microcontroller is a term for a package...., capacitor

[PG1995]

Hi

1: Is microcontroller a term which is used to a package of a 'simple' microprocessor, RAM, ROM (which could be sometimes programmable), etc.? I would like a simple answer. Thanks.

2: Can I think of a capacitor as battery which stores charge or electrical energy for a brief period of time (or, until the potential of the circuit to which it is connected is higher), and capacitance as nothing more than 'amount' of electrical charge stored?

Thank you for your reply.

Regards
PG

 

[alec_t]

Google should give you pointers to all the information you need.

 

[Froskoy]

For (2):

Not necessarily a brief period of time. Indeed, you could design a circuit that might take years to discharge a capacitor (can't think why you would, but it would be theoretically possible). You are correct in that a capacitor is a device for storing electrical charge but it is very different from a battery. A battery works through a series of chemical reactions whereas a capacitor works by storing charge on two plates.

See: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/capac.htm
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/capacit.htm
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/capacitor.htm

 

[Sceadwian]

The term microcontroller has no hard definition, but they're typically micro processors with volatile and non volatile memories on one chip. All modern micro processors have some time of volitile memory built in, be it registers or cache memory, but the major distinction I believe between a micro processor and a microcontroller is the built in non volatile memory for program/data storage.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi

1: Is microcontroller a term which is used to a package of a 'simple' microprocessor, RAM, ROM (which could be sometimes programmable), etc.? I would like a simple answer. Thanks.

No, it's a complete 'computer' on a chip, ROM, RAM, I/O , Timers etc.

2: Can I think of a capacitor as battery which stores charge or electrical energy for a brief period of time (or, until the potential of the circuit to which it is connected is higher), and capacitance as nothing more than 'amount' of electrical charge stored?

Capacitance is the property of a circuit to store energy in the form of an electrostatic field.

 

[Sceadwian]

Nigel, I would love to know where you got that definition because it doesn't make any sense. There are true SOC devices which are in fact complete computers on a chip. Micro controllers according to what little definition I can find on non official dictionaries emphasize that micro controllers are used in 'embeded' applications. True system on chip devices are a class apart from microcontrollers.

It's all pretty much moot though as from PG1995s previous posts he's just starting out in electronics and trying to absorb a lot of information very fast so such discussions on the fine line between processor, micro processor, and system are irrelevant.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Nigel, I would love to know where you got that definition because it doesn't make any sense. There are true SOC devices which are in fact complete computers on a chip. Micro controllers according to what little definition I can find on non official dictionaries emphasize that micro controllers are used in 'embeded' applications. True system on chip devices are a class apart from microcontrollers.

Notice that I placed 'computer' in quotes - but it's as good a description as any other, and easier to understand than most.

Why do you not consider a micro-controller a 'computer on a chip'?

A computer is a device that contains certain required parts, such as a processor, memory, I/O ports - like a PET, or a TRS80 etc.

Microcontrollers include ALL those parts, presviously requiring multiple chips, in a single cheap product.

 

[PG1995]

Thank you, everyone, alec, Froskoy, Sceadwian, Nigel.

The term microcontroller has no hard definition, but they're typically micro processors with volatile and non volatile memories on one chip. All modern micro processors have some time of volitile memory built in, be it registers or cache memory, but the major distinction I believe between a micro processor and a microcontroller is the built in non volatile memory for program/data storage.

The above post was helpful and simple as were many others.

Best wishes
PG

 

[Sceadwian]

Because Nigel, computer is such a generic term that it just muddies the waters further. Everything from the simplest pocket calculator to a micro processor, micro controller, or full desktop PC, as well as cell phones etc can all be called computers.

A computer is a device that contains certain required parts, such as a processor, memory, I/O ports - like a PET, or a TRS80 etc

That is definitely not the definition of computer, just a modern conception of it. Meriam Websters defines a computer as a device, usually electronic that can store, retrieve and process data, the first computers would technically be biological, a human being can be considered a computer, and the first devices typically ascribed as being computers were mechanical in nature, long before modern times.

I dug into the etymology a bit further and it looks like it steps from the latin words com and putare, which means 'to think' and the modern word computer is a Middle English word borrowed from the French. There is a latin word computus which means calculate as well. Language is a funny and difficult thing to deal with especially in technical matters as the lines of technology are not black and white.