eli5: if hardware reads 1s and 0s by detecting if current is coming from a transistor or not, what’s the timing for it?

Question

For example, a transistor sends current to represent two 1’s. How does the hardware know that it’s two 1’s and not one or three? That current exists for a certain amount of time, so how does the hardware time it so that it knows when to separate the constant current into the correct amount of bits, and what is that timing? Or is it not timing at all, but a total sum of current it receives before counting one bit then resetting and waiting for the current to reach that sum again to count another bit? But then, how does it count 0’s if there is no current? Surely that would have to involve some sort of timing? If there is two seconds of no current, how many 0’s is that?

Hopefully I have explained my inquiry sufficiently.

In: Technology

Answer 1

It uses some sort of physical device to keep track of time like an oscillating crystal. Your CPU uses that to time how often it will actually cycle and run an instruction.