Laptops have much shallower keyboards because they have to close up tightly. When you press a key, the top and bottom contact layers come together and the keyboard sends a signal to your computer-just like this. Is where the keys push down to make the two sheets touch. The two sheets are kept apart by a clear plastic layer except at the holes, which There's one set of electrical connections on the lower sheet of plastic, printed in light gray. In the photo below, you can see a closeup of the underside of one key-and, if you look closely, just about see how it works. Lines are electrical connections that allow tiny electric currents toįlow when the layers are pressed tight to one another by a key moving The dots you can seeĪre places where the keys press the two conducting layers together. Insulating layer between them with holes in it. Them are covered in electrically conducting metal tracks and there's an Layers of plastic that work together to detect your key presses. In this photo, we are looking down through the bottom of the keyboard Notice the pattern of electrical tracks on the contact Balancing on my fingertip, youĬan see one of the little rubber pieces that makes the keys bounce upĪnd down.
Peel back the electrical contact layers and you can see the bottom USB port (or PS/2 port on older machines). Which carries electrical signals from the keyboard to your computer's Notice also the cable running along the inside of the case at the top of the keyboard, Indicator lights for "Num lock", "Caps lock", and "Scroll lock". The green rectangle at the topĬontains three small LEDs that activate the That detect key presses and (through those layers) you can see the roundīars poking the keys down from above. You can see the transparent plastic contact layers Take off the keyboard's bottom panel and you can see how it all This is what gives the spring to the keys.
It in this photo) that stops the key moving down and pushes it back up Inside the hole, there's a little tiny piece of rubber (you can't see Through the hole to touch the contact layers below. When you press the key, the bar pushes down There's a little hole in the plastic base and the keyboard has a long Pull a key off the keyboard and you can see roughly how it works. If you drop the keyboard while you're messing about with it, expect toįind yourself taking at least a couple of hours to put it allīack together again. In the case of computer keyboards, there'sīut there are a couple of hundred tiny pieces that fall out very To learn how they work but, for a whole bunch of reasons, it's oftenĭangerous, difficult, or ill-advised.
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