Computers can seem like magic. You throw some metal into a box, and suddenly, it performs complex tasks. But what’s really going on inside that box? Let’s break it down and uncover the science behind the magic. The Basics: Bits, Bytes, and Binary At the heart of every computer is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) , a tiny piece of silicon packed with billions of microscopic switches called transistors . These transistors can be either on or off , representing the binary states 1 and 0 . A single switch’s value is called a bit . While one bit isn’t very useful on its own, grouping multiple bits together creates a system capable of complex operations. Eight bits make a byte , which can represent 256 different combinations of 0s and 1s. This system is called binary . Each bit represents a power of 2, allowing us to store and process vast amounts of information. For example, the binary number 01000101 translates to 69 in decimal. To make binary more human-friendly, we use hexadecimal ...