GLOSSARY

Stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Liquid crystal is a type of liquid that has an arrangement of its molecules, similar to crystals. Because of this, it can refract (change the direction of) light in many different ways, similar to a crystal. Another interesting property, is that liquid crystal can change shape when electricity is applied to it.

The way that an LCD works, is that there is a backlight at the back of the display. In front of the backlight is the liquid crystal. In front of the liquid crystal are millions of tiny pixels (dots). Each pixel is composed of 3 parts, red, green and blue. These parts are called sub pixels. Under normal circumstances, the backlight shines through the liquid crystal and the liquid crystal sends light through all 3 colors at once, with equal intensity, and creates white light. But when electricity is applied to the Liquid Crystal, it changes shape and blocks part or all of the light that goes through to each of the sub pixels. If the liquid crystal blocks all of the light, the color is displayed as black. If the liquid crystal blocks only part of the light, different colours will be displayed, depending on how much light is blocked to each sub-pixel. By applying electricity differently to the liquid crystal behind all of the millions of pixels, the display is able to create pictures with a very wide range of colors.

LCD Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B79dGR19Tg

The length of time that a computer part will continue to be manufactured and be available for purchase on the market. The length of time before it goes obsolete.