|
 Explore
Science, technology, the environment and more
Have you ever wondered what
actually happens when you use your computer, how it really works and how information
is stored on it? How does the computer know what it means? And why is a floppy
disk called a floppy when it doesn’t bend? What’s so great about CD’s,
and how do they work? Well, when computer company IBM first
introduced floppy disks as a new way of storing information back in the 1970s
the disks were very thin and flexible so they were called floppies. They were
also quite large, about 20cm wide. Nowadays floppies have slimmed down to 9cm.
They’ve also done some serious toning up. The thin plastic floppy, which
looks a bit like camera film, is now encased in a hard covering which acts a bit
like our ribcages do, protecting all the important stuff inside. So, even though
floppies aren’t terribly flexible anymore they’re still called floppies.
All right, so we have a floppy disk. Big deal. How on earth
are we supposed to get any information from it? When you stick
a floppy into a disk drive you can hear a humming sound as the disk spins. And
these disks really know how to move! They spin around about 300 times per minute.
All floppies have a metal shutter and, as they spin, a lever inside the disk drive
moves the shutter to one side, exposing some of thin floppy inside. Then the drive’s
read/write heads move in and out reading or writing whatever information you’re
either retrieving from or transferring to the floppy.
Go and have a look
at a floppy disk. You can slide the shutter across quite easily and see the floppy
part inside. But you’d better but make sure it’s an old one, because
if dust gets inside it any stored information will be trashed! Information,
or data, is stored on these disks in a special language called binary code which
the computer can read. Some super brainy people can read it too, but most of us
can’t, which is why the computer will then translate it into language we
understand, and that’s what we see on our screens. So,
what about those other disks – the CD? A compact disk (or CD-ROM) works quite
differently to a floppy. (By the way, ROM stands for read-only memory). Although
they’re not much different in size CD-ROMs can store about 450 times more
information than floppies. Not bad for something so tiny! CDs actually enough
space to store about 325,000 pages of typed information. Whew! Imagine typing
that!
When you buy a CD from a shop they look really flat but actually they’re
not. Each CD will have had thousands of microscopic little holes burned into it
by a high-powered laser when it was made. These holes are called pits. Any flat
parts left on the disk are called lands. When you put a CD into your computer
another special laser inside shines a beam on all the different pits and lands,
reading them as binary code. The computer then translates it into words, or pictures,
or even music we can understand. So if you have a CD writer on your computer you
can burn information onto it with the laser inside the writer. Wow!
Stick
a CD under a microscope and see if it looks any different – but make sure
it’s one nobody wants anymore – as you’ll probably trash that,
too! If you’d like to find out more about computers, check
out the following websites: - www.howstuffworks.com
– this site will tell you all about – you guessed it – how stuff
works!
- www.whatis.com – tells
you (you guessed it again) what’s what!
Computer technology is moving
so fast you never know what you’ll find. Computer generated Girl Guide biscuits?
Now there’s a thought …
 | |  |
|
Take a look and see how much you know about CDs
and floppies: 1. A floppy is called a floppy because:
a) It doesn’t
have any bones in it.
b) It’s a couch potato.
c) When they were first
made they had no harder outer case. 2. What part of the computer reads the
information on a floppy?
a) The keyboard.
b) A really tiny teacher who’s
trapped inside it.
c) The read/write heads. 3. What sort of language
is information stored in on CDs and floppies?
a) French.
b) Graffiti
c) Binary code. 4. How many pages of typed information can be stored on
a CD?
a) As much as I can type.
b) Yawn.
c) 325,000 pages. 5.
What are the little holes burnt on to the CD called?
a) Cigarette burns.
b) Sunburn.
c) Pits.
If you answered
mainly: A’s Not bad – at least you know about a keyboard and even
a little French, and you’re a pretty good typist, too! When the time comes
for you to write your first foreign novel you’ll be all set. So, what are
you waiting for? Start writing! B’s Hmmm … it seems like you spend
a lot of your time sunbathing. You’re pretty laid back. Don’t forget
to slip, slop, slap next time or you might end up like the inside of a floppy
yourself. C’s Hey – you’ve got it! You middle name’s
not Einstein is it? This computer stuff seems real easy to you – bet you
can even read binary code, too. Ever thought of starting your own? Back
to Tech Frenz | |
 | |  |
| 
