Re: How are computers made?

Hello, Gary. This is a very interesting question, and I am impressed that you are already asking these sorts of questions while you are in elementary school. Computers are making a big impact on our lives, and your interest now should give you a head start and may help you go far in life.

Computers are pretty complicated. I can't give you a complete answer here to how computers are made, but I will give you a start and some websites and a book or two that should help you go the rest of the way.

First, you should have some idea about how computers work, and how the different parts of a computer or computer system fit into it. Here are two very good books, with lots of illustrations, that explain how computers work:

http://www.compunotes.com/references/pcworks.htm

Computers Simplified

Here is a tour of a computer on the web: What's inside your computer

Here is a website that includes some explanations of the parts of the computer system:

How computers work

Basically, a computer works by representing numbers, letters, images or pictures, sounds, and programs as a series of 1's and 0's. We call that "binary". For example, the number 5 would be represented as 00000101 in a computer, the letter B would be 01000010 in ASCII (a way of representing letters in binary often used in a computer). How sounds can be represented as series of 1's and 0's is explained here:How CD PLAYERS play sounds .

A computer is generally made up of printed circuit boards which contain integrated circuits.

Here is a picture of the inside of a computer:

What's inside your computer

One of the main things inside the computer (E in the picture above) is the Mother board, which contains the microprocessor integrated circuit (F in the picture above).

Here is an image and discussion of a motherboard

Here is a picture and an explanation of how microprocessors work:

How microprocessors work If that explanation is too complex, perhaps this website I put up will help show how the microprocessor works, step by step: Apprentice Computer Wizard - Digital Logic and Computers

In order to really understand how computers are made, the best way is to learn by doing. Perhaps you can work with some member of your family to build a computer. Here are some links that show you how to
Build your own pc:
http://www.verinet.com/pc/
Learn to build your own computer:
http://www.freeyellow.com/members4/hansworse/introduction.html