After you’ve shut down your PC, how does it know what the time and date is when you turn it back on ?
There’s probably a clock somewhere inside that keeps it recorded and responds to the computer when it’s turned back on?
I don’t know exactly what contraptions computer engineers use, but an internal clock can keep its time when the power goes out with a capacitor-resistor circuit. If you’ve ever touched a charged capacitor you know how painful it is to have all those amps coursing through your hand. But with a resistor added the voltage drops slowly on an exponentialy decaying path.
Heres how it works
Charge a capacitor
check its voltage
Take the voltage source away
wait a little bit for the voltage in the capacitor to drop through a resistor
open the circuit
now check its voltage again
if you know the capacitance and resistance you can calculate the length of time that you were draining the voltage
Physics 2 labs do this experiment. nifty stuff.
My computer clock is messed up for some reason. No matter how many times i correct the time, it’s always off the next time I look at it.
while it is true that the hamster on the wheel inside the box has a watch, getting him to tell time is a hassle…
-Imp