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    Morse Code and Semaphore

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    Morse Code and Semaphore

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    6 views16 pages

    Morse Code and Semaphore

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    trung hiếu trần

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Codes used today: Morse code,

    semaphore, binary code.


    Thursday 10th December 2020
    LO: understanding codes in use today
    Thousands of years ago the
    Chinese developed a system
    of conveying informa7on
    using twigs that were
    either broken or whole.
    It was wri=en down as
    either broken or unbroken lines.

    It was a form of ‘binary code’.


    ‘Binary’ means ‘two’ – so in binary code there
    are only two op7ons, like yes and no,
    or black and white, or broken and not-broken.
    The same idea is used today in computers.
    It is how computers send, receive and store informa7on:
    music, films, pictures, phone calls, games, everything!
    01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100001

    These ones and zeros are binary code for ‘Hello!’


    Any code that uses just two symbols
    to represent informa7on is a binary code.

    In 1937, the American mathema7cian


    Claude Shannon realized that the simple
    ON / OFF of an electric switch could be
    a binary code.
    01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111

    Computers are just a huge number of switches


    flicking on and off, millions of 7mes a second.
    Use the key below to write your own name in binary code.

    You can see how difficult binary code is for us to read!


    And how different we are from computers!
    Computers don’t get 7red or bored – they just do as they’re told.
    Signals some7mes
    need to be very
    clear and simple.

    Traffic lights are a


    code: green, amber
    and red.

    Railways signals work


    in the same way:
    STOP / CAUTION / GO.
    200 years ago people knew they
    needed a faster way to send
    messages.
    In 1792, the French inventor
    Claude Chappe developed the
    op?cal telegraph.

    An op?cal telegraph is a line of


    towers, each a few miles apart.
    The signal operator in each tower
    passes the message on to the next.

    That way a message could be sent


    faster than by a rider on horseback.
    The code used was called semaphore.
    Flag semaphore is s7ll used by the U.S. Navy today.
    It is useful to communicate in very noisy environments,
    like on aircra_ carriers.
    Try sending a short message to your friends!
    Maybe just signal ‘Help!’
    It’s easy to get it wrong, because you have to think of the message from the
    other person’s point of view, not your own.
    The electric telegraph was invented in the 1840s.
    It was the first electronic communica7ons system.
    Pulses of current were sent down wires.
    Each pulse could be part of a code for a le=er.
    Telegraph poles and wires became a common sight.
    The American inventor
    Samuel Morse developed
    a code for the telegraph
    that is s7ll used in
    communica7ons today.

    Morse Code is a series of


    dots (short signals) and
    dashes (longer signals).

    Telegraph operators had to tap out


    each le=er of a message.
    Try sending a message
    in Morse Code.

    Morse Code is useful


    because it can be
    transmi=ed in
    different ways –
    as an electric signal,
    as sounds, or as
    flashes of light.

    The ‘dashes’ are


    long sounds or
    long flashes.
    The ‘dots’ are
    short sounds or
    short flashes.
    This is a sailor in the
    U.S. Navy sending a
    Morse Code signal
    from one ship to
    another.

    Why might they use


    light instead of
    other methods of
    communica7on?
    When the Titanic sank in 1912, the telegraph operator sent desperate
    Morse Code messages for help.
    ‘SOS’ in Morse Code is the interna7onal distress signal.
    See if you can spot SOS in the clip below.
    h=ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snkwsU98QlQ
    Imagine you are on board the Titanic,
    and the ship is sinking.
    In your work books, write a short sentence
    calling the coastguard for help.

    Translate the message into the three codes we’ve looked at:
    1. binary code
    2. flag semaphore (draw s7ck figures to spell out the words).
    3. Morse Code.

    Label each coded message, saying which code you’ve used..

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