How Does a Computer Represent Information by Means of Electronic Switches?
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A Unique Perspective on Computers
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A computer is, in the most elemental terms possible, a collection of "on" and "off" switches that intermingle in an organized way to perform a function. This simplicity might not have much credibility to a novice, but it can be related in other ways. If you think of it, multicellular organisms are like computers. They are a bunch of cells put together in an organized architecture, each organization having its own function. These organizations are called organs. In computers, the "organs" are the hardware devices that construct the system.
Binary Numeration
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The most simple way to represent data electronically is by taking advantage of the two states of transistors: on and off. The "on" state represents the number 1, and the "off" state represents 0. When you gather eight transistors, you have completed a 1-byte capacity for data. Billions of transistors may exist in one piece of hardware in a computer. This allows the representation of several megabytes, or gigabytes, of data. However, transistors are not the only way to represent data. Basically anything with two resettable states can be used in representing data.
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How Discs Represent Data
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CDs represent data by the use of bumps on the disc. A bump represents a value of 1, and an empty space is used to represent the value of 0. Other removable media that uses this kind of method for data storage includes DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The only difference is that DVDs use a much-smaller space for storing data (0.4 µm by 0.74 µm per bit). Blu-ray discs have an even higher capacity for storage than DVDs (0.15 µm by 0.32 µm per bit). Hard disks use magnetic fields on platters to store information, much like cassette tapes record information. Floppy discs also use magnetic fields, but they are much less sophisticated than hard disks. They are more related to cassette tapes than a hard disk's platters, in fact.
How RAM Represents Data
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Random-access memory (RAM) is used in computers to hold memory that dynamically changes, usually the memory of a program or the operating system. Random-access memory holds its memory and represents information by means of capacitors paired with transistors. Capacitors are like little containers for electricity. Transistors, in RAM, operate as electrical switches. They provide a capacitor with electrons to represent a value of 1, and empty the capacitor of electrons to represent a 0. If you think of RAM as pairings of millions of these capacitors and transistors in a series of small chips, you are on the right track. RAM is essentially just that: a miniaturized electrical switch collection.
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