Physics behind Computers?

(I hate to repost this, as I'm sure there is some rule against it, and for that I do apologize. I'm only doing it because I don't have a great deal of time left to complete the assignment, and I didn't receive a great deal of answers last time (but the answers were excellent may I add, so thank you!!!))

I'm writing this report on the physics behind computers throughout history, and I'm not quite sure what to put next... So far I've written about:

~ Thermionic Emission - Used in the old-fashioned vacuum tubes by using heat to emit electrons.

~ Transistors - Basically put what they are and how they work.

~ Magnetic Core Memory - Explaining how information is stored in the hard drive of the computer.

Any more ideas would be excellent!

Physics behind Computers?malware

You do realize that most people solve these assignments without Yahoo Answers?

;-)

Anyway. You still need to discuss semiconductor physics and especially CMOS technology and why it scales so well. Did you include that in the transistor section?

If you really want to talk about physics and computing, you would have to write something about thermodynamics and information, though. I am not sure giving you pointers is very useful, though. It might be a little bit too theoretical a field. But it will give you an idea how far we still are from the limits of computing and why Moore's law is not going to go away for many decades to come (but it will slow down).

Good Luck!

Physics behind Computers?norton 360

In Wikipedia you might find all related links to different stories regarding that subject, I find Wikipedia well organized.

good luck
TNTC - too numerous to count. Magnetic core memory hasn't been used for a long time. Disk - see the recent Nobel Prize. CD read/write; laser; power supply; CRT; LCD; Xerography; thermal, dot matrix, laser, and impact printing.
Just state the truth that aliens taught us everything!
I would suggest this book: http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Dot-Journe...