Gather, process and present secondary information to discuss how short comings i
ID: 1412675 • Letter: G
Question
Gather, process and present secondary information to discuss how short comings in available communications technology led to an increased knowledge of the properties of materials with particular reference to the invention of the transistor.
Identify data sources, gather, process and analyse information and use available evidence to assess the impact of the invention of transistors on society, with particular reference to their use in microchips and microprocessors.
Identify data sources, gather, process and present information to summarise the effect of light on semiconductors in solar cells.
Research Question1
With reference to the two or three dot points above, identify and discuss an example of the interconnectedness of ideas or scientific principles. (Half page maximum)
Research Question 2
With reference to one of the three dot points above, assess the accuracy of scientific information presented in the mass media by comparison with similar information presented in scientific journals.
Clearly identify both sources of information you have chosen for Question 2.
(Half page maximum)
Explanation / Answer
1) The invention of the transistor is a good example of what often happens in science, where shortcomings in available technology stimulate further research that eventually leads to improved technology. In the 1930s and 1940s, a prime motive of the scientists at Bell Laboratories in the USA was to replace the old, unreliable mechanical relays (electromagnetic switches with moving parts) in telephone exchanges with electronic relays. Vacuum tubes were used for this purpose but they took up a huge amount of space and large exchanges with many vacuum tubes required constant maintenance.
Semiconductor crystals had been used as current-rectifiers in radios in the 1930s but the physics of how they worked was not understood. Shortcomings in this communication technology, namely the ease with which these rectifiers could burn out, led directly to increased knowledge of the properties of materials. Work by Russell Ohl in 1939 and 1940 led to his discovery of the effect of a barrier in a silicon crystal with different levels of purity on either side of the barrier the silicon p-n junction.
2) The invention of the transistor paved the way for the development of miniature electronic circuits and profoundly integrated circuits (IC). Devices could now be made that required less space and less power which had far more reliability than existing devices. With the introduction of the transistor, electronic systems have continued to become smaller, more sophisticated and cheaper. It led to the so called computer revolution which has changed our lives greatly.
Today, IC’s are used in a huge variety of microprocessor based equipment, ranging from mobile phones and calculators to ATM’s. The first microprocessors appeared in 1971 and have been reducing in size ever since.
Fast computers and tiny electronics have connected the world in an incredible amount of ways. For example, communication technologies have increased in efficiency and reliability, and are so advanced that through GPS, they are able to pin point any location on Earth to within a few metres.
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