Intern: John Gomm

Mentor: Evan Lobisser

Faculty: Mark Rodwell

Curriculum Overview

Millions of decisions are made inside electronic circuits in computers. This is made possible by transistors—the switches that are used in electronics to make decisions. As transistors shrink, they can switch faster and engineers can fit more circuits on a small silicon chip. The lab below will help students learn how transistors can be used to make logic gates; they will then use these gates to make a simple combination lock. The number of gates needed to make a simple lock should give students an appreciation of the huge numbers of components in a computer running complex software.