bubble head wrote:
Well hey there bubble head.
First, I'm not an electrician. But I've read a little.
Digital computers communicate, signal, transmit data on electrical
waves. Electrical waves are similar to sounds waves, and heat waves,
nothing more really. Radiation (but, of course, not in the sense of
*nuclear* radiation which no less similar in the sense that it is
radiation. Just, other forms of radiation aren't usually so associated
with lethality).
Simply put, since electrical signals are carried on waves, and heat is
also a wave, heat can interfere with the signals carried on the
electrical wave. The heat is refered to as "noise" in the signal.
Think in terms of sounds waves, and imagine two people in a room talking
at the same volume. It might be difficult to distinguish what either is
saying. If one talks loud enough above the other, you would be able to
make out what the one were saying. In the first case, the signal to
noise ratio would be too low. In the second case, there would be a high
signal to noise ratio, and thus signal successfully transmitted.
As another example, think of two colored spotlights, one red (noise),
one green (signal), with the beams crossing one another, and we'd like
to see the green one at the point at which they cross. We won't, unless
the green one is brighter than the red -- signal relatively higher than
noise.
This is just based on my interpretations of what I've read. I could be
wrong.
I found the stuff about electricity at this site interesting:
http://www.amasci.com/miscon/miscon.html
Might be a good starting point if you want to know more on the subject.
Bryan