2morrow™
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2morrow™ |
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Driving & teaching
Innovation. |
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Kids love to explore, and these are great sites from all over the web. These sites were checked for appropriate content before we linked to them. In order to enjoy our site, just click on any link listed below.
NOTE: If you find anything inappropriate on the sites below, please e-mail us. Thank you and have fun!
Computer Lessons: Bits & Bytes of a Computer Watch for new lessons to be added soon!
Did you know that all of the information that travels through your computer is based on two commands? It's true. The only data that a computer can understand is on and off. But, the millions of combinations of those two commands given in series are what make a computer work.
Binary Code
KB, MB & GBYou may have seen these abbreviations many times before. Do you know what they mean?
As you can see, these abbreviations stand for a specific number of bytes. And each byte holds 8 bits capable of forming 256 combinations of 1/0. Wow!
The number that comes before one of these abbreviations represents the computer's memory capacity. For example, if a computer has 64MB of RAM that means that the computer can handle 64,000,000 (64 million) bytes of random access memory (that's 64,000,000 microscopic 8-bit panels). Hard disk space is also measured in bytes. So, a 15GB hard drive has 15,000,000,000 (15 billion) bytes for storing memory.
Look at your keyboard. Each character key is represented by a number that is held in a single byte. Remember how the letter A is sent to the CPU to be translated into binary code? The numerical value of the uppercase letter A is 65. That number 65 is represented in one byte - a combination of 1 and 0 or on and off switches. The computer cannot understand letters, so it translates them into numbers that are represented by patterns of on and off. To get an idea of how much on/off data a computer can store, just imagine pressing one key one billion times! How long would it take? If you pressed the key 5 times per second, it would take you over 6 years of continuously typing to reach 1 billion keystrokes equal to 1GB of memory! And many computers today can store over 20GB of memory on their hard disks! Incredible! So, the next time your computer is taking a long time to load a web page, think of how fast it really is going!
Activity Worksheets Grab your pencil and test your knowledge of computers with these challenging worksheets! All worksheets are printable in .PDF format. So, if you can't open them you will need to ask your parents (or guardian) to download a .PDF reader. To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.
NOTE: More is available on computer hardware by
clicking here.
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Imagine 2morrow™, Inc. Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
Remember the power supply that is inside your computer and how it sends
electricity to all of the components? That electricity is what creates an
on signal. The memory chips inside your computer are divided into
thousands of tiny compartments called bits. Each bit has an
electronic switch or gate. On means the gate is open and
letting electricity go through. The computer reads on or open
switches as a number 1. Closed gates are off because the
electricity is blocked and cannot get through. The computer reads off
bits as 0. It is by grouping these bits together to form a series of
1/0 commands, that data is formed. Eight bits are grouped together to
form a byte. In this group of eight, there are 256 possible
combinations of 1/0. The grouping of 1/0 within a byte is
called Binary Code. 
Here's
an example of the Binary Code in action: When you type the letter A
on your keyboard, electrical signals are sent from the keyboard to the CPU.
The CPU turns the signals into binary code. Then, the computer reads the
code and sends it on to the monitor to display the letter A. 
