Artwork for What is a computer?

Science

What is a computer?

Episode 449 13:35

In this episode

Did you know that the smartphone in your hand has 19 BILLION tiny little switches inside it? It’s true! Join Mira and Finn as they shrink down to the size of a nanometer to discover how computers actually think! It turns out, beneath all your favorite 3D video games, funny videos, and cool apps, computers only do one simple thing: they flip tiny switches on and off super fast using a special math language called binary! We’ll travel back in time to 1945 to see the ENIAC, a giant early computer that weighed as much as four school buses and used exploding glass tubes! You'll also learn the hilarious and gross story of why we call computer glitches "bugs" (hint: it involves a real, squished moth!). Finally, find out how scientists invented the microscopic transistor, changing the world forever and making it possible to fit 20,000 of them across a single human hair. Get ready to have your mind blown—you will never look at your phone or tablet the same way again!

If you liked this one

All episodes of Science's Not Boring

Email Debug