at a rapid pace to read the data, contained in bits, on the hard disk.

The Power Supply converts energy from the electrical outlet in the way in your home to energy that can be used by the computer so that it can function properly. The usual voltage supplied is 5 volts or 12 volts, when converted from 110 volts using the transformer. Within the power supply is a fan that keeps the computer from over-heating.

The cables allow the bits to flow from one area of the computer to other areas.

The motherboard contains the buses for the computer. The buses contain wires that connect the memory and the processor, allowing bits to flow both ways. It also contains the battery.

The battery is necessary to keep track of time. It contains a quartz crystal that ticks continuously, whether the computer has power or not. The crystal keeps time in Megahertz because that is the unit for clock speed.

References

Eck, David J. The Most Complex Machine. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters, Ltd., 1995.

WikiPedia

How Stuff Works