Hardware

Question 1

Expand CPU

Answer 1

Central Processing Unit

Question 2

What is CPU often referred to as?

Answer 2

Brain of the computer

Question 3

Explain Fetch-execute Cycle

Answer 3

A computer process that locates a program instruction from internal memory, decodes the instruction and carries out the action required; this process is then repeated for the rest of the program instructions.

Question 4

What are the three main components of CPU

Answer 4

Control Unit
Arithmetic and logic unit
Immediate access store

Question 5

Explain Control Unit

Answer 5

Manages the execution of instructions one at a time using fetch execute cycle

Question 6

What are the three jobs of Control Unit

Answer 6

1) decide which instruction to carry out next and fetch it from memory
2) To decode the instruction
3) to execute the instruction

Question 7

Explain ALU

Answer 7

This component carries out arithmetic calculations to be carries out(+ - * /)
Perform logical comparison such as ‘And’ and ‘NOT

Question 8

Explain Immediate access store (IAS)

Answer 8

This component stores all programs and data temporarily while they are in use

Question 9

Explain the steps in Fetch Execute Cycle

Answer 9

1)The processor check the program counter to see which instruction to run next
2) the program counter gives an address value in the memory of where the next instruction is
3) The processor fetches the instruction value from its memory location
4) Once the instruction has been fetches, it needs to be decoded and executed
5) Once this is complete, the processor goes back to the program counter to find the next instruction
6) This Cycle is repeated until the program ends

Question 10

What is Fetch-Execute cycle?

Answer 10

Fetching instruction from its memory and executes it

Question 11

What is a Program counter?

Answer 11

The Program counter is the CPU register that stores the address( memory location reference) for the next instruction to be fetches

Question 12

Expand MDR

Answer 12

Memory Data Register

Question 13

Expand MAR

Answer 13

Memory Address Register

Question 14

What is MDR

Answer 14

MDR temporarily stores data being fetched from or written to the main memory of the CPU

Question 15

What is MAR

Answer 15

MAR Temporarily stores current instruction or data

Question 16

What is an Instruction Register

Answer 16

Stores the current instruction to be decoded and then execution

Question 17

What is an Accumulator

Answer 17

When calculations take place on data, the results are initially stored on accumulator before transferred and stored in the main memory

Question 18

What are the factors that influence the speed of processing

Answer 18

Clock Speed
Cache
Processor Core

Question 19

3 Types of Internal memory

Answer 19

RAM
ROM
Cache

Question 20

Expand RAM

Answer 20

Random Access Memory

Question 21

Expand ROM

Answer 21

Read Only Memory

Question 22

Explain RAM

Answer 22

Can be read from or written
Volatile
used to hold programs and data that are currently being used(operating System)

Question 23

Explain ROM

Answer 23

Non Volatile
Can be read but not written
Used to store programs that are frequently required by the computer ( boot program)

Question 24

Explain Cache

Answer 24

Temporarily stored frequently used instructions and data

Quicker to store cache memory as it has a smaller storage capacity compared to RAM

Question 25

What does Volatile Mean?

Answer 25

Means if the computer is closed then reopened, the RAM would stay open

Question 26

Factors that influence the speed of processing

Answer 26

Clock Speed Cache Processor Core

Question 27

Explain Clock Speed

Answer 27

Indicator of the speed at which the CPU can operate

Question 28

Measurement of Clock Speed

Answer 28

Gigahertz( GHZ)

Question 29

What does GHz represent?

Answer 29

The number of instruction cycles the CPU can deal with in a second

Question 30

How to measure computer power?

Answer 30

Clock Speed

Question 31

Explain Processor Core

Answer 31

Defined as a single processor with its own control unit, ALU and registers

Question 32

What are Peripheral Devices?

Answer 32

Devices that are connected to the computer externally, including input, output and external storage devices

Question 33

What are input devices?

Answer 33

hardware components which can be used to enter/pass data into the computer system

Question 34

What are output devices?

Answer 34

Devices that are used to view output

Question 35

What are keyboards, mouse and webcams?

Answer 35

Input devices

Question 36

Explain Microphone

Answer 36

1) Accepts sound input or human voice into a computer system 2) A voice recognition system can covert sound to text

Question 37

Advantages of Microphone

Answer 37

1) Relatively Cheap 2) People can speak faster than they type, so it is cheaper than a keyboard

Question 38

Disadvantages of Microphone

Answer 38

1) Can have have limited battery life 2) Background noise can interfere with spoken words

Question 39

Explain Mouse

Answer 39

1) A mouse has finger operated buttons 2) When these buttons are clicked they perform an action 3) Can also control the movement of cursor on the computer

Question 40

Advantage of a Mouse

Answer 40

1) Easy to use 2) Can replace complex keyboard commands 3) Highly Accurate

Question 41

Disadvantage of a Mouse

Answer 41

1) Can only be used in a flat and smooth surface 2) can easily be broken

Question 42

Explain Graphic Digitiser

Answer 42

Consists of a flat surface where you can use a pen to write or draw with As you draw on the surface, the image will appear on the screen Used by architects

Question 43

Advantages of a Graphic Digitizer

Answer 43

1) Enables the user to draw naturally 2) The stylus pen can be used as the same way as a pen

Question 44

Disadvantages of a Graphic Digitizer

Answer 44

1) Much more expensive than a mouse

Question 45

Explain Touch Screen

Answer 45

1) Works by using your finger to touch the screen 2) the touching is detected and is translated into instructions

Question 46

Advantages of a Touch Screen

Answer 46

1) Easy to use as you don’t need excellent ICT skills to operate 2) Cheaper as you don’t need to purchase other peripherals such as mouse or keyboard

Question 47

Disadvantages of a Touch Screen

Answer 47

1)Not suitable for inputting large amount of data 2)Can easily become dirty

Question 48

Explain Speakers

Answer 48

Uses audio signals and then converts it into sound

Question 49

Advantages of Speakers

Answer 49

1) Useful for visually impaired users 2) Natural ways to communicate with users

Question 50

Disadvantages of Speakers

Answer 50

1) Good quality speakers tend to be expensive 2) Can disturb others in the room

Question 51

Explain Laser Printer

Answer 51

1) A laser beam is used to scan the image of the page to be printed onto a drum by building a pattern of static electricity 2) This attracts toners (Printer Ink) to reproduce the page

Question 52

Advantages of Laser Printer

Answer 52

1) Produces High Quality Prints 2) Prints very quickly

Question 53

Disadvantage of Laser Printer

Answer 53

1) Produces shiny images 2)More suited for text printing

Question 54

Explain 3D Printer

Answer 54

Gradually prints a solid 3D object one layer at a time

Question 55

Advantages of 3D Printer

Answer 55

1) Time taken to produce an object is much faster that using conventional methods 2) Can print an a variety of surfaces

Question 56

Disadvantage of 3D Printer

Answer 56

1) Limited form of printing as it can only print a prototype (not full scale) 2) Not economical for large-scale manufacturing

Question 57

Explain Hard disc drive

Answer 57

1) Consists of a number of rigid discs stacked on a spindle and enclosed in a sealed unit 2) Formatting a disc divides the surface into a number of tracks and sectors 3) As the discs rotate at high speeds the read/write heads move back and forth across the surface

Question 58

Advantages of Hard disc drive

Answer 58

1) The cost per gigabyte is cheaper than other forms of external storage 2) Storage capacity is much greater compared to solid-state storage devices

Question 59

Disadvantage of Hard disc drive

Answer 59

1) Due to moving parts, such as read/write heads, they are prone to breaking down 2) Access speeds are slower than 'flash' memory devices

Question 60

What are storage devices?

Answer 60

Pieces of equipment that store all the data in the computer