for example, on my windows laptop, there is the plug that goes into the outlet, some wire, a big block of plastic, and then more wire that connects to the charger that goes into the charging port. why is that block there?
In: Technology
It’s the computer’s power supply. It converts the 120 volts or 230 volts (depending on country) of alternating current to the 18-20 volts of direct current your computer wants to charge its battery.
[Here’s what one looks like inside.](https://pcper.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img-4287.jpg) The big brown cylinders are capacitors; these are part of the system that converts AC to DC. You can also see a couple transformers (the rectangles above the big capacitors) as well as a huge number of heat sinks. Your typical laptop power adapter will be a lot simpler, because the monster in the picture is designed to deliver up to 1.6 kilowatts of power to a high-end desktop PC.
The block changes AC power to DC power, and it is on the cord so that it isn’t inside your laptop, since that would make your laptop bigger and heavier.
A desktop pcs power supply has an AC to DC transformer as well as all the circuitry to output that DC power at different voltages.
A laptop moves the AC to DC transformer part of the power supply to an external brick and only retains the DC circuitry side of the power supply, allowing it to drastically save on internal space and heat dissipation.
Outlet electricity is too strong and wiggles too much to charge a laptop directly, the brick smoothed it out and makes it gentle enough so it won’t fry the laptop’s circuits.
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