Assignment Blog 4 Key Terms from page 176

My assignment this week is to choose 5 key terms from chapter 4 page 176, I have chosen 5 to describe that I didn't know before reading this chapter. I have tried to put them in my own words, but I am just not that technical yet......so I will cite A+ Guide to Managing & Maintaining Your PC, Andrews; 6th ed. as my primary source and have linked to Wikipedia's joule page.

1. Joule: According to Wikipedia, a joule (pronounced "jewel") is the work done to produce power of one watt continuously for one second; or one watt second. A kilowatt hour is 3,600,000 joules or 3.6 megajoules. A surge suppressor used to protect electrical equipment including computers, is rated by the amount of joules it can expend before it fails to protect the circuit from a power surge. The higher the joule rating the better the protection. I think the joule rating would be a good thing to find out before buying a surge suppressor.
   
2. Backplane system: A computer system that doesn't use a true motherboard. There are two types of backplanes, a passive backplane that contain no circuitry themselves, but use a "mothercard" also known as a CPU card. The photo on the right shows a passive backplane with a CPU card plugged in. These systems are not used in personal computers but are used for industrial rack-mounted systems and high-end file servers. Active backplanes contain no circuits other than bus connectors and some buffer and driver circuits.
3. Intelligent UPS: UPS stands for uninterruptible power supply, a device that provides backup power in the case of a black out. An intelligent UPS, also called a smart UPS, can be controlled by software from the computer. It can check for a weak battery, monitor the quality of electricity received, close all servers down during a blackout and many other things to protect your system from electrical damage.
   
4. Sags: A sag is a temporary voltage reduction like a "brownout". If you have a power conditioner, it can raise the voltage to your system if a sag or brownout happens.
   
5. Rectifier: A rectifier converts alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). Direct current travels in only one direction, and it the type of power computers and other electronic devices require. I think I now understand what the "black box" on my computers power cord is. LOL