What makes touch screens work

It's super cool technology, isn't it, Izabella? Thanks so much for leaving us this comment today to let us know you enjoyed this Wonder! We really appreciate all the great ideas and comments that we get from our Wonder Friends just like YOU! Hi, Rahul!

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Thanks for your patience. Drag a word to its definition. You have answered 0 of 3 questions correctly and your score is:. Want to add a little wonder to your website? Help spread the wonder of families learning together. We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply. Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. How do touch screens work? Do all touch screens work the same way? When were touch screens invented?

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Wonder What's Next? A curious mind is the key! What experience do you have with touch screens? Have you ever used a touch screen computer?

Maybe you or a friend or family member has a smartphone with a touch screen? Perhaps you have a tablet computer or an e-reader with a touch screen. How about a GPS device in your car? Touch screens can even be found on various things around your town, such as video rental machines, automatic teller machines, and even soda machines in some restaurants. Put on your thinking cap and make a list of all the touch screens you can think of that you're had a chance to touch in the past day, week, or month!

How many can you come up with? Get some practical experience with a touch screen. If you don't own a smartphone with a touch screen, borrow one from a friend or family member. Try out the different applications on the smartphone. Which ones are easy to use with the touch screen?

Are any of the games difficult to play with the touch screen? Does the touch screen work like you thought it would? Why or why not? How sensitive is it? Do you have to actually press on the screen or is the lightest touch enough? How would you improve the touch screen if you could? Share your thoughts with a friend or family member. Up for a challenge? Are you ready to invent the greatest invention ever? Sure, touch screens are really cool. But they're everywhere these days. If you want to be the next Steve Jobs , you're going to have to think outside the box.

Don't worry, though. We've got a great idea already. We just need you to do the hard work to bring it to life. What is it? The smell-o-vision, of course! Televisions have been around for a long time now. We have touch screen televisions, high-definition televisions and even 3D televisions. Today's various televisions are a delight for the eyes, the ears and even the fingers. But not the nose! You've probably never thought of that, have you?

When you watch a cooking show on television, wouldn't it be great if you could smell what's cooking? We'd watch The Bacon Channel non-stop! Or what about shows about gardening? Of course it would! How would you go about developing the smell-o-vision? What might it look like? How would you convince people to buy it? What television shows would be even better on a smell-o-vision? What shows might NOT be so great? Put your thoughts into writing and even add in some illustrations of what your creation might look like.

Email us what you come up with. Did you get it? Test your knowledge. What are you wondering? Wonder Words touch screen current display technology burden electronic visual transmission information capacitance stylus surge resistive kiosk metallic Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. MEME Feb 13, Feb 17, Yeah, but touch screens and mouse pads already built-in are NOT good for gaming. Trust me. Feb 12, Thanks for sharing your experience, whoever you are. A thin, scratch-resistant blue layer on top completes the package. An electrical current runs through those yellow layers at all times, but when your finger hits the screen the two are pressed together and the electrical current changes at the point of contact. The software recognizes a change in the current at these coordinates and carries out the function that corresponds with that spot.

They also can only handle one touch at a time — ruling out, for example, the two-finger zoom on an iPhone. Unlike resistive touch screens, capacitive screens do not use the pressure of your finger to create a change in the flow of electricity.

Instead, they work with anything that holds an electrical charge — including human skin. Yes, we are comprised of atoms with positive and negative charges! Capacitive touch screens are constructed from materials like copper or indium tin oxide that store electrical charges in an electrostatic grid of tiny wires, each smaller than a human hair. Capacitive touch screen technology [Image credit: Electrotest ] There are two main types of capacitive touch screens — surface and projective.

Surface capacitive uses sensors at the corners and a thin evenly distributed film across the surface as pictured above whereas projective capacitive uses a grid of rows and columns with a separate chip for sensing, explained Matt Rosenthal, an embedded project manager at Touch Revolution.

In both instances, when a finger hits the screen a tiny electrical charge is transferred to the finger to complete the circuit, creating a voltage drop on that point of the screen. The software processes the location of this voltage drop and orders the ensuing action.

Newer touch screen technologies are under development, but capacitive touch remains the industry standard for now. The biggest challenge with touch screens is developing them for larger surfaces — the electrical fields of larger screens often interfere with its sensing capability.

The capacitive touchscreen will then detect this change in capacitance as a touch command. This same principle applies to styluses as well. To control a capacitive touchscreen, you typically need to use a bare finger. While some touchscreens only work with a bare fingers, others work with just about any object, including a bare finger, a gloved finger or a stylus. We'll look at exactly how the iPhone does this in the next section. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close.

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