What is one important thing transistors do?

Answer 1

Transistor is the building block for the processor. Without the transistor, some say our servers would be three stories high, and laptops would be a prop on Star Trek. Our televisions would still use vacuum tubes, and our cars couldn't guide us to the nearest Indian restaurant.

without the transistor, what would the digital economy look like? Would Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. have become giants? Would geeks have become cool, rich guys driving BMWs?

Answer 2

Transistors are used in places where the vacuum tubes of yester-years are used. Vacuum tubes were bulky, consumed a lot of energy and produced unnecessary heat as a byproduct. There were not stable in their performance. Transistors are small and with advancement in technology they are becoming so small that you cannot see them with the naked eye (as in integrated circuits and chips). They occupy very less space and use very much less energy. They are dependable, produce less heat.

Answer 3

Transistors switch and amplify currents. As such, they can act as both switches (ON/OFF action) or "vales" to regulate and amplify larger currents based on how much current they're being driven with.

At their core, transistors have the ability to smoothly regulate a larger current in proportion to a (much smaller) driving current. The ON/OFF action happens if we disregard the entire "middle" of this curve and take only two input values - 1 (ON) and 0 (OFF).

But the transistor really begins to shine when its full capability is used - like in all kinds of amplifiers (audio, video etc.). That's how a relatively quiet sound (from, say, a speaker jack) can be plugged into an amplifier and drive huge speakers - the more "on" the signal is, the more "ON" the output will be, with many, many values between 0 and 1.

Answer 4

A Capacitor allows a time delay for the circuit (imagine that the capacitor is a well and the circuit cannot continue until the well is full). In other words, Capacitors stop the circuit from passing a specific point for a time period.

Answer 5

Acts as Voltage Logic across Gates in a Circuit of the Devices.