 A 3.5-inch computer disk

 A butter knife

 
 

 
Ask a grown-up for a computer disk
that you can take apart. DON'T just take  
one! It might have important stuff on it.
  Now you can see some slots in the
Pretend you've never seen a disk plastic. Put the knife in a slot and gently
before, and look at the outside of it pry apart the two flat halves of the disk.
carefully. What different parts can you Don't just snap the disk apart, or you'll
find? Do any of them move? Does lose the tiny spring inside. It held the
anything change when you move those shutter closed and may jump out, so
parts? watch for it. The plastic at the corners of
the disk will probably crack or break off.
Now look for the places where the That's okay.
disk will come apart. You can take it
apart any way you want, but an easy Do the two halves of the disk look the
way to start is to use a butter knife to same? What parts can you see? You may
carefully pry up the metal rectangle-the want to draw a picture of where
shutter-that folds over one edge of the everything is before you take the disk
disk. Pull it off and put it aside. apart any further.
   Here are all the parts of the disk that you can find if you look carefully:

 A metal shutter  Two white paper rings

 A spring
 A brown plastic circle from a
metal center or hub (The circle
is made out of the same stuff
cassette tapes and videotapes
are made of.)
 A small black plastic rectangle
with legs (Hint: it's up in one of
the corners.)
 A small plastic flap
 Two plastic squares that hold
everything else

Can you guess why each of these parts is there? How do you think they work
together when the disk is inside the computer?

What's inside a computer disk?

When you take apart a 3.5-inch disk, you'll end up with two colored plastic
squares (the housing) that hold the other, smaller parts. Here's a guide to what
each of those parts is, and what it does when the disk is inside your computer.

· Shutter This is a piece of metal folded over one edge of the disk. That edge goes
into the computer first. Inside the computer, the shutter slides over, and the
information on the disk can be read through the rectangular slot.

· Spring When the disk comes out of the machine, the spring snaps the shutter
closed again so no dust or fingerprints can get onto the magnetic disk.
· Magnetic disk This round piece of plastic is coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide
can be magnetized. When you save information to a disk, a recording head
creates a magnetic pattern on the iron oxide. The pattern stores your words or
pictures in a form that the computer can read the next time you put the disk in.

· Hub The metal center of the magnetic disk. The holes in the hub are like the hole
in the middle of a record-they fit over spindles inside the computer and hold the
disk in place while it spins.

· Paper rings The magnetic disk is sandwiched between two white paper rings.
The two rings are glued down to the plastic housing, and stay still while the disk
spins. They clean the disk, removing microscopic bits of dust.

· Write-protect tab This little plastic rectangle is in the upper right corner of most
disks. It slides up to reveal a square hole in the housing (or slides down, to cover
the hole). When the hole is open, the disk is locked. Your computer won't allow
you to add anything to the disk or erase anything from it.

· Plastic flap You have to hunt for this piece. It's tucked away under one of the
paper rings. One end is glued down, and the plastic is bent, just a little. It
functions as a simple spring that pushes the paper ring tight against the surface of
the magnetic disk.

What's inside a cassette tape?

Now that you've taken apart a floppy disk, you may want to try dissecting an
audiocassette or a video-cassette. A lot of the parts on these cassettes are very
similar to parts of a floppy disk. How many can you find?

· Magnetic tape.

· Hubs. There are two plastic wheels in the middle of a cassette. The tape winds
from one to the other as they spin inside the machine.

· Write-protect tab. You can punch it out so no one can re-record over your
favorite song or TV show.

· A piece of paper or felt (and a simple spring) that cleans the tape while it's
moving.

· A shutter (and a spring) to keep dirt and fingers from getting to the tape. (Only
on a videocassette.)