A Calculator from Logic Gates

Digital electronics from zero: we build a computer from logic gates, step by step, from electricity all the way to a processor. No prior knowledge needed, and every word is explained and demonstrated.

🧪 Gate Lab: practice right here on the site, nothing to install (lab in Hebrew for now) →

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Episode 0

How Can Electricity Think? Electricity, Relays, AND, OR and NOT Gates

We build a calculator out of logic gates, step by step, from zero. This episode starts with the question "what is electricity, anyway?" and ends with the three gates every computer is made of: AND, OR and NOT. You'll see what goes into a gate and what comes out, and how a transistor does the same job with no moving parts. No prior knowledge needed, and every word is explained.

🧪 Practice on the site (lab in Hebrew for now)

Chapters (11)

1. 00:00 Opening
2. 00:34 What is electricity?
3. 01:18 The switch: on or off, 1 or 0
4. 01:59 The secret: electricity that switches electricity (magnet and relay)
5. 02:59 AND gate: switches in series
6. 03:19 OR gate: switches in parallel
7. 03:35 NOT gate: a relay built backwards
8. 03:53 What goes into a gate, what comes out, and chains of gates
9. 04:50 The transistor: a switch with no moving parts
10. 05:59 Summary
11. 06:33 Support the channel and end card

▶6:51

Episode 1

Numbers from Light Bulbs: Counting in Binary, NOT and XOR Gates

How do you write a number with electricity? Four bulbs, each with a weight: 1, 2, 4, 8. That's how a computer counts, in binary. We look inside the NOT gate, then a fourth gate every electrician knows from the stairwell: XOR, from the inside, with the two-way switches in the wall. At the end we find out that adding one bit is nothing more than XOR and AND. No prior knowledge needed, and every word is explained.

🧪 Practice on the site (lab in Hebrew for now)

Chapters (9)

1. 00:00 Opening
2. 00:32 A bit: one bulb
3. 00:51 Why every bulb has a weight (the odometer)
4. 01:52 Reading and writing numbers in binary
5. 02:46 The toolbox: the NOT gate from the inside, input and output
6. 03:46 XOR gate: the stairwell switch from the inside
7. 05:03 One plus one = XOR and AND
8. 05:42 Summary
9. 06:16 Support the channel and end card

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