Transistors and Moores Law Task

Work your way through the Moores Law movie and find the answers to the
questions below.
1. In which year was the transistor first invented?
The transistor was created in 1947.

2. Write down the names of three electronic devices that you own which
contain transistors
Laptop
TV
Smartphone

3. List at least three advantages that transistors have over valves

Transistors are extremely small while valves are very huge.
Transistors are extremely fast than valves and they use little power.
Transistors can store data while valves cannot.

4. The first CPUs contained around 2,000 transistors. How many might you
find on a CPU today?
You can probably find 2,000,000,000 transistors on a CPU today.
5. Which is smaller, the tip of a human hair or a transistor?
The transistor is way smaller.

6. Transistors can act as a digital switch inside the CPU. They can be either
. or ..
They can either be on or off.
1

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7. Briefly explain how transistors can represent binary data

All data inside the CPU is in binary form. So either 0 or 1. Transistors act as
switches so their either on or off. Then Binary 1 could be the same as a
switch being off and binary 0 could be the same as a switch being on.

8. Transistors can be combined within the CPU to do different jobs. Give

two examples of jobs they might do.
Processing data.
Storing data.

9. Gordon Moore made an observation that was so accurate it became

known as Moores Law. What does Moores Law say?
Moores Law says that the number of transistors in a computer chip was
doubling roughly every two years and predicted it would carry on.

10. What is the problem with Moores Law in the future?

As transistors shrink towards atomic sizes, they will no longer work properly.

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