An enormous amount of literature has been written on the subject of transistors. It can be argued that without the creation of transistors much of the modern gadgets that we enjoy today would not be possible. Two of the more important issues that these devices solved were speed and size.

In general terms, transistors are miniature electronic switches. Not only are they are the building blocks of the microprocessor which is the brain of the computer, but they are also used in many other applications as well.

To better understand how they work, think of them as being similar to a basic light switch. What is meant by this is that the transistors have two operating positions, on and off. This on/off functionality of transistors enables the fast processing of information in a computer. This on and off system is also known as binary.

You may be surprised to learn that the only information computers understand are electrical signals that are switched on and off. It sounds simple, and in theory it is simple.

But in order to better understand transistors, it is necessary to have an understanding of how a switched electronic circuit works. The first thing to know is that switched electronic circuits consist of several parts, each of which is important to the whole. One essential part is the circuit pathway where the electrical current flows. This is often through a wire.

A second part that is important to the whole is the switch. The switch is a device that stops and starts the flow of electrical current. This is done by either completing or breaking the circuit's pathway thus allowing or not allowing the current to flow.

Switches can be transistors. Transistors have no moving parts and are turned on and off by electrical signals. The on/off switching of transistors facilitates the work performed by microprocessors in that it allows or does not allow the current to flow through certain parts of the processor.

Working as a switch, transistors can also handle information, which is what we want from our computers and other applications. It can do this through the use of a binary counter.

A binary counter has only two states, like a transistor, and can be referred to as binary (binary meaning two). When the transistor is "on" the state is represented by a 1. When the transistor is "off" the state is represented by a 0. By using very specific sequences and patterns of 1's and 0's generated by multiple transistors the processor can represent letters, numbers, colors, and graphics. This is known as binary notation and it is the very backbone of computing.

You can learn more about transistors and how they work by doing an online search. There is a lot of information on this subject available.