1947
Transistors and Moore’s Law Task
Work your way through the Moore’s Law movie and find the answers to the questions below.
1. In which year was the transistor first invented?
1947 |
2. Write down the names of three electronic devices that you own which contain transistors
i Phone |
ii Computer |
iii MP3 Player |
3. List at least three advantages that transistors have over valves
i They are extremely small |
ii They are fast and use very little power |
iii They have no moving parts and they can be crammed together on to a single computer chip. |
4. The first CPUs contained around 2,000 transistors. How many might you find on a CPU today?
2 000 000 000 |
5. Which is smaller, the tip of a human hair or a transistor?
You can fit 3 million transistors on the end of human hair. |
6. Transistors can act as a digital switch inside the CPU. They can be either ON or OFF.
7. Briefly explain how transistors can represent binary data
Inside transistors, there are small particles, which are binary data that stores memory. in 1972 there were 2000 and today there are 2,600,000,000. |
8. Transistors can be combined within the CPU to do different jobs. Give two examples of jobs they might do.
i Process data |
ii Output data |
9. Gordon Moore made an observation that was so accurate it became known as Moore’s Law. What does Moore’s Law say?
The number of computer chips is doubling every year. |
10. What is the problem with Moore’s Law in the future?
As transistors shrink to the atomic size they will no longer work properly. |