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Why is voltage the "language" of computers as opposed to other electrical phenomena?

C

chrstrbrts

Senior member
Hi guys,

So, what I mean by 'language' is that the computer "understands" voltage.

Voltage is what's stored in RAM and in registries and caches.

It's also what's sent from chip to chip down buses and traces.

But, why can't a computer be built that understands amperage, resistance, or some other electrical phenomena?
 
Voltage is fast. It moves at the speed of light (in whatever material).

Amperage (current) is slower. It moves at the speed of electrons (in whatever material).

I believe resistor-transistor logic was also slow. Even if they found a way to speed it up, by definition it produces a lot of heat.

Maybe you're looking for spintronics?
 
It's because it's easier to create a perfect insulator than a perfect conductor. For instance, to store energy as a voltage you can use a capacitor. The length of time that a capcitor can store a charge is limited by its leakage current. Leakage can be kept low because capacitors can be made with high resistance materials. If you want to store a current you need an inductor, but in order for the current to be stored for an appreciable amount of time you need to make it from a superconductor, which is expensive.
 
I think it's because the "standard" types of circuits use TTL (Transistor-to-Transistor Logic) designs based on high-impedance transistor types. This type of transistor can be very fast and allows only very small currents to flow, meaning that the power consumption (and hence generation of waste heat) is low. In the resulting circuits it is difficult to measure the current coming from one circuit at the input of the next, BUT it is easy to measure the Voltage. In fact, of course, the real secret is that the Voltage is not measured precisely as old-style analog circuits did. Instead the voltage is "classified" if you like, into only one of two states: On or Off. "On" means the voltage is at or above a threshold value approximately in the middle of the possible range (the possible range usually is 0 to 5 VDC). "Off" means it is below that threshold. Now as any circuit's output is switched rapidly from On to Off, it takes very little time to go from 5 VDC to less than half that, but much longer to get down to 0 VDC. But a digital TTL circuit does not have to wait for the full transition from On to Off. It can "read" the new value as "Off" as soon as the voltage drops below the threshold value, which is much faster. Same thing for the transition the other way.
 
Sorry, but the Language of computers is Math and math code that agreed upon to represent ABC etc.

As an example the Number 65 is A, 66 is B................122 is z.

For actual operation Instead of the 10 base it is using Binary base 0-1.

How the 0,1 are created is a matter of convenience (as an example) in Fibre optics it is Light.

I.e., Verizon FIOS comes to you on Light, Not voltage, once it in, it translates from light to 0-1 voltage


😎
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