A neighbor sets a laptop on the bench. "The video plays, but there is no sound!" Rocket says. He taps the speaker holes as if they are asleep.
Raven looks at the bottom corner of the screen. "What do you notice?" she asks. "There is a little speaker picture with a line through it."
Nova hums quietly. "Output is how a machine talks to you," she says. "Would you like a hint? Sometimes a machine is told to stay silent."
An output device sends results out of a computer. It is how the machine shows or tells you something.
A screen shows pictures and words. A speaker plays sound. A printer puts words and pictures on paper.
Small lights are output too. A blinking light can mean charging, working or low battery. A buzz or vibration is output you can feel.
| Output device | What comes out | You notice it with |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | Pictures and words | Eyes |
| Speaker or headphones | Sound | Ears |
| Printer | Words and pictures on paper | Eyes and hands |
| Lights | On, off or blinking | Eyes |
| Vibration motor | A buzz | Hands |
The laptop speaker was not broken. The sound was muted. Mute tells the computer to send no sound to the speaker.
A muted speaker and a broken speaker look the same from the outside. Both are silent.
The crew tested one thing. Raven pressed the unmute key. The sound came back.
Turning the volume up or unmuting is a fix a kid may do. It changes software settings, not hardware.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| A speaker is an output device. | ? |
| A muted laptop always has a broken speaker. | ? |
| A vibration is output you can feel. | ? |
| A printer is an input device. | ? |
Here is the pattern from this week so far. Input devices carry your actions in. Output devices carry results out.
A computer with no output would work, but you would never know. A computer with no input would never know what you want.
Nice work! You can follow results out of a machine now. Tomorrow you will meet input devices that feel the world without you touching them.