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JOAN CARTAN-HANSEN: HI, I'M JOAN
CARTAN-HANSEN.
AND WELCOME TO SCIENCE TREK-THE
WEB SHOW.
AND WELCOME TO THE OFFICES OF HP
HERE IN BOISE.
JOINING US NOW TO ANSWER YOUR
QUESTIONS ABOUT COMPUTERS ARE
TIM ANDERSEN AND FLOSSIE ERBEN.
THANK YOU BOTH FOR BEING HERE.
TIM ANDERSEN: THANK YOU.
FLOSSIE ERBEN: THANK YOU, WE'RE
HAPPY TO BE HERE.
CARTAN-HANSEN: OKAY LET'S GO TO
YOUR QUESTIONS.
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NORAH: HI I'M, MY NAME
IS NORAH, MY QUESTION IS HOW DO
COMPUTERS WORK?
ERBEN: SO COMPUTERS ARE BUILT OF
MANY DIFFERENT PARTS AND
COMPONENTS, YOU HAVE EVERYTHING
FROM YOUR CIRCUITRY CHIPS
THAT DRIVE THE PROCESSOR.
YOU HAVE FANS THAT KEEP THE
DEVICE COOL, YOU HAVE WIRES THAT
CONNECT PIECES TOGETHER, YOU
HAVE
HARD DRIVE WHERE YOU STORE YOUR
DATA, YOU HAVE A KEYBOARD IN
WHICH YOU CAN GIVE INSTRUCTIONS
TO THE COMPUTER.
YOU HAVE A MONITOR SO THAT IT
CAN DISPLAY WHAT YOU'RE ASKING
IT TO DISPLAY.
AND IN SOME CASES YOU HAVE
THINGS LIKE A MOUSE TO HELP
DRIVE DIFFERENT PORTIONS OF THE
COMPUTER.
HERON: HI MY NAME IS HERON AND
MY QUESTION IS, HOW DOES LIKE
THE KEYS ON THE COMPUTER WORK?
ANDERSEN: SO EVERY KEY ON YOUR
KEYBOARD HAS UNDERNEATH IT A
CIRCUIT AND WHEN YOU PRESS THAT
KEY YOU COME DOWN, YOU PUSH THAT
KEY IT PUSHES DOWN AND TOUCHES
THAT CIRCUIT AND CONNECTS IT SO
THAT AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL GOES
THROUGH THE CIRCUIT AND ITS SENT
TO THE COMPUTER AND TELLS THE
COMPUTER EXACTLY WHICH KEY YOU
PRESSED.
BY THE WAY, WHEN I WAS IN
COLLEGE WE WROTE A KEYBOARD
DRIVER FOR A VERY SIMPLE
COMPUTER AND YOU HAD TO, SO THE
KEY COMES DOWN AND THE
COMPUTER'S RUNNING SO FAST THAT
IT'LL HIT THAT CIRCUIT AND
BOUNCE.
YOU DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S
BOUNCING; YOU THINK YOU JUST
PRESSED THE KEY AND YOU JUST
CONNECTED THE CIRCUIT, BUT IT
ACTUALLY BOUNCES UP SO IT
DISCONNECTS THE CIRCUIT AND
BOUNCES BACK AND CONNECTS THE
CIRCUIT BACK UP.
AND IT DOES THAT PROBABLY SIXTY
PLUS TIMES BEFORE IT SETTLES,
AND THEN WHEN YOU RELEASE THE
KEY IT DOES THE SAME THING JUST
KIND OF IN THE OPPOSITE.
SO IF YOU DON'T HANDLE THAT, YOU
KNOW, YOU CAN HANDLE IT AT THE
HARDWARE LEVEL, BUT IF YOU DON'T
HANDLE IT AT THE DRIVER LEVEL
YOU'LL GET LIKE A HUNDRED AND
SOMETHING KEY PRESSES OUT OF
EVERY KEY PRESS THAT YOU THINK
YOU'RE MAKING.
SO YOU HAD TO WRITE A DELAY LOOP
BASICALLY IN YOUR KEYBOARD
DRIVER TO DELAY ONCE YOU HIT THE
INITIAL CONTACT YOU DELAY
LOOKING FOR MORE CONTACTS UNTIL,
YOU KNOW, HUNDRED MILLISECONDS
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
KELSEY: MY NAME IS KELSEY AND I
GO TO JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY IN
POCATELLO, IDAHO AND MY QUESTION
IS WHY DID THEY INVENT
COMPUTERS?
ERBEN: THEY INVENTED COMPUTERS
TO HELP US AND HELP HUMANS DO
THE CONTINUAL MATHEMATIC
EQUATIONS AND COMPUTATIONS OVER
AND OVER AGAIN.
THE HUMAN MIND GETS BORED AND SO
SOMETIMES WE START MAKING
MISTAKES, SO IT WAS EASY TO HAVE
THIS PROCESS AND THIS COMPUTER
TO CONTINUE TO ANSWER THOSE
QUESTIONS FOR US.
BRADEN: HI MY NAME IS BRADEN AND
MY QUESTION IS HOW DOES A
COMPUTER MEMORY CHIP WORK?
ANDERSEN: SO A COMPUTER MEMORY
CHIP WORKS BY STORING ELECTRICAL
CHARGE ON THE CHIP, IN A
PARTICULAR LOCATION THAT
CORRESPONDS TO A BIT AND THERE'S
BILLIONS OF BITS WORTH OF
INFORMATION ON EVERY COMPUTER
MEMORY CHIP AND SO THAT CHARGE
IS STORED ON THE CHIP IN SEVERAL
DIFFERENT PLACES, BILLIONS OF
DIFFERENT PLACES AND IF THE
CHARGE IS PRESENT YOU CONSIDER
THAT TO HAVE A BIT VALUE OF ONE
IF THE CHARGE IS ABSENT ITS GOT
A BIT VALUE OF ZERO.
SAM: HI MY NAME IS SAM AND MY
QUESTION IS IS HOW GOOGLE GETS
ALL THEIR ANSWERS FOR QUESTIONS?
ERBEN: GOOGLE GOES ABOUT
GETTING, ITS A SEARCH ENGINE AND
IT GOES ABOUT GETTING ALL OF ITS
ANSWERS BY SEARCHING THE WEB
LOOKING FOR PARTICULAR KEYWORDS
AND SO IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR
SOMETHING THAT SAYS PIZZA IT'S
GOING TO GO AND FIND THE WORD
PIZZA AS MANY PLACES AS IT CAN
FIND AND IT'LL CRAWL THROUGH ALL
THE DIFFERENT WEBSITES AND GRAB
THE ONES THAT SAY, HAVE THE
WORDS PIZZA ON THEM AND DISPLAY
THEM IN A LIST FOR YOU TO CHOOSE
FROM.
CLAIRE: HI MY NAME IS CLAIRE AND
MY QUESTION IS HOW DO COMPUTERS
PROCESS WHAT YOU TELL THEM TO
DO?
ANDERSEN: SO WHEN YOU TYPE INTO
A KEYBOARD AND YOU REQUEST THE
COMPUTER TO DO SOMETHING THAT
INFORMATION IS SENT TO THE
PROGRAM THAT'S ON TOP OF THE
SCREEN THAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT
AND THAT PROGRAM, BASED ON WHAT
THE PROGRAMMER HAS PROGRAMMED IT
TO DO IS GOING TO TAKE THAT
INFORMATION AND PROCESS IT AND
RETURN AN ANSWER TO YOU.
DIMITRI: HI MY NAME IS DIMITRI
AND MY QUESTION IS HOW DO THE
KEYBOARD BUTTONS PROJECT ONTO
THE SCREEN?
ERBEN: SO THE KEYBOARD BUTTONS
DON'T ACTUALLY PROJECT ONTO THE
SCREEN, YOU PRESS A CIRCUIT AND
THAT CIRCUIT INFORMATION GOES
THROUGH THE COMPUTER AND THE
COMPUTER PROCESSES THAT AND
IDENTIFIES WHICH KEY IT IS AND
THEY, IT HAS INSTRUCTIONS TO
DISPLAY THAT YOU TYPED THIS
PARTICULAR KEY AND THAT'S TURNS
ON AND OFF THE PIXELS THAT
REPRESENT THAT KEY.
OSCAR: HI MY NAME IS OSCAR, HOW
DOES THE COMPUTER KNOW WHICH
IMAGE TO USE?
ANDERSEN: THAT'S DONE BY THE
COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT YOU'RE
RUNNING.
SO IF YOU'RE RUNNING A COMPUTER
PROGRAM AND IT NEEDS TO DISPLAY
AN IMAGE THE COMPUTER PROGRAM IS
GOING TO SEND THAT IMAGE TO YOUR
VIDEO CARD AND THEN VIDEO CARD
WILL SEND THAT IMAGE TO THE
MONITOR AND THE MONITOR DISPLAYS
THAT IMAGE TO YOU.
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CARTAN-HANSEN: I'M SORRY
WE'VE RUN OUT OF TIME.
MY THANKS TO TIM AND FLOSSIE FOR
ANSWERING STUDENTS QUESTIONS.
ANDERSEN: THANK YOU IT'S BEEN
GREAT.
ERBEN: WE WERE HAPPY TO DO IT.
CARTAN-HANSEN: AND MY THANKS TO
THE FOLKS HERE AT HP FOR HOSTING
US.
IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE CHECK
OUT THE COMPUTER AREA ON THE
SCIENCE TREK WEBSITE-YOU'LL FIND
FACTS, LINKS, GAMES, OUR
COMPUTER BROADCAST SHOW AND LOTS
MORE.
AND EVERY WEEK CHECK OUT MY BLOG
FOR THE LATEST SCIENCE NEWS FOR
KIDS.
ALL AT IDAHOPTV.ORG.
THANKS FOR JOINING US FOR
SCIENCE TREK-THE WEB SHOW.
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