Inside a Computer

The _____ is the computer's main circuit board. It's a thin plate that holds the CPU, memory, connectors for the hard drive and optical drives, expansion cards to control the video and audio, and connections to your computer's ports (such as USB ports).

• Processor

• Motherboard

• Random Access Memory

• Hard drive

The central processing unit (CPU), also called a _____, is located inside the computer case on the motherboard. It is sometimes called the brain of the computer, and its job is to carry out commands. Whenever you press a key, click the mouse, or start an application, you're sending instructions to it.

• Motherboard

• Random Access Memory

• Processor

• Hard drive

The CPU fits into the motherboard's CPU socket, which is covered by the _____, an object that absorbs heat from the CPU.

• Heat sink

• Processor

• Random Access Memory

• Hard drive

_____ is your system's short-term memory. Whenever your computer performs calculations, it temporarily stores the data here until it is needed.

• Motherboard

• Processor

• Hard drive

• RAM (random access memory)

A processor's speed is measured in megahertz (MHz), or millions of instructions per second; and gigahertz (GHz), or billions of instructions per second.

• True

• False

RAM is measured in megabytes (MB) or gigahertz (GHz).

• True

• False

The more RAM you have, the more things your computer can do at the same time.

• True

• False

Short-term memory does not disappear when the computer is turned off. If you're working on a document, spreadsheet, or other type of file, you don't need to save your work, it will be recovered.

• True

• False

When you save a file, the data is written to the _____, which acts as long-term storage.

• Hard drive

• Motherboard

• Random Access Memory

• Processor

The hard drive is where your software, documents, and other files are stored. The hard drive is long-term storage, which means the data is still saved even if you turn the computer off or unplug it.

• True

• False