TechnologyThe StorytellerBeginner
Transistors: The Switches That Think, a free technology course on Tomo

Transistors: The Switches That Think

Like Duolingo, but for Transistors: The Switches That Think. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

A short one: 8 levels across 2 sections, about 16 minutes end to end, roughly 3 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Digital Switch and From Gates to Computers. It starts from scratch.

8 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Toby the Transistor, the guide who teaches the Transistors: The Switches That Think course
Transistors: The Switches That Think
with Toby the Transistor
8
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Transistors: The Switches That Think

  • Transistors act as switches for electrical current
  • Transistors are solid-state devices with no moving parts
  • A small electrical signal triggers the transistor instead of a physical push
  • Mechanical switches fail due to physical friction and wear
  • The control signal and the main flow are both electrical
  • The 'switching' happens through the movement of electrons, not physical metal arms
  • The durability advantage of solid-state components over mechanical ones
  • The Base pin is the control input
  • Binary code is built from two distinct states
  • The fundamental function of a transistor as an electrically-controlled switch
  • Current flows between the other two pins only when the Base is activated
  • The 'Off' state of a transistor corresponds to the digit 0
  • A small amount of energy at the Base controls a larger flow elsewhere
  • Transistors operate at speeds far beyond human perception
  • The function of the three pins using the faucet analogy
  • Switching speeds are measured in millions or billions of cycles per second
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Transistors: The Switches That Think the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

The Ghost in the Machine

Picture this: you need to stop the flow of electricity in a wire. Which component acts as the digital gatekeeper?

Get it right to open this lesson and 7 more in the app.

Course map

Where Transistors: The Switches That Think takes you

Discover how a tiny piece of silicon acts as a digital gatekeeper, turning simple electrical pulses into the complex logic that powers every computer on Earth.

  1. 1

    The Digital Switch

    • The Switch with No Moving Parts
    • Building Logic Gates
  2. 2

    From Gates to Computers

    • Creating a Digital Brain

2 sections · 3 units · 8 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Storyteller

Transistors: The Switches That Think is taught in the The Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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Start free

Start Transistors: The Switches That Think today.

Download Tomo, search Transistors: The Switches That Think, and play your first lesson in under a minute.