http://www.howstuffworks.com/cd-burner.htm is al een begin
http://www.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm heeft er ook mee te maken
Edit:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/dvd.htm komt ook een beetje in de buurt
Laatste edit:
http://www.smh.com.au/icon/content/zone/zoneW_970628software_1.htmlHow does a CD-ROM work?
A computer CD-ROM works exactly the same way as an audio CD. Once you have put it in the tray and pushed it back into the drive, it spins around on a spindle while a tiny laser shines onto the surface. The light from the laser gets either reflected, or scattered, depending on which part of the surface it hits. The light is scattered by tiny pits just under the surface or a reflected back by the smooth metallic layer that gives CDs their rainbow look.
If the light is reflected back, it gets detected and turned into a signal. If it is scattered, then no signal is sent. So as the disc spins, the CD-ROM player detects all the tiny pits and turns them into electrical signals. This is then turned into whole computer programs as the laser slowly spirals its way across the disc from the middle to the edge passing over millions of tiny pits on the way each sending a signal to the computer.
When the disc gets dirty or scratched it does interfere with the signal the laser reflects, but to such a small degree that the signal can be corrected. And unlike a floppy disk, slight problems will not spoil it completely. So even if it does get a slight scratch or dirt on it, the signal still gets through
With 650Mb of space on every CD-ROM, the amount of information available is also hundreds of times greater than any floppy disk. And because magnetic fields, dirt and dust don't affect it in the same way it will last longer - tests indicate well over thirty years or so.
Nu echt de allerlaatste edit:
http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/compact_disc_players.html