Information Science Chapter 4

Front 1

a case that contains electronic components of the computer used to process data

Back 1

system unit

Front 2

main circuit board of the system unit

Back 2

motherboard

Front 3

small piece of semiconducting material, usually silicon, on which integrated circuits are etched

Back 3

chip

Front 4

(central processing unit) electronic device that interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a comuter

Back 4

CPU

Front 5

a chip with two or more seperate processor cores

Back 5

multi-core processor

Front 6

component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer

Back 6

control unit

Front 7

(arithmetic logic unit) component of the processer that performs arithmetic, comparisons, and other operations

Back 7

ALU

Front 8

small quarts crystal circuit that controls the timing of all computer operations/ generates electronic pulses at a regular tempo and sets the pace for the system unit

Back 8

system clock

Front 9

pace of the system clock that is measured by the number of ticks per second

Back 9

clock speed

Front 10

a number system that has just two unique digits, 0 and 1, called bits

Back 10

binary system

Front 11

(binary digit) smallest unit of data the computer can process

Back 11

bit

Front 12

8 bits grouped together as a unit- different combinations of 0s and 1s to represent 256 characters

Back 12

bytes

Front 13

consists of electronic components that store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data needed for those instructions, and the results of processing that data (information)

Back 13

memory

Front 14

memory that loses its contents when the power is turned off/ temporary

Back 14

volatile memory

Front 15

memory that does not lose its contents when the power is turned off/ permanent

Back 15

nonvolatile memory

Front 16

(random access memory) consists of memory chips that can be read from and written to by the processor and other devices/ volatile memory

Back 16

RAM memory

Front 17

(read only memory) refers to memory chips storing permanent data and instructions/ nonvolatile

Back 17

ROM memory

Front 18

small circuit board on which RAM chips usually reside

Back 18

memory module

Front 19

slots on the motherboard that hold memory modules

Back 19

memory slots

Front 20

used to improve the processing time/ stores frequently used data

Back 20

cache

Front 21

built directly into the processor chip/ small capacity

Back 21

L1 cache

Front 22

slightly slower than L1 cache/ much larger capacity

Back 22

L2 cache

Front 23

type of nonvolatile memory that can be erased electronically and rewritten

Back 23

flash memory

Front 24

(complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) provides high speeds and consumes little power/ uses batter to retain info even when power is off

Back 24

CMOS

Front 25

amount of time it takes a processor to read data, instructions, and information from memory

Back 25

access time

Front 26

one billionth of a second

Back 26

nanosecond

Front 27

socket on the motherboard that can hold an adapter card

Back 27

expansion slot

Front 28

circuit board that enhances functions of a component of the system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals

Back 28

adapter card

Front 29

device that connects to the system unit and is controlled by the processor in the computer

Back 29

peripheral

Front 30

converts computer output into a video signal that travels through a cable to the moniter, which displays an image onto the screen

Back 30

video card/ graphics card

Front 31

enhances the sound-generating capabilities of a personal computer by allowing sound to be inputted through a microphone and output through external speakers of headphones

Back 31

sound card

Front 32

device that plugs into a port of a system unit and provides multiple ports to which other cables can connect to, all into one port on the system unit/ splits one port into many

Back 32

hub

Front 33

removable flash memory device that you insert and remove from a slot in a personal computer, game console, mobile device, or card reader/writer

Back 33

memory card

Front 34

the point at which a peripheral attaches to or communicates with a system unit so that the peripheral can send data to or recieve information from the computer

Back 34

port

Front 35

(universal serial bus port) can connect up to 127 different peripherals together with a single port

Back 35

USB port

Front 36

similar to a USB port, has faster data transmissions speeds and can connect multiple types of devices together

Back 36

fire wire port

Front 37

special high-speed parallel port that allows you to connect peripherals such as disk drives and printers

Back 37

SCSI port

Front 38

external device that provides connections to peripherals through ports built into the device

Back 38

port replicator

Front 39

external device that attaches to a mobile computer or device that contains a power connection and connections to peripherals

Back 39

docking station

Front 40

electrical channel that allows the various devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other/ transfers bits

Back 40

bus

Front 41

part of the motherboard and connects the processor to the main memory

Back 41

system bus/ front side bus

Front 42

connects the processor to the cache

Back 42

back side bus

Front 43

allows the processor to communicate with peripherals

Back 43

expansion bus

Front 44

opening inside the system unit in which you can install additional equipment

Back 44

bay

Front 45

rectangular opening that typically holds disc drives

Back 45

drive bay

Front 46

component of the system unit that converts the wall outlet AC power into DC power

Back 46

power supply