Why Do Computers Get Hot?

Imagine your computer is a giant city full of tiny light switches. Every time a switch flips on and off billions of times per second, it makes a little sound and gets warm. This warmth adds up!

When electricity flows through the wires inside your phone or laptop, it meets resistance. Think about rubbing your hands together quickly to make them warm. The electrons zooming through the chip bump into atoms, creating tiny sparks of energy that turn into heat. If too many switches flip at once, the city gets very hot!

Computers have fans or special metal parts called heatsinks to grab that heat and let it float away into the air. Without them, your device would feel like a warm toaster.