Why are volts used as bits in a computer and not charges? How do we read volts, write volts, etc.? Wouldn’t using charges be much simpler?
In: Technology
You could see it as volts themselves not existing. Voltage is a measure of how much electrical energy potential is present in a point in comparison to another, and that potential is due to an accumulation of charge in a point. Modern memory technology uses capacitors in parallel with transistors to store ones and zeros. It’s not that we store 3 Volts on a capacitor, we charge them up to a potential of 3 Volts. How do we “read” volts? By the effect the have on the circuit: if a transistor is in a conducting state, it is because there is a charge inducing a voltage on it. How do we write them? We connect the capacitors directly to the energy supply to let them charge up. Not so ELI5, but hope it helps a bit (pun not intended).
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