The Chemistry Behind Your Phone: What You Need to Know

The average American checks their phone 150 times a week, and they don’t even have an iPhone. It’s not just the way we communicate that has changed; phones themselves are something very different from what they used to be. Smartphones today have many functions beyond making calls, sending texts, and checking email. In fact, most of us use our phones to take photos, stream music, access social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, play games, record video and much more. This article takes a look at all the amazing things your smartphone can do thanks to chemistry. We explore the role of science in your phone’s camera, microphone, speakers, battery and other features – along with how manufacturers achieve those results at an affordable price point – so you can geek out about it over happy hour with friends or family members.

The Camera: What’s Behind the Brightness, Colour and Resolution?

All of the major smartphone manufacturers use cameras made by a company called Sony. Those companies include Apple, Samsung, LG, Huawei, and even Google, which makes its own Pixel phones. Sony makes the sensors inside these cameras and the image processing software, too. Sony was an early pioneer in the use of these image sensors and the production of CMOS sensors. CMOS stands for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor and it is used in most digital cameras today to capture and store an image, just like film in older cameras did. The sensors in these cameras get their brightness and colour by using an RGB filter, which is an approach that was introduced decades ago. The RGB colours represent the three primary colours needed to create the full spectrum of colour that our eyes can see. What makes these RGB filters special is that all three filters are made from a single piece of material. The colour filter is made from silicon, which is the main component in sand. The silicon is treated in different ways to produce either red, green or blue filters as needed.

Screen: How do they work?

The most important part of any smartphone is the screen. Without a screen, a phone isn’t much more than a brick. Fortunately, we have advanced technology that allows us to have large, bright screens in a tiny device. How do they work? A smartphone screen is made up of millions of tiny pixels. Each pixel is made up of two tiny red, green or blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). When a pixel needs to be red, electricity travels through the LED and turns it on. This makes the pixel red. When electricity flows through the LED again, it turns off the pixel. This allows the pixel to be any colour in between red and black. The chemicals inside this LED are critical to its effectiveness. When electricity flows through the LED, it causes chemicals inside to travel between two electrodes. This releases photons (light particles) that are visible to the human eye. When the electricity stops flowing, the electrons go back to their original position, which stops the photons from being released. This process is repeated millions of times per second.

The Microphone: Why Are They So Good At Recording Audio?

Although audio is a secondary feature for most people when it comes to a smartphone, it’s still an important function for those who want to record concerts and sporting events, podcast, or even use the microphone as a voice-activated remote control for their TV. The primary mic in smartphones is usually the one used for answering and placing calls and it’s a basic MEMS or piezoelectric microphone. MEMS microphones have been around for decades and have very low noise compared to standard condenser microphones. They are also very small and they are used in smartphones, smart speakers, and almost all other audio devices, like Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple Homepod.

The Speakers: How Do They Sound So Good?

The speakers in smartphones are usually MEMS speakers, too, the same ones used in the microphones. Although smartphones have speakers on the front and back of the device, most people use the front speakers. That’s because the sound coming from the back speakers is reflected off of whatever surface the phone is resting on, creating a sound that is very muffled, and not nearly as loud as the sound from the front speaker. The speakers in a smartphone are both very tiny and very close together. It’s a design challenge that manufacturers work hard to overcome. Engineers use several different approaches to deal with this problem. One common technique is called “cascading,” where sound coming out of one speaker is used to drive the other speaker. Another approach is something called “acoustical coupling,” where the speakers are placed right next to each other so the sound is coupled together and travels through the air as one sound wave.

The Battery: Why Are Smartphone Batteries So Small?

While battery technology has evolved over the years, it hasn’t kept pace with the increase in power consumption of smartphones. The lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones are fairly recent. They have many advantages that have made them the battery of choice, including their light weight and ability to be recharged relatively easily. That said, lithium-ion batteries are not a perfect technology. They are still susceptible to catching fire if they are overcharged, used improperly, or are damaged in some way. All of the major smartphone manufacturers make their batteries in-house and have their own labs. In fact, many manufacturers have more than one lab because batteries are such a complicated part. It’s an incredibly difficult process to get the battery right and meet the standards set by international regulators. Each manufacturer has its own proprietary formula for the chemistry in its batteries, which is why they don’t all last the same amount of time.

Other Features: Fingerprint Scanners, Practice Software and More

Many smartphones have fingerprint scanners that are used for security and unlocking the phone, but they are also great for accessing certain apps. The fingerprint scanner that is used in Apple and Samsung phones is different than the fingerprint scanners that are used for authentication by law enforcement. It’s a capacitive sensor that uses a small electrical charge to determine if there’s a fingerprint there. Practice software can be installed on smartphones to help you improve your skills in many different areas. There are apps to help with foreign language skills, music skills, and even apps that help you practice mental exercises, like improving your memory or skills at critical thinking.

Final Thoughts

Phones have changed so much since the days of the rotary phone, but they are also very much the same, too. They are still a way for people to communicate with one another, they are just much faster, have better clarity and have the ability to go beyond just one conversation at a time. The phone has become so much more than that in today’s world, and it’s exciting to see what the future holds for them.

 

10 Reasons Why You Should Study Chemistry

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Chemistry has a reputation for being dry, complex and difficult. In truth, it can be any of these things. But chemistry also has many hidden depths and some amazing applications in your everyday life. If you’re reading this article, you probably aren’t sure if studying chemistry is the right choice for you. We understand that it can feel like every other subject gives you more bang for your academic buck — after all, statistics is cool, geography will guarantee you a job one day and sociology might help you understand the world around you. In this blog post, we’ll give you 10 good reasons why studying chemistry is worthwhile. With so much information available online about different subjects or areas of study (known as ‘counselling’), it can be difficult to cut through the noise and decide what’s best for you. If reading this article makes you want to study chemistry even more than before, then great! Read on to discover why…

Chemistry can be valuable for your future career.

Chemistry is a very broad subject, with applications in many other fields. You might be studying it because you’re genuinely interested in it and want to know more about it. And that’s fine — it’s great to choose a subject that you enjoy. But if you want to study chemistry to improve your employability in the future, there are lots of ways that you can do that. There are thousands of careers that use chemistry as a core skill, from forensics to pharmaceuticals to forensic science. If you’re interested in a particular area, but not sure how chemistry will help you in that area, then a good course of action is to speak to an expert in that field. You can often find industry professionals giving talks at universities, as well as on social media. Simply reach out and ask them how they use chemistry in their work.

Chemistry can be fun.

Let’s get this out of the way: there’s no right or wrong reason to study a subject. If you’re reading this article because you’re not sure if chemistry is for you, you might be drawn to it because you think you’ll enjoy it or want to be able to say it’s cool. That’s perfectly fine! We’re not here to try and change your mind or convince you that you should study chemistry. But if you’re reading this article because you’re not sure if chemistry is for you, and the idea of studying chemistry makes you anxious or you’re not sure if it’s for you, then hopefully we can change your mind. Chemistry is an amazing subject that can help you understand the world around you, give you a glimpse into the future and help you land a job.

You’ll learn how things work in the world around you.

By studying chemistry, you can learn how things work in the world around you. You can discover how your body reacts to certain chemicals, how carbon emissions are changing our planet, what chemicals are in your food and what they do to your body and how plants use sunlight to create energy. Chemicals play a huge part in our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. That’s partly because they are incredibly useful, but also partly because they are incredibly common. You are made up of billions of tiny chemical reactions — from how you digest food to how your brain produces thoughts and feelings. By studying chemistry, you can learn how these reactions work and what chemicals are involved in them. You can also learn how other chemicals interact with other chemicals (which are called reactions) to create new chemicals. This is where chemistry gets really interesting and exciting.

Studying chemistry is good preparation for other sciences.

Chemistry is often considered the gateway to other sciences. By studying chemistry, you’ll gain an understanding of the scientific method in general and how to conduct experiments. This makes chemistry a great subject to study if you want to go on to study another science, like biology or physics. Chemistry is also a great subject if you want to go into medicine but need to take the chemistry-based entrance exams. There are lots of other opportunities to get involved in a lab and experiment with different chemicals, so if you enjoy that aspect of chemistry, then you have lots of opportunities to pursue more of those kinds of activities in other subjects.

Chemistry is a gateway to better paying jobs.

There are a wide variety of industries that use chemistry regularly, even if you’re not studying chemistry to go on to become a chemist. There are also a variety of different jobs that use chemistry as a core skill. You don’t have to become a chemist to use your chemistry degree. You can become an accountant, a lawyer or a politician, for example. The skills that you learn in chemistry — logical thought, problem-solving, communicating complex ideas and conducting experiments — are applicable in all sorts of careers. The average salary for a chemist is £36,000, but there are plenty of other jobs that use chemistry regularly where the average salary is much higher. You can become a financial analyst, for example, and earn an average of £64,000. You can become a lawyer and earn an average salary of £68,000. There are also plenty of jobs that use chemistry regularly where the average salary is lower, but still well above the average wage.

By studying chemistry, you’ll become a more well-rounded person.

Studying any subject allows you to become a more well-rounded person, but studying chemistry is particularly good at developing your critical thinking and problem-solving skills. By studying chemistry, you’ll be asked to examine the world around you in a very detailed way. You’ll need to break down complex problems into smaller elements and try to understand them better. This way of thinking and analyzing can be applied to almost anything in life. You might find that chemistry makes you a little more cynical, but this ability to scrutinize everything around you and analyze it closely is incredibly useful in life. It’s a skill that can be applied across all sorts of careers outside of chemistry, improving your employability and earning potential in the process.

You’ll have access to an enormous network of like-minded professionals.

There are many resources and networks that you can access if you study chemistry. Many of these networks will be specific to the field that you want to go into. This can be really useful if you want to find out more about your chosen industry, or if you want to network with like-minded professionals and find out how you can get involved in the field. There are many conferences, clubs and societies for chemistry students, as well as online forums that you can join and discussions that you can take part in. This can be a fantastic way to meet like-minded people, collaborate on projects and learn from others. You can also use these networks to find out about scholarships, funding opportunities and work placements. If you’re still not convinced, then read on to discover even more reasons why you should study chemistry. If you’ve already made up your mind and you’re ready to take the next step, then take a look at our article on how to choose a degree.