How Does a CD Player Operate?
CD and Lens
CD players use a laser lens to read bumps engraved along the reflective grooves of a CDs. The groove starts from the outside of the CD and spirals to the inside. Data is processed when the beam spots a bump along the groove. The laser beam is refracted and spliced into two beams. One beam is reflected to a sensor in the CD player and the other to a mobile mirror.
Reading the CD
The mobile mirror works as a "pick-up" as it moves back and forth along a monorail-like track beneath the spinning CD. A motor spins the CD at a constant angular velocity (CAV)--meaning the CD is spun at a constant speed. The processing unit of the CD player adjusts density of the data processed to contend with the varying amounts of data located at each point of the CD --a revolution around the outer portion would contain more data than a smaller revolution near the center of the CD.
Audio Port
Information received from the CD is sent to the digital audio converter to be processed and converted into electrical pulses, and the pulses are sent to the audio jack. When a pair of headphones or a set of speakers is inserted into the the jack, the pulses travel to the speakers and are converted into vibrations, which we hear as sound.
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