Crystal oscillators are a piece of automation that are ubiquitous but barely noticed. They are the basis of both computers and the internet. In computers they play a role analogous to the prime mover in a factory, and in networking/communications they do the code keying-in at magically fantastic speeds.
When telegraphy was invented, signals over wires were manually keyed in with telegraph keys, with an average speed of about 150 characters/minute. No wonder telegrams cost so much, which in turn spawned a new language form: telegraphese.
When telegraphy was invented, signals over wires were manually keyed in with telegraph keys, with an average speed of about 150 characters/minute. No wonder telegrams cost so much, which in turn spawned a new language form: telegraphese.
 |
| A typical telegraph key. |
Today the internet depends on network interface controllers which use crystal oscillators to do the keying in, at about 750 million characters/minute (100 Mbits/sec).
.jpg) | |
| The metallic cubical box, to the left of the large chip houses the crystal oscillator on this 25 Mbits/sec networking card. |
 |
| The metallic box opened, showing the quartz crystal slice. |
The following video explains how a typical quartz watch works in an easy to understand way:
No comments:
Post a Comment