Question:

[Odm]

You know how processors are measured in Hertz(Hz)? What exactly is happening "per second" (Hz= per second)?

[sushi128]

a voltage cycle. ever seen a sinusoid (trig)? same thing, only the range is -1.**v to +1.**v.

and yeah, hertz is literally a cycle per second (applies to ALL waves).

[portzebie]

sushi128 is smart:D

[aphremen]

Now, does anyone know where Hertz comes from? It's the Dude who discovered Radio waves, Heinrich Hertz (http://www.sparkmuseum.com/HERTZ.HTM). Marconi is the one who turned that discovery into something usefull though, the wireless telegraph! Which lead to the modern radio. Which leads to bluetooth so you can use a wireless mouse with no lag! :D

[ZANDAMORPHIS]

Originally posted by aphremen
Now, does anyone know where Hertz comes from? It's the Dude who discovered Radio waves, Heinrich Hertz (http://www.sparkmuseum.com/HERTZ.HTM). Marconi is the one who turned that discovery into something usefull though, the wireless telegraph! Which lead to the modern radio. Which leads to bluetooth so you can use a wireless mouse with no lag! :D

my logitech mx700 has NO LAG!... its not bluetooth!

[sushi128]

well.....bluetooth doesn't neccessarily derive from radio, since bluetooth is essentially a radio signal, except it changes on a specified range about 1500 times a second. i think the no lag comes from the fact that it transmit a very weak signal (1 mW if i remember correctly), thereby avoiding interference.

i think that's on topic......if it's not, too bad; i wanted to sound smart anyway :D

[Odm]

Thanks, sushi. I knew what Hertz stood for, I just wanted to know what has happening every second (in my case 866 times per second)

[sushi128]

and here, to illustrate how incredibly bored i am at this lunch hour, is a graphic representation:

http://users.rcn.com/may.lai/866mhzcpucycle.bmp

that's Odm's.....it's a P3 i presume?

[Odm]

You presume correctly. I wish I had a P4...

[Odm]

Ooo AC power... So basically Hz means the same for mains power supply and your processor, ie that so and so times per second your voltage is positive?

[sushi128]

well, same thing of course, seeing how they're all electrical signals, right? ;)

and yes, in the case of AC, the number of times the rail is positive per second is essentially the frequency. but, technically speaking, it's how many times the cycle repeats itself in a second.

oh, and in the slim chance that you're wondering, the data is sent on the leading edge of the cycle(once per cyle in the P3's case).

[Odm]

I wasn't wondering, but it was interesting none the less. What's really cool, is I actually understand all this. Before I took science, I would have gone "Huh?" I'm in advanced science, btw.